Cover Art!!!

By J.D. Ray · Feb 4, 2021 · 826 · 5

I am once again feeling inspired. Over the winter, I steeled myself to make a few revisions to my WIP, and have polished it (Mythbusters proved this was possible) to the point that I'm confident that it's ready for production. I wouldn't mind one or two more beta readers, particularly if they were women, because I want to be sure that I have Celeste's perspective well-written.

As I crested the hill that overlooked the valley of publication, I began to think once again about cover art. I've been following a couple of cover art groups on FB, and engaged one of the companies for an eBook cover and a social media banner to match. The company is MiblArt, and I was very impressed with the process and the results. In short, for a US$149* basic fee (plus $39 for the social media banner), they did a cover from an assembled collection of stock art (a fully illustrated cover is available for more money, but I didn't want to, nor it seems need to, spend that kind of dough).

I filled out a form that gave a basic description of the novel, some significant visual elements, and provided a list of covers that I liked the look of and why (I referenced their gallery for their convenience, as it's an excellent gallery with a broad representation of cover styles). Two days later -- yes, only two days -- they replied with an email and a sample cover image. I was gobsmacked. It wasn't perfect, but very close. I replied with a few revision requests, the designer asked a few more clarifying questions, which I answered, and three days after that, I have a cover image that I'm very pleased with.

Their basic agreement is that "unlimited revisions" are available, but I see no need to keep asking for tiny tweaks to an otherwise excellent cover. I could obsess over details until I was blind, but what they've provided is so much closer to the content of the story than many professionally-published novels I've read that it's immeasurable.

So, without further ado, here's the art as it stands (scaled to fit in the file size limits). Mind you, to date, they haven't charged me a dime. There's a watermark on the image, which will come off after payment, but it's faint enough that it doesn't impede my ability to review the quality of the work, which again is high.

Feedback is welcome.

* MiblArt tells me that, as a customer, other customers referred who mention me get a 15% discount.
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ThunderAngel, Night Herald, Cave Troll and 4 others like this.

Comments

This is pretty nice. Nice color palette and I like the "IN" in the "T" of "Time". Nice, little detail and smart way to center the title with saving space. The only thing I'd change is the size of the title, I'd shrink it just a little, but a little and I'd use a different font for your name. Something resembling the title font, but a little bolder and with tighter kerning. I'd also shrink that a little bit perhaps. Another thing, which might sound like nit-picking, but in case you are going for a print would make a difference is to emboss the circular symbol whereas it's most solid (leave out the faintest parts, that'd mess up the center piece) and emboss the title and name as well. Layers make things come to life and since you got plenty, why not use them?

Overall, it's very nice as it is though. If I were in a bookstore it'd draw my attention.

Malisky, Feb 5, 2021
Looks really good! Very cheap price as well, good deal.

Madman, Feb 5, 2021
There was a thread on this topic a while ago and one thing that was pointed out is that you should shrink it down to the size of an Amazon thumbnail and take another look. I like the overall look, but even viewing this thread on a 10 inch tablet originally I missed the "in" on my first view. It's not critical that the title be fully visible in thumbnail, but I suspect that "in" will be hard to see on any smaller devices that a customer might use to browse.

Hmm, seems there's no ability to upload images in blog comments. Anyway, run it through a couple of shrinkages and see what you think. Overall I like it though, looks good and professional.

ETA: Also, the "Part One" faded to nothing when I played with it on my screen until it displayed the way an Amazon thumbnail does on my 27" monitor.

Iain Aschendale, Feb 5, 2021
That is leaps and bounds better than the original cover, JD. A good cover needs to convey the elements the reader can expect in the book. The image of Marko and Celeste hand in hand shows it involves their relationship. The forest and backpack point out the adventure element. The compassy-style symbol not only hints at either adventure or time travel but it being broken to reveal the main image subconsciously hints of something being broken or something going awry.
Every element of your book is represented in this image, JD. And its been done to a very professional standard to boot.

The only nitpick is the same as Iain, the "In" word could be better placed or arranged.
The Part One fading to nothing on a tablet or phone isn't really an issue IMHO. When people open ebooks, the cover comes up full screen and that's when it will be seen. It is not "mission critical" to the cover in the same way the main portion of the title is due to it being the first one in the series. When thumbnailed, 2 elements need to be readable - the author's name and the main title. It only becomes important with the sequel, when you need to convey the fact it is the second book in the series. Most people's library folders only show the tiny thumbnails to represent the books and that's when we need to see a "Part Two"

But either way - I cant stress enough, that is a huge and vast improvement on the original cover, JD. Well done!

Steve Rivers, Feb 5, 2021
Looks great, and you're right about it fitting the story.

Friedrich Kugelschreiber, Feb 6, 2021

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Cover Art!!!

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