Book Covers

[SirKazum]

I've been putting some of my fiction up on Wattpad (http://www.wattpad.com/user/FernandoSacchetto), and I've noticed that nice covers do a lot to improve a work's visibility. So far I've been using the default covers, but of course that doesn't look so professional to those who know what they are (pretty much anyone who's tried to publish in Wattpad, I guess), so I'm looking to spice things up with some original covers. In order to avoid running afoul of copyright violations (I actually lost all my Wattpad stuff in the past for that), I'm using only photos I've taken, at least for now.

So, without further ado - which of these following covers do you think looks the most interesting? I'm trying to pick one. Suggestions are also welcome.

https://worldlinecollapse.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/test1a.jpg
https://worldlinecollapse.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/test2a.jpg
https://worldlinecollapse.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/test3a.jpg
https://worldlinecollapse.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/test4a.jpg
https://worldlinecollapse.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/test5a.jpg

Thanks!

[Duck999]

One thing I've done is go on the creative commons to find pictures legal for editing and redistribution, then I used photoshop to make a nice looking cover. I got some pretty nice effects.

[SirKazum]

I gotta learn me some Photoshop... using just MS Office picture editor and Paint really sucks. I'll try and install it later.

But meanwhile, any preference among the 5 covers I've prepared?

[Duck999]

I suggest not number two since it has more tree and less castle, and the castles are cool.

Number 3 is nice and easy to read.

It really depends on your book though. If you have given the book to any friends to read, I would ask them for suggestions.

[SirKazum]

Yeah, I liked 3 as well. Wasn't that sure, because it looks sorta gloomy, and the story is light-hearted... but I think it works. I rather like 4 as well. Thanks for the input!

[Lady Moreta]

For something just using MS Picture Editor and Paint, they're pretty good :smallsmile:

First comment: We need to know more about the book first - just knowing that it's 'light-hearted' isn't enough, because my first response to that it that none of these are suitable for something light-hearted, but I need to know more of the actual plot to really know which is best.

Anyway, my opinions

Option One
This is probably my favourite of the lot, but the font colour needs to be darker (right now, it's really hard to read), I'd suggest using the blue or red you used in 4 & 5, or even just go with plain black, it looks more professional.

Option Two
I agree with Duck999 that this one has too much tree. However, you can take away from it that the title is much more readable. You're better off having the major part of the image in an area where there isn't any text... let me rephrase that... take your picture, decide what part of the picture you most want visible/want people to see/want to catch people's eye with and have that part be where there is no text. Crop/rotate/modify picture and/or text as needed.

You know, I may be revising my opinion of this one... sure it's not as pretty a picture, but you want people to be grabbed by the title, not the picture (and it's a catchy title, make use of it!). This one wins in terms of readability... the eye is immediately grabbed by the title, and then drawn further in to the image of the building behind the tree. It gives a wonderful sense of mystery, what is this building? what's inside it? how does it relate to the title? and the only way to find out is to read the book... I take it back, this one is best.

Option Three
This one works in the same way as #2, we get grabbed by the words and drawn further in to the picture. I think though, that it might look better if the title is right-aligned instead of left, partly to see the castle more clearly and partly to get rid of that massive empty space beside the word 'No' - empty spaces are not your friend. It draws the eye straight to it, instead of the title which is where you want people to go. I'd also be interested in seeing what it looks like with the title written over the tree at the very top. Could be interesting (could also not work at all, that's why I'm curious).

Option Four
Yay, it's not yellow! I don't like yellow as a colour in general, but I think it's too light and breezy for a book you want people to buy/read (not sure what Wattpad is about, haven't looked yet). Especially as you've said you want them to be more professional, yellow is only professional if you work in a daycare centre with kids.

Also, it's the wrong picture - lovely image, but the castle is too far in the background... and your name is much too big, it's drawing too much attention away from the title and the image.

Option Five
I think this one has the same problem as #4, only I'm reluctant to say so... but I have to admit, that's largely because I like the background image more. This image is better though, simply because the castle isn't as far in the background as the previous one. It actually works in the same way #2 does, you get grabbed by the title, drawn into the foreground of the image, and then to the castle in the background. Again though, your name is way too big. Go back to making it the same size as the first couple, they were a much better size (I'm sorry, but at this point, your name just ain't as important as the title).

I would also suggest getting rid of some of the fullcaps... I think your name should be in normal, not fullcaps, it's just a bit too much capitalisation, it makes it harder to read and I personally, don't like book covers that shout at me. Ixnay your name in caps, and I'd suggest dropping the font size on the title as well, just a little (and possibly experiment with the font choice as well, that's a good one for your name, but it's a bit boring for a title... again, that depends largely on what the book is about. Something light-hearted could easily have a softer, lighter font, but it really depends on the story itself).

Overall, I think #2 or #5, experiment with font size, font, and capitalisation, and make the font black or a dark grey/blue/red (I know sometimes black is just too hard to see, but darker colours will look better I think).

EDIT: Just looked over your posts again and had another thought... you say you like #3, but you're not sure because it's gloomy and the story is light-hearted. Listen to your instincts! If the story is light-hearted, don't use a dark and gloomy picture (like that one is), you will give your readers entirely the wrong idea of what your story is about (especially since the title, while intriguing, could be serious or light-hearted) and then they'll start reading and get mad at you for misleading them and won't want to read you any more. Story is light-hearted = bright image... doesn't have to be or feel cheery if you don't want, but just something with sunshine and no (or few) clouds.

