Kris says:
————
Q: “Is it just me, or is she a LOT older than that boy? (And WTH is going on with her hand)?
————-
A: In the book, the bride is depicted as being 19 years old. The groom is 16. The scene is a Jewish wedding, the two are depicted in the book as being married in the state of New Jersey, where the wedding is still by New Jersey law legal with consent by the boy’s mother. The boy, by the way, is depicted as an arts sophomore in college, brilliant at sculpture, and is intellectually on a equal footing with the bride, who is a high school graduate with talent in the violin (The bride, BTW, is placing a wedding band on the boy’s left ring finger, and they are standing outside the wedding chuppah, or canopy, while this is happening. On Jewish brides, it goes on the bride’s right index finger, and as you can see, that just happened first. And so, Kris, now you learned a thing or two new about Jewish culture today).
Catie
9 years ago
I wonder if the artist credit or “second edition” could be any smaller.
Catie says:
—————
Q: “I wonder if the artist credit or ‘second edition’ could be any smaller.”
—————-
A: I wish I could please you by making it even smaller, but I had contractual obligations I had to satisfy. I didn’t see those obligations as necessary to dominating the content’s appearance.
red says:
————
Q: “Isn’t Alouette that song where there are three rounds going at the same time?”
————
A: Let’s buy a round for red, as he or she or whatever red is JUST won FIRST PRIZE! Only one round of the song is necessary in the plot, where it behaves as a software backdoor to opening the spaceship Alouette’s emergency airlock. The bride uses it to save the lives of everyone on board at the time.
No, it’s a cheapish pasteurized cheese spread, isn’t it?
Nate: we need a tag a level below “art for a refrigerator.” I don’t know what that tag should be, but…we definitely need THAT.
Ideas, all?
And cougar, Oh, mah, yeeeees. That just looks…pervy. Like some 45-ish western granny marrying a poor 17-y.o. Jewish boy victim. It creeps me out just staring at it.
Hitch says:
————–
Q: “No, it’s (Alouette) a cheapish pasteurized cheese spread, isn’t it?
————–
A: Let’s buy a round for Hitch too! This comment is definitely lampshaded in the plot for comic effect when our heroes plot strategy over bowling and pizza.
—————
Q: “And cougar, Oh, mah, yeeeees. That just looks…pervy. Like some 45-ish western granny marrying a poor 17-y.o. Jewish boy victim. It creeps me out just staring at it.”
—————
A: Speak for yourself, Hitch. Were I to judge by your picture on this blog, yours of you wouldn’t seem to be A DAY UNDER 46! Is my novel’s cover triggering some secret fantasy which you are harboring, perhaps? Are you trying to cover for that cover by trying to shame the author or the artist for triggering within YOU those naughty, nasty feelings you are having?
You certainly do get to “defend your honor,” Andrew, insofar as you are entitled to leave your comments here just like anyone else. But I’m afraid your comments, as well as those of Ms. Jagger, are so utterly clueless, misguided, off-target, incoherent, and just plain dumb, that you’re doing a pretty poor job of defending anything. No one here said anything about the content of your book or about you as an author. Your book’s _cover_ has been lambasted here because the artwork is a worthless, incompetent scrawl that’s been made even worse by having its aspect ratio butchered and by awful typography laid over it.
The tone of this blog may be snarky, but quite the opposite of an attempt to “kill art,” I see it as a defense of art. “Art” being defined here as quality work done by people with competence in their field of endeavor. By that definition, your cover is an insult to art, and it deserves to be insulted in turn.
For your information the art was not Squeezed and the aspect ratio changed when I drew it. I too complained that it was changed and was told it had to be that way to fit the publisher’s requirements. Also I did this art out of the kindness and generosity of my heart for FREE to help my friend who is on very low income. How many hours would YOU do for free. And yes, Dorothy WAS Older than Richard in the story and some guys do appear younger EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT.
I did not do the layout and paste up either and I didn’t choose the font.
Also I am 65 years old and have rheumatoid arthritis. It caused me much pain every time I picked up a pencil. I don’t have an airbrush. I did what I could with my tiny graphire tablet to tweak the drawing, but could not go on tweaking forever for FREE.
Have you even read the story? Dorothy has platinum blonde hair and she is a few years older and just enough older for her to have a womanly look. Richard IS only 16 but he is a genius and in spite of his youthful appearance his brain and character make him act older than his years. By the time they marry they have been on such a dangerous and life changing journey they have bonded forever.
—————-
My summary for Nate:
—————-
Now, I had people like Piers Anthony and Catharine Asaro as my mentors while writing this book, and both those authors are notorious for depicting relationships where there was some disparity in age. For some reason, that appears to be unacceptable in these above exemplars for critics, truly the last word for YA/NA literature who don’t even bother to read the book,
or even note and reflect THAT EVERY REVIEW OF BOTH AMAZON COVER RELEASES OF MY BOOK NATHAN HAS LINKED TO HAVE CONSISTENTLY EARNED FIVE STARS!
