Monday, February 9, 2015

Book Cover - Revisited

Last week I offered what I'd hoped would be a great book cover for my upcoming novel. I listed it here and also at 2 other locations.  The response?  Not what I expected but, at the same time, extremely helpful.


SO, what did I learn?

1) Book title should be readable when in thumbnail size
2) Not be busy 
3) Don't confuse title with background words
4) Cryptic cover
5) Color choices
6) Bad font choices
7) Be happy with the cover

Okay, the last one is more for me, but, at the same time, I want to make sure that others like the cover. Why?  Because if the reader/viewer likes the cover, there is a better chance of them picking up the book. If they pick up the book, they may read the back page blurb.  If they read the back page blurb, there is a chance they may open it and read a page or two. And if they like it to one of the points listed, they will buy the book.

I thought the music background was significant - the story is about a young Amish boy who learns how to sing light opera.  Both the artist and I thought the Old English font would be cool for the Amish flavor, along with the Amish boy on the cover.  

In retrospect, it was a lousy cover. In thumbnail size, the text was gibberish, at best.  The background words of the music title diverted the reader's eyes from the title. The Old English font was difficult to read.

So, my cover artist tried again, taking all the comments into review.  He offered me the following which I think pulls it all together.  I don't like the appearance of the sub-text - "Book One of The Amish Singer Series" but we tried several different things and this seemed to be the best offering.  Trying to match the font color of the large text left it in a black blob and difficult to read. We also tried to move the text down below the Amish boy but it didn't appear to be correct there.  So, we're still open to suggestions.  We also tried lighter text and darker text to less than perfect results.




The back page blurb is not the final by any means.  We just wanted to see how it would appear.

Yes, the book title has changed. Book Two of 'The Amish Singer' Series will be "A New York Voice" and continue with Daniel's adventures in our Englische world and singing.  Book two's cover will basically be the same thing except remove the Amish lad and replace it with say, the Empire State Building or a part of it.  Of course, that still remains to be decided. LOL.

Let me know what you think of the new cover, leave a comment or suggestion.

Now, some bad news on my weight regarding the New Year's resolution.  I had - key word "HAD" - been fluctuating between 250 and 255.  I stepped on the scale last week and it was pushing 260.  Okay, it was 258.  I realize it isn't much, but the truth is, the weight needle moved in the WRONG direction.  I have instituted a closer watch on my food intake and realized that I have been drinking more pop.  Okay, it is diet and shouldn't count, but it does bloat me and what man needs to complete in the pregnancy bulge with his daughter-in-law who is carrying twins?  More treadmill and cycle time, less butt-sitting time.  My goal is to see all my grandchildren married.  The twins are the last of the grandchildren coming so that gives me a goal of surviving another 25 years, at least.  I'm 68 + 25 means I have to hang around until I'm 93.  That's pushing the goal line waaaaay out there.  Maybe I should set a goal of seeing them all graduated.

I am hoping to get the first book of the three I made as part of my New Year's resolutions published within the next 60 days. Well, actually by the end of February would be nice, but...

We were considering some RV travel but the storm that came through about 8 days ago left me with a six foot pile of plowed snow in front of the RV.  My kids visited this weekend and laughed about it but I let them know - if I truly wanted to go, I'd be out there with my shovel moving that mini-mountain.  I did that several years ago when we wanted to go to Mardi Gras and Mother Nature had other ideas. It was only about 4 foot high but it had a lot of frozen ice in it.  It took me about 3 days to clear it out but we left on time and had a great time.  We've decided to not travel until nice weather and only locally.  We want to do some interior re-decorating. Okay, that's what my wife calls it.  I say it is major remodeling since we'll be removing the dining area and couch and re-doing the kitchen and bathroom.  Nothing really wrong with them, just wanting a new look.

Until next I ramble on...



19 comments:

  1. Bob, I'm not a reader of Amish fiction, so maybe I'm not your target, but this cover doesn't compel me to pick it up. Though I do like that you explain it's an Amish singer series and if I were interested in that, it would intrigue me. I sort of wish the kid were cuter to be honest.

