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Cover for No Such Thing As Werewolves. Does it grab you?

I've heard over and over again that the quality of your cover and back cover copy are vital to winning readers. Does this cover grab you? Would you consider reading this book?

Does anyone have suggestions on improving it?

Here's the cover.
 

Evilyn

Scribe
Awesome! I love it, although I am biased as I am a werewolf fan. Seriously though nice artwork, I am glad he appears to be walking on two legs :)

I was initially confused by the pyramids until I read the back. I am intrigued for sure!
 

Nihal

Vala
And you're right, many people pick a book by its cover. Yours is technically extremely good, congratulations.

What is your target audience? YA—maybe children? Even without reading I can guess it by the cover, because it's mainly "terror story scene" blue, highly saturated and has sketchy typography. If it's really YA, well done! If not, desaturating everything a little will already age the book some years. =P


Now, looking at the typography with more attention and assuming it'll go to print, it's slightly pixelated, no good. I don't know if it's the font or the software used. If it's the font, change it. If it's the software, probably Adobe Photoshop, you must change the font rendering to something else, like "strong", or "sharp", it's likely to be at "none". (request a screenshot if you have no clue of what I'm talking about)

I'm afraid these font families are creating some trouble at the spine and it won't be readable. Some tricks that might improve the text there are: Increasing the font weight of the white text and spacing the letters a little; perhaps making the "werewolves" thinner and more spaced.

On the back, the blob font isn't working well at this size. Pay attention to the "u"s. First try to change the size—some fonts don't behave well at small sizes—, if the problem persists, change the font.

Final pro tip: Make mock-ups. Crop the front and use in a pdf to see if it looks well, reduce the size to see if the thumbnail is working, print the whole cover in the final size, fold it, wrap around another book or something and check if it looks good, if it reads well, if the elements' positioning is right. Never underestimate the power of a mock-up, some problems can only be spotted on the final format.
 
Nihal, the resolution of the upload is off. The InDesign version is much crisper. That said I think your advice on font is great and I'll play with that to see if I can find a better one. Also love the mockup idea. I'll give that a shot.

It's not geared at YA, but I wanted broad appeal so I dialed back a bit on the scariness through the blue. I have a red version as well, but it makes the werewolf look a bit too evil.

To everyone else thanks for the kind words! It needs a little polish, but I feel like it's 90% there.
 
Love it,

Just out of curiosity, can we see the red version as well?

Here's the red one. As you can see it was a much earlier draft, but after seeing it compared to the blue I decided that was the better direction.

Thanks for the feedback, Lawfire! Makes me grin to hear people are pleased with it.
 

Asterisk

Troubadour
Does this cover grab you? Would you consider reading this book? Does anyone have suggestions on improving it?

It's terrifying! Like Lawfire said, it jumps out and looks professional. I especially like the fonts you used, and the colors. On the spine, "Werwolves" is hard to read. I would recommend not changing the font (though I like it better the original way) or spreading it out (in a straight line down the spine) with a larger font size.

I wouldn't read the book only because it's too scary for my taste (I'm not into horror or thrillers), but I definitely would pick the book up and read the back cover.

Wonderfully done!
 

Kn'Trac

Minstrel
To be honest, I like the red cover more. It evokes more emotion in me than the blue one. However... If you want to keep the book PG friendly, go with the blue one.
 
I really wrestled with the choice between blue and red. Blue won because the werewolves aren't actually evil and the red sort of painted that way. Thank you all so much for the feedback! So happy to have found a community of like minded writers.
 
Great cover there. Agreed with what's been said before about the font. In regards to your blurb, I like the, "Warning: May Contain Werewolves" which made me laugh in conjunction with reading the title, but the blurb seemed a bit off. I liked it up until the, "Werewolves are real" line, after which it seemed too choppy and a little repetitive. Ask yourself what is the point of each line, what are you trying to convey, and have you already conveyed that.

The cover would have made me pick up the book, but the blurb would have made me put it back down.
 

Sam Evren

Troubadour
Great cover, very eye-stopping. I have a little trouble with the smaller print on the back, but my eyes are older.

Quite like the red one, as well, even with the rougher drawing. Feels primal.
 
Thanks for the feedback, Zero. I've been revising the back cover and the werewolves are real has been removed. Sam, thanks for the praise! I like the red one as well. It was a tough call, but in the end the red just made the werewolves look too evil and put the book firmly in horror instead of urban fantasy / thriller.
 

Addison

Auror
I like the blue one. The red one was too "Wow", like you walk around a corner into a light and have to turn away. That's not good for a book. The blue one is awesome and I was intrigued with the werewolves and pyramids. Very cool. :)
 

Keitsumah

Inkling
I've heard over and over again that the quality of your cover and back cover copy are vital to winning readers. Does this cover grab you? Would you consider reading this book?

Does anyone have suggestions on improving it?

Here's the cover.

gimme gimme gimme! :p im a huge wolf/werewolf fan and the back makes me really curious as to what all happens and what are the answers to those questions!? gak!

*turns wolf and bites my tail before i go crazy*

oh wait i already did lol
 
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