Fiddling with covers for e-story

I'm thinking of trying out Amazon self-publishing, partly as an experiment, partly because I'm getting frustrated with finding very little e-zines out there that pay for short stories. Without getting into a big war, I don't really want my stories to sit around. I don't want to pay a lot and I'm hoping I can make an adequate cover. I'm not really interested in creating a photo cover ( to be honest I'm a cheapskate - lol ) plus I love a vintage look, and I'm hoping I can just make a suitable one. Just need some feedback. I know it screams amateur but I'm hoping it screams amateur with charm.



Here's the other version -

 

I like the first one, even if the white field for the title looks a bit botched.

You could try taking the second one and make it cream coloured instead of white, and play around a bit with different fonts, probably something that looks hand written (you can look up some modern editions of Edgar Allan Poe tales).

 

I like the first one better but I'm not sure either would lead me to look inside the book.

Two things, the biggest one in the letters are awkward and a poor fit where the corners bend. They look amateurish.

And the second thing is the cover looks like one you'd find on a children's book. Is it a children's story?

 

I really love your concepts and the colour scheme. Ok, at first glance, I prefer the second one, the white looks very designer-y and almost appetising, you want to pick it up and handle it, so I think it has more potential. But the font is all wrong. I totally get the sense of movement you are trying to achieve but the letters are perhaps too big, or too angular and busy to actually remind of a worm. Also, you need to make sure vertical spelling has noticeable spaces between the words. I'm thinking smaller font, rounded, streamlined, characters close together, softer and finer than Ariel, perhaps Callibri or something inspired by that. And then in this S shape might do the 'worm' better.

First cover is really nice and there you can use the white S shaped area to allude to ground and worms, so the letters don't have to remind of a worm too much, but it being white doesn't work. It needs a carefully selected texture and a change of colour to something light and complementary, cream, beige, something a bit 'organic', and also I'd re-think the font, the spacing is all wrong. To be honest, from a cover design point of view, the fonts are the most difficult to nail, not even every designer has the 'feel' for it, but almost always the right font isn't free, unless you want to use American Typewriter or similar.

Sorry about the massive comment, I wish I could be more helpful, but I hope it made a bit of sense!

 

I liked the texture of the worms in the first one and the clean style of the second. Maybe if you remove the white from the first and put the letter in white? And a letter more like handwriting?

 

I wanted something simple for the fonts because if I get too wild it might switch the impression of the story - to gothic or something. It's not a children's story - there is a child character but it's one of my typical weird stories. I was hoping to channel a retro mood.

 

Does anyone have any fonts they think might look good - I wanted to keep it clean. I tried snaking the letters but it made them hard to read.

 

It's more the fit of the letters/words than the font per se. "of Witcher-Woo" needs to fit on one line. You can redraw the wormhole, shrink the font, or what I like the best is alter the lines so the letters curve around. The last of course requiring more skill or excellent photo-shop program that lets one put words on non-straight lines. I see this is no problem for you.

T
h
e

W
O
R
M
S

o
f --- WITCHER-WOO --- b
-------------------------______-----------y

------------------------------------E
------------------------------------D...

Like that.

Edited to add, can you snake the letters but only slightly?

 

Did you took a look at DAFonts website? The fonts are divided into styles.

 

If you are going for that eerie vintage feel why don't you mess around a bit with Weird Tales magazine style fonts, or maybe something that would look like and old Lewis Carroll cover.

Edit to add: I found this website, looks like all fonts are free download.
http://www.1001fonts.com/vintage-fonts.html

 

Shrink "The" and it need not be caps. It's fine if "By" is horizontal rather than vertical, probably better. Also make that smaller font. Those words are taking up room that you need.

"of" can be smaller and also start the horizontal line.

...
S
of WITCHER-WOO by​

 

I like the worms on the first, think you should go for the second version, with worms from the first.

 

You don't like the worm hole?

 

I could give it another whirl - I've got Photoshop seven.

 

I totally missed that! Good idea though, maybe some grass at the top for non-observant people like myself?

 

I actually did do a version of this one - lol

 

Is EDIMARCHEN all one name? If not you need to make it clear. And I would still offset "OF" from WITCHER-WOO either by smaller font or lower case. If you want it to match "THE" increase the space between OF and WITCHER. That would also do the trick.

IMO

 

The first look more artsy, lol, and a little old school, (maybe it's the color of the background?) like some kind of classic, minus the white space. The second one I think looks more appealing and modern.

 

I love the one with the brown background. Very colorful worms. The vertical text is interesting but very hard to read; I would set it in regular position but play with the size of the letters.

 

I downloaded some more fonts and fiddled with the colors to make the background less stark white - I'm actually happier with these but the line up's of the fonts still are a little off. Oh, and Edimarchen is one word - my pseudonymn ( sounds like a last name but a feminine last name. ) GingerCoffee - didn't see your reply till today - that's actually a good idea for the lettering - I may have to go back to the drawing board - i.e. photoshop again!

 

all of the versions have too much of everything... 'less is more' should be applied here... unless the story features a an actual army of worms, just a couple or three at most will do... and the fancy font/arrangement of the title are more likely to annoy, than compel one to open the cover...

 

Well, there is actually a reference in the story to the worms moving in groups of five from the right and the left. Which is why I cut out five worms and duplicated them.

I suppose I could just put the title plainly across the cover. But now, I'm not sure what font to use. Plain seems too plain, and fancy seems too fancy.

 

I like the simplicity and the font of the second one but not the composition. That large white space in the middle doesn't look right.

I like the first one and the font in that one fits that cover. But I'd still offset 'THE' and 'OF' with slightly smaller fonts.
I would put 'by' on a lower line the way you have this cover, think, composition. Or you could leave 'by' out altogether. It's clear you are referring to the author without it.

You might even consider putting the author's name across the bottom because vertically is it hard to read. If you changed it, I'm not sure how you might change the shape of the worm hole, ending it mid-page or ??? I'd have to see it to comment.

I still ask, is that one name or two. You want the reader to remember the author.

 

The second one of today's post looks like something that would pique my interest in a shop or library.

I like it.

 

I like the first of the new versions. The font works really well with the rest of the cover.