A single cover

[SundryHen]

Here's my cover for the Lighlined novel. It's a product of procrastination.

I also have some monoscapes I did with scenes from the book that could be used as covers, but I wanted a more symbolic/poignant moment on there.

Now, I do realise this cover can be widely inappropriate for a high fantasy novel, but I really don't want any characters on there and also don't know how to make them even if I wanted them. Going for the minimalistic approach.

When it gets published (this is me being hopeful), I know I'll have to bend to the wishes of high and mighty marketing teams. But at least I can dream over here.

 

[joshua mcdermott]

Hi! I don't miss the characters and love the image quite a bit. The issues I would have is with font and it looks like your right margin got cut off, but that is pretty easily fixed.

On Fonts: it throws me that the title is two different fonts and also one part is all caps. I might be able to visually handle different fonts, or one caps and one not, but both together...

it also looks like your name is in yet another font- similar but just enough different from Lightlined to jar me. Look how thin the N is in lightlined but then how thick the M is in Maria.

I do like some of the color matching- "by Maria Mark" connects well with the beetle's splash marks. the whole lower half is ok with me. its probably all in the title. play with that a bit and I think you have a solid cover!

 

[SundryHen]

The issues I would have is with font and it looks like your right margin got cut off, but that is pretty easily fixed.

Lol, no. That's just a part of modern graphic design trends that I love to use.

it also looks like your name is in yet another font

I was worried about this, it's the same font, only it's bold, looks quite weird in the light version. But I will need to amend both the byline and the title, so this will be dealt with.

And I am glad to hear that not having the standard fantasy cover works here.

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[joshua mcdermott]

I hear you on the bold: what font are you using? I think that using the same font, one in all CAPS, and then other other in undercase but Bold.. its throwing me off. my .2 cents

 

[SundryHen]

what font are you using?

It was Abadi MT Pro Light. Now I changed all of them.

Here's the new version.

 

[joshua mcdermott]

I like that better: title is mix of roman and bold?

I got to say, I don't agree that the modern design graphics stylings are working here. cutting off the letter only works if its HUGE and you actually cut through the letter in a bold way. just slicing it so thin is not working for me. To me it looks more like a mistake.

 

[SundryHen]

title is mix of roman and bold?

Basically. This font, Essonnes, has some weirdly complex weight names.

 

[Prince of Spires]

First the easiest fix: Drop the "by" from in front of your name. People know that the name on the front of the book is the person who wrote it. traditionally published books don't have it. It says "home made cover" like nothing else.

The dual font for the title doesn't work for me. What is the title of the book? If it is "Lightlined" then the subtitle makes no sense (being "The fate of the"). If the title is The fate of the Lightlined then it should be all in the same font (as in size, thickness and so on). Your name should be bigger. It's hard to read now. Spread it over two lines if it doesn't fit next to the image.

The image itself is nice, but I'm not sure it points at a clear genre (or sub-genre), which can be an issue, since people like knowing what genre something is before clicking on a book to learn more about it. I'm also wondering if the beetle is too similar in color to the rest of the cover. Which means that someone scrolling past it will on amazon see a blue blob for 2 seconds and before moving on to the next cover.

 

[SundryHen]

What is the title of the book?

The title is The Fate of the Lightlined. But 'The Fate of the' works here similarly like 'Harry Potter and the' works for that franchise.
Because there will be more parts after this, they will have a different second part but the first one will be same in format. That is why I am separating the two. I mean, who knows how the book will end up being titled, but for now this was my solution.

It says "home made cover" like nothing else.

Quite right. I mean this is just me playing with the cover, it is probably not going to look anything like this. Unfortunately, I won't have much say in it.

 

[Prince of Spires]

But 'The Fate of the' works here similarly like 'Harry Potter and the' works for that franchise.

It's not "Harry Potter and the". Check the covers. It's "Harry Potter" followed by "and the ..."

And that's different from your title in two ways:
First is genre. This is a common way of titleing books for children. Those are very often titled "Main character has adventure X", especially if they are in a serries. And for these childrens books, the focus is on that main character(s), and so that main character will be very prominent on the cover. Harry Potter was a book about a boy named Harry Potter who would have some adventure. That's why parents bought that book for their kids. The specific adventure was less relevant.

The second way is that neither fate nor lightlined are characters (small assumption here, since it's fantasy, Fate could be a character). For these cases, all words are usually either the same size or the longer words are. Check the mapwalkers triology for instance. They're all "Map of something".

I mean, who knows how the book will end up being titled, but for now this was my solution.

Unfortunately, I won't have much say in it.

These are just two more reasons why I indy-publish instead of going traditional. I have everything to say about my cover and title.

If you are going traditional, you will have some say about your title. At least more than about your cover.

 

[TWErvin2]

When you shrink it down to a thumbnail size, the beetle and the swirls around it and name of author disappear. The 'Lightlined' is the only word that is clear and the eye would focus on that. The thin lettering atop can be seen with effort. I am not so sure this will attract the eye of potential readers compared to other covers they will be looking at simultaneously as they browse.

If you ever do a print cover, there needs to be some space along the edge because the trimming of the novel and cover image placement can be shifted an 8th of an inch or so. This will disturb/ruin what you're trying to do by aligning right along the edge of the cover with the wording.

That's my two cents.

 

[Bianca]

I like the cover. Especially the contrast between the dark and light

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Sorry, but for me it doesn't work. The cover doesn't tell me anything about the book. Is it fantasy, scifi, comedy? Looking at the cover I just don't know.

Cheers, Greg.