(True, stars may be faked, sock puppetry may occur, but such manipulation is far too much hard work to try to affect an outcome. My secret – I crafted this to be a cult classic. I’m retired and I have lots of time on my hands.)
I get Nathan’s point. In some peoples’ minds the cover should more accurate reflect the contents, but sometimes an author doesn’t get that luxury. Sometimes, like the Defense Secretary said when visiting a regiment in the Persian Gulf, ‘you go with the army that you’ve got,
Now, I saw in the ‘about’ section for Nathan’s blog and read him to say that if I were to tell him “not to judge a book by it’s cover”, that I would receive a fat lip from him. I still remember my karate even after decades of not using it, and I can just about guarantee him the blow he would launch intended to hit my face would never see the light of day. I still remember my front and side blocks, folks, and hopefully I just made him put his foot in his mouth!
Sharon, of course they haven’t read the story. Nathan’s blog here is to trolling for a commercial cover artist enterprise by trashing books by summarizing the story by cover appearance; essentially driving business that enterprises’s way. That, by the way, is an ethical conflict of interest. I have already complained to said enterprise.
Say what? What commercial enterprise are you referring to? Neither this site nor CoverCritics.com solicit services; CC.com is an attempt to HELP authors and publishers whose plan is to prepare better covers before publication (instead of blathering and foaming at the mouth after publication, which appears to be be your intent).
Your “complaint” to CC.com is full of personal insult, drivel, and bizarre homophobic slurs; you have been judged a Public Display of Assholery, and will be treated accordingly.
Why should we read the story? The name of this site is lousy book COVERS, not lousy books. If you want book reviews, go to GoodReads, FFS. Learn the difference.
No sane person is going to read a book JUST SO IT WOULD UNDERSTAND THE COVER. THAT’S NOT WHAT THE COVER IS FOR.
You cast aspersions on other people’work, not knowing the circumstances under which the work was produced, pick it apart, and you just conveniently happen to run a business that among the services are cover design. You do not have to ask for the business verbally. It is implied.If you are not doing this to drum up busines, which at least be a reasonable excuse, then you are doing it just to be mean and because you take pleasure into running other people’s work down and it pumps up your own egos thinking you know more than the person who did the work. I doubt if you know any more than I do with 50 years as an artist and graphics designer.
a) I assess the work BY the work. You certainly realize that you can’t stand by the shoulder of everyone who might see your book cover on Amazon and say, “Please understand the circumstances of its creation.” The cover stands or falls on its own.
It’s not like I break into people’s houses and steal the artwork hung on their refrigerator. I showcase the covers that people have consciously decided to display in front of the world as the best possible marketing for their book. If you can’t stand the idea of anyone out there commenting critically on your work, DON’T LET IT BE PUBLISHED.
b) I’m sorry, but I DO NOT “run a business that among the services are cover design.” I just don’t. The end. At one point, I did have a shingle hung out to do cover design, but it was too hard to schedule freelance work among my other projects, so I retired it; I now only do some work for friends. It’s simply 100% untrue that anything I post either on LBC or on CC.com drives any work to me.
c) “I doubt if you know any more than I do with 50 years as an artist and graphics designer.” Just as I initially posted your book cover with very little comment, letting the cover speak for itself, so I shall simply point readers back to the cover in question and rest my case.
Waffles
9 years ago
I read through all the comments you have posted, and I will say this:
If you book is getting 5 star reviews… imagine how much better it would be selling if the cover matched the content!
How much MORE money could you be making if you had a true professional cover?! You could have a huge hit here. You could be raking in money and be sharing your story with thousands of more readers who would love it.
Why are you defending this cover so adamantly? It is stretched out in a way the artist didn’t even want when she designed it. The typesetting wasn’t even done by her and is one of the worst parts. Apparently there is a space station and cheese algorithms in this book, but no where is that indicated. How will sci-fi romance genre readers even attempt to find this while looking at the cover?
Author and Artist: Is your collective pride so high that you cannot admit a mistake when you see one? Is your pride worth more to you that the potential profits of this novel were it given a more appropriate cover?
Think about it and answer this honestly.
Is your pride worth more than your profit?
Catie
9 years ago
Don’t know if I should fetch some popcorn or a first aid kit.
What scares me the most is that this went through someone who calls himself a PUBLISHER. “A House Of Craft”, no less. Can’t find a web site, which means that they either don’t want (or know how) to be found, or don’t have one which also mean they don’t want to be found.