.... I just finished a 5-week writing course... does it show? I think it shows... :smallamused:

[SirKazum]

Wow... thanks a lot! That was really well-thought :smallsmile:

One of the biggest problems I've encountered making these covers (probably because of the crappy software I'm using) is contrast. For example, in #3, you ask why is there nothing written across the tree at the top - that was my first idea, actually, but I couldn't get anything to work. If I used a light font, it blended with the sky; if I used a dark one, it blended with the branches. Either way, it's horrible to read. That's a problem I've been facing with photographs - you usually have both dark and light elements together, of several colors, which makes picking a text color really hard. I suppose that wouldn't be a problem if I had font shading, but the only way I found to put text across a picture with the software I've got (can't install new software in my work computer) is with Paint, which is reeeally basic. You can't even choose text alignment in Paint text boxes, hence why everything I've done so far is left-aligned. But I guess that's way too limiting - so either I get some more software at my home computer (downside being, of course, I have less time to use it in a typical day) or I use some sort of trick that's probably going to be a bit more difficult and time-consuming, but worth the effort, such as entering several text boxes and carefully aligning them (both for right-alignment and for shading).

As for what this is - I've put it in my fiction thread (see first link in my sig), under the name of "Un-Heroes". Found a better name since then, I'll change it when I update the thread :smallbiggrin: It's a D&D-based fantasy tale (fully accessible to people who have no idea what D&D is, though - for instance, I'm not making any jokes or references about game rules), featuring a bunch of highly unorthodox characters: a tree, an owl, a hammer and a skeleton. It's humorous, though not necessarily comedy - somewhere between Discworld and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in tone. That is, characters and situations that might be funny, but few or no direct jokes. It's got an overall theme of characters either looking for heroes or trying to be them, and falling short (either because they're woefully incompetent, or because they're a goddamn tree or whatever), and yet still saving the day in the end because... you make do with what you've got, despite many setbacks.

As for your comments... okay, I'll keep my name smaller. I tried making it bigger in my latter two tries because there seemed to be a lot of empty space, actually. I'm aware that, right now, my name isn't something people will care about in the least :smalltongue: Also, I used that huge font size for the title because, I dunno, it felt a bit empty otherwise. But, if the background picture is interesting, I suppose I could capitalize on that.

And the yellow came because I was originally going with white, for contrast reasons, but that felt kinda boring to me. And books with golden titles came to mind. But yeah, this plain yellow is a far cry from the shiny high-relief gold of some professional fantasy books...

The font I'm using is Poor Richard. I love it for fantasy stuff. I actually capitalized everything, including my name, mostly for consistency, but if you're saying my name is better with normal caps, Poor Richard actually has awesome lowercase letters. I briefly debated going normal-case for the title as well, but it just felt wrong somehow. Dunno... I'll consider other fonts as well, though I'm pretty much limited to what came with my computer.

Also, it bears saying that those images are all cropped from larger photos. 4 and 5 actually came from the same picture, just cropped in different places. There's a nice castle as well (Urquhart Castle in Scotland), but I'm thinking of using that one in another fantasy story. But the thing is, it's also possible to crop those images differently, say, to change the amount of sky or ground or whatever that shows in each one. The 256x400 format they're in is mandatory for Wattpad, though.

As for the tree cover (#2), you don't think the different colors for author and title are bad? I just couldn't find anything that worked across both regions, which have wildly different colors and light levels. That picture has actually seen a lot of brightness and hue correction, it's way too bright in the original. Also, that tree shows up in a few Harry Potter movies :smallbiggrin: but that's beside the point, heheh...

[Cuthalion]

I'd keep Number One but change the color of the font.

[GoatKid]

You could try a more abstract background. Lots of novels do this for impact and readability, especially for small thumbnails. Sometimes a nice font that is arranged in a pleasing way can be enough.Photoshop is really helpful here, and you can do a lot, very quickly to style the font with drop shadows and things. Obviously this is a pretty rough example:
http://s21.postimg.org/la9lhn45z/no_legend_for_us_1.jpg (http://postimage.org/) image upload free (http://postimage.org/)
http://s4.postimg.org/j8x0rswt9/no_legend_for_us_2.jpg (http://postimage.org/) free upload image (http://postimage.org/)
http://postimg.org/image/w9ust8ukz/
http://postimg.org/image/sylmst3th/

[SirKazum]

Dude. Duuuude. That's just... perfect! How did you do that?! It's awesome! :biggrin: Is there any chance I could use one of those?

Edit: Specifically, the first one. The golden text seems to clash with the otherwise "monochrome" design a bit.

[GoatKid]

Sure :) it's not very polished but go right ahead if you like it.

[SirKazum]

Thanks a bunch man! (or woman or... I dunno, sorry :smalltongue: ) Who do I credit?

Edit: Oh, and of course... if you're up to it, I've got several other books in there that could use nice covers like that :smallredface:

[GoatKid]

My name's Chris Kuhlmann, but no need to credit me... It's not exactly my best work....lol, use it in good health :D

If you just want some super quick mock ups like this, I could do a few more I guess. Just send me title and short description, I don't mind helping out.

[SirKazum]

Just had a look at your DeviantArt and... yeah, I get why you don't really want to be credited for that cover, it would be a disservice compared to your other stuff :smalltongue: But thanks! I put it up there already, looks awesome.