I'm about to publish it as a paperback and I'd love your advice. The blurb: Ailsa is a modern fae who discovers her roots when she returns to the forest where her ancestors once lived. There, she must survive a weekend armed with only a knife and slingshot. The weapons are not the best defence in a forest teeming with legendary creatures that want to devour, drown or enslave her. Even worse, she's not permitted to kill them, only maim or talk her way out of the situation. And that's not all. She has to write in detail about her adventures and how she overcomes danger. The finished article has to be handed in by Monday morning or she will fail the test. Can she live long enough to pass or fail like so many other fae before her? https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Ailsa-Alex-Mahon-ebook/dp/B08YZ41DMC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alex+mahon&qid=1617476087&s=books&sr=1-2
I like the art. I don't like the typography. Try to look a collection of similar books and copy how they did their titles. Most genres have font types that are popular and it can help make it more obvious to readers what the genre is from cover alone. As far as it working for a kid's book... I'm confused what age group this is for. The girl looks like a teen or adult. The description sounds pretty serious and violent. It's not obvious it's for children. I would have probably assumed it's YA or NA.
Thanks Marshipan. It's my first kid's book. It hints at violence but it's done with humour. No deaths or anything like that. Maybe the blurb needs changing.
How old is Ailsa? The cover image doesn't (to me) conjure up thoughts of someone who is on something beyond a Native American vision quest. You say she's armed with a knife and a slingshot, but they aren't shown in the image -- and she doesn't appear (again, to me) to be dressed appropriately for someone who is facing a test of survival. Also, from someone with a long-ago graphics art background, the overall "tone" of the cover doesn't strike me as aimed at children -- not even junior high or high school age. It's very "slick," polished, and precise in overall feeling. I think it's too adult for your target audience. On another note, I am troubled by a statement in the blurb. "Even worse, she's not permitted to kill them, only maim or talk her way out of the situation." I don't hunt -- I'm not a vegetarian, but I have never wanted to kill animals (other than snakes). I know people who hunt, though, and there is an ethic for hunters. Their goal is to kill quickly, cleanly, and humanely. No ethical hunter wants to wound an animal and let it suffer -- and especially not to wound an animal and then let it escape, so that it will be weakened and perhaps deprives of its ability to defend itself against natural predators. So why is Ailsa not permitted to kill things that might attack her, but she is permitted to maim them? It seems paradoxical, and the reverse of anything I have ever encountered.
Thanks SapereAude. You picked up on a good point re: the blurb. I think I should leave out that part about killing. Written the way it is makes the book look darker. And it's not what the story is about. I'll set to work on the blurb right away.
I'm with @marshipan. I like the cover just fine, and even your name looks fine to me. The typography at the bottom doesn't quite fit for me. Something about the letters in "Becoming Alisa" is too compressed. The font for "a modern fae rediscovers her roots" doesn't look good and doesn't fit the rest of the cover. I think the blurb could be spiced up as well. Make it more engaging. It doesn't match the vibe of the cheeky first-person narrative of the book (maybe it doesn't have to, but I think it would be worth trying to capture that voice in the blurb to see if it works).