Guys, I say this to you with my best intentions, and you can take it or leave it as you wish, but whoever that “publisher” is, you should ditch him. You’d be better off on your own. No serious, professional business person who knows what he’s doing would squish the cover art and paste such amateurish and genre inappropriate font over it. Secondly, I took a peak inside, and the formatting is WRONG. THERE ARE LINES OF TEXT WHERE FONT BECOMES THREE TIMES SMALLER FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I have never seen a book do that IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. And that’s just part of the problem. I don’t know who did it, if it was you yourself, then that should’ve been the publisher’s job. If the publisher did it, he should have done it properly. I’m afraid to even ask what your monetary arrangements were, I just hope you didn’t pay any money for it.
Here’s the part that you might have trouble grasping: PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING. Imagine you’re going for a job interview at Wall Street. What would you wear? Would you come looking like a beach bum? Or would you put on a suit and a tie? You could be a financial genius, but without a suit and a tie no-one, NO-ONE would take you seriously. And right now, your book looks like it came to that interview wearing only it’s dirty underwear, unwashed, unshaven, with hollow eyes, saying “duuuude, that was some party.” Would you go out of your house looking like that? Then why do you let your book do it? Just like it wouldn’t fly on that interview, if I ran across your book and took a peak inside in spite that cover, I’d never read it. Why? It’s not presentable. Which tells me that if the author/publisher/whoever didn’t bother with the cover, AND with the formatting, chances are he didn’t bother with editing either. And there’s no way I’m wasting my time and money on an unedited book. A book which neither the author nor the publisher haven’t found worthy enough to be bothered with making it look good. Especially since there’s a ton of presentable books out there for the same price. Competition is huge, guys, and you’re not helping yourselves with this lack of presentation.
These people are too in love with being right. Why should they bother trying to be good?
Naaman Brown
9 years ago
I took the cover at 500×760 and skewed it to 800×760 in what I think is close to pre-squished format. Like a lot of cover art I have complained about being squished or squashed, this art is better at natural aspect ratio. A printer/publisher who won’t work with you to present your art as you want to see it, but instead squishes or squashes to fit, has not earned your money.
Look closer. Did you notice why the size changes? Because the fonts are different (not slightly different, one is serif, the other is sans serif!). For all we know, they might all be 12pt in size, but not all fonts are actually the same size at 12pt!
And then there are places with BOOM! A word in all caps, all bold, huge size, emphasized for impact value. Weird, but at least it looks deliberate.
Oh, sorry. You couldn’t have noticed it if you looked at the Amazon version. That one actually looks much better. Yes, the font changes size but at least it’s the same font. It’s the version on Smashwords that’s having a field day with fonts. At least in the online reader version. Weirdly enough, the size stays the same. It’s like who ever did both formatting is a schizophrenic with a split personality disorder. I’m so beyond confused.
The preview software distorts fonts no matter what’s put into it. There is no more smashwords version anymore. There is a quality upgrade in the illustration. See if this is worth more of your attention.
![cover[1]](https://lousybookcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cover118.jpg)
Is it just me, or is she a LOT older than that boy? (And WTH is going on with her hand?)
Kris says:
————
Q: “Is it just me, or is she a LOT older than that boy? (And WTH is going on with her hand)?
————-
A: In the book, the bride is depicted as being 19 years old. The groom is 16. The scene is a Jewish wedding, the two are depicted in the book as being married in the state of New Jersey, where the wedding is still by New Jersey law legal with consent by the boy’s mother. The boy, by the way, is depicted as an arts sophomore in college, brilliant at sculpture, and is intellectually on a equal footing with the bride, who is a high school graduate with talent in the violin (The bride, BTW, is placing a wedding band on the boy’s left ring finger, and they are standing outside the wedding chuppah, or canopy, while this is happening. On Jewish brides, it goes on the bride’s right index finger, and as you can see, that just happened first. And so, Kris, now you learned a thing or two new about Jewish culture today).
I wonder if the artist credit or “second edition” could be any smaller.
Catie says:
—————
Q: “I wonder if the artist credit or ‘second edition’ could be any smaller.”
—————-
A: I wish I could please you by making it even smaller, but I had contractual obligations I had to satisfy. I didn’t see those obligations as necessary to dominating the content’s appearance.
I think it was sarcasm..she meant it should be bigger, but I am not losing any sleep over the size of my name why should anyone else
So, what’s the point of writing it in the first place if no-one can read it? Or has to zoom in or strain their eyes to do it?
Cougar alert!
RK says:
———–
Q: Cougar alert!
———–
A: Reverse sexism regarding age disparity in mature relationships? Nuff said!
Isn’t Alouette that song where there are three rounds going at the same time?
red says:
————
Q: “Isn’t Alouette that song where there are three rounds going at the same time?”
————
A: Let’s buy a round for red, as he or she or whatever red is JUST won FIRST PRIZE! Only one round of the song is necessary in the plot, where it behaves as a software backdoor to opening the spaceship Alouette’s emergency airlock. The bride uses it to save the lives of everyone on board at the time.