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    1. LOL. Amish kids are really cute at 4 or 5. By the time they're 15, they have a more hardened look of the real world since they've worked their butts off for the last 10 yrs. Remember, Amish kids don't sit around the house and whine - they start their day early, before the sun comes up with milking the cows and wait until almost sundown to eat the last meal of the day. They go to school and that is their "free" time but they are learning English since most don't speak it until they go to school. They get home from school, they have chores - and I don't mean take out the trash. Think: Little House on the Prairie ... without all the conveniences and fun. Besides, an Amish lad of 18 if not already married, is looking - he doesn't want to be cute. The Amish gentleman I interviewed and became friends with is 48 yrs old and has 49 grandchildren (so far, he still has 4 more kids to marry off) and great grandchildren on the way. He was 49!!! Yeah, they really should invest in bedroom TVs. LOL.

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  3. Goals have a way of getting more complicated. Whenever I want to start doing something, there are always about four things that have to be done before I can start. Like removing your snow before you can go RVing.

    As for the cover, I would lose the Amish boy. Maybe just the hat would work better. Just my suggestion.

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    1. Can you explain why you feel an obscure Amish hat would be better than the image of young Amish man? Your theory intrigues me.

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  4. I like the idea of removing the boy and leaving the hat. Sounds like that RV remodel could be useful in the weight challenge. We all know remodel projects "snowball"!
    Onisha Ellis

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    1. Why just the hat? Wouldn't that be slightly confusing? Curious.

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  5. I think this is a much better cover. I wouldn't worry about the subtitle. I'm not sure about using just the hat. That might make people do a double take, which isn't all bad. What about fading out the face below the hat, making it semi-transparent?

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    1. We tried the transparency and once again, the face appeared 'off' which I didn't like.

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  6. I think my problem is that I'm not drawn to the guy in the picture. It doesn't matter it it's a realistic depiction of what an Amish guy would look like. He looks grumpy and (like Elyse) I wish he was more handsome. The cover is interesting, but if there's a face on the cover, I have to be attracted to it. Perhaps if he were laughing or singing...

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    1. Amish men are rugged and plain. They seldom smile - or at least I don't think so. I considered having a face done electronically, singing, but as one person told me with another book cover I was attempting to do, they dislike digital art. One person's handsome is another's boring. As Elyse has heard me say, my grandpa always said, if we all liked the same thing, we'd all be jumping grandma.

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  7. MUCH BETTER Bob! I says what it is, the artwork matches the title, and I get it! :) All of the rest is totally up to you! I don't mind the guy's face being full opacity rather than transparent... but whatever you decide from here on out will be just preferential! Great job!

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    1. I think this is going to be the book cover with maybe one adjustment, the subtitle moved above the title. I'll have the artist do a mockup and see how it looks.

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  8. What if you put the subtitle above the title? I've seen that on a couple of series books. I wish I could think of one off the top of my head to give you an example, but it's late and my brain is fried.

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    1. Now THAT has possibilities. Thanks for the idea. Yes, I've seen it done that way, too.

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  9. I like Rebekah Lyn's idea. I don't understand the complaints about the Amish boy...I like the cover other than moving the subtitle. He has an interesting face, and the cover makes it easy to understand what the book is about. Nicely done!

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    1. Thank you, Nadine. I've instructed the cover artist to flip the title and sub-title. I agree that the Amish boy reveals that the boy is about an Amish person. My audience is hopefully people who read about Amish-based stories. It isn't a typical romance or angst tale but still involves an Amish person. Almost 95% of Amish-based books have an Amish person on the cover. I fear being different, no Amish indication, would get lost in the shuffle.

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  10. Think the back cover has way too much text. The sheer volume of the text on the back would stop me reading the back. The cover is definitely better...somehow seems too, I would say, blue. Maybe too intense. But that's just me - go with what you think is right and what works.

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    1. The cover text was just something to put in there to see how it would look. It will be broken down into 2 areas - one about the book - the other about the author with a nice which space between.
      I had yellow and that was met with a major amount of dislike. The color suggested was blue or purple. I didn't want to go with purple and since Amish tend to lean toward blue, I thought it would be the better choice. Many Amish covers tend toward rural, pastoral scenes or facial features w/ cloud backgrounds. Since this isn't a typical Amish tale, I wanted to change it up a little but still try to bend to the traditional look. My market is a very plain audience.

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