>> software backdoor . . . spaceship . . . pasteurized cheese spread . . . bowling and pizza
My bad. I was looking at the cover for a different book.
How about a Spoiler Alert on that, Andrew Jonathon Fine?
Why? It’s not like anyone is going to read it. I tried reading the sample, it almost put me to sleep.
No, it’s a cheapish pasteurized cheese spread, isn’t it?
Nate: we need a tag a level below “art for a refrigerator.” I don’t know what that tag should be, but…we definitely need THAT.
Ideas, all?
And cougar, Oh, mah, yeeeees. That just looks…pervy. Like some 45-ish western granny marrying a poor 17-y.o. Jewish boy victim. It creeps me out just staring at it.
Hitch, I get a chance to defend my honor. I am the author, after all.
Hitch says:
————–
Q: “No, it’s (Alouette) a cheapish pasteurized cheese spread, isn’t it?
————–
A: Let’s buy a round for Hitch too! This comment is definitely lampshaded in the plot for comic effect when our heroes plot strategy over bowling and pizza.
—————
Q: “And cougar, Oh, mah, yeeeees. That just looks…pervy. Like some 45-ish western granny marrying a poor 17-y.o. Jewish boy victim. It creeps me out just staring at it.”
—————
A: Speak for yourself, Hitch. Were I to judge by your picture on this blog, yours of you wouldn’t seem to be A DAY UNDER 46! Is my novel’s cover triggering some secret fantasy which you are harboring, perhaps? Are you trying to cover for that cover by trying to shame the author or the artist for triggering within YOU those naughty, nasty feelings you are having?
Does the author get to defend his honor here? That would be me, by the way?
I believe I’m allowed to defend my honor from trolls like you guys trying to kill art. Do I get to speak up for myself here?
You certainly do get to “defend your honor,” Andrew, insofar as you are entitled to leave your comments here just like anyone else. But I’m afraid your comments, as well as those of Ms. Jagger, are so utterly clueless, misguided, off-target, incoherent, and just plain dumb, that you’re doing a pretty poor job of defending anything. No one here said anything about the content of your book or about you as an author. Your book’s _cover_ has been lambasted here because the artwork is a worthless, incompetent scrawl that’s been made even worse by having its aspect ratio butchered and by awful typography laid over it.
The tone of this blog may be snarky, but quite the opposite of an attempt to “kill art,” I see it as a defense of art. “Art” being defined here as quality work done by people with competence in their field of endeavor. By that definition, your cover is an insult to art, and it deserves to be insulted in turn.
For your information the art was not Squeezed and the aspect ratio changed when I drew it. I too complained that it was changed and was told it had to be that way to fit the publisher’s requirements. Also I did this art out of the kindness and generosity of my heart for FREE to help my friend who is on very low income. How many hours would YOU do for free. And yes, Dorothy WAS Older than Richard in the story and some guys do appear younger EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT.
I did not do the layout and paste up either and I didn’t choose the font.
Also I am 65 years old and have rheumatoid arthritis. It caused me much pain every time I picked up a pencil. I don’t have an airbrush. I did what I could with my tiny graphire tablet to tweak the drawing, but could not go on tweaking forever for FREE.
Have you even read the story? Dorothy has platinum blonde hair and she is a few years older and just enough older for her to have a womanly look. Richard IS only 16 but he is a genius and in spite of his youthful appearance his brain and character make him act older than his years. By the time they marry they have been on such a dangerous and life changing journey they have bonded forever.
—————-
My summary for Nate:
—————-
Now, I had people like Piers Anthony and Catharine Asaro as my mentors while writing this book, and both those authors are notorious for depicting relationships where there was some disparity in age. For some reason, that appears to be unacceptable in these above exemplars for critics, truly the last word for YA/NA literature who don’t even bother to read the book,
or even note and reflect THAT EVERY REVIEW OF BOTH AMAZON COVER RELEASES OF MY BOOK NATHAN HAS LINKED TO HAVE CONSISTENTLY EARNED FIVE STARS!
(True, stars may be faked, sock puppetry may occur, but such manipulation is far too much hard work to try to affect an outcome. My secret – I crafted this to be a cult classic. I’m retired and I have lots of time on my hands.)
I get Nathan’s point. In some peoples’ minds the cover should more accurate reflect the contents, but sometimes an author doesn’t get that luxury. Sometimes, like the Defense Secretary said when visiting a regiment in the Persian Gulf, ‘you go with the army that you’ve got,
Now, I saw in the ‘about’ section for Nathan’s blog and read him to say that if I were to tell him “not to judge a book by it’s cover”, that I would receive a fat lip from him. I still remember my karate even after decades of not using it, and I can just about guarantee him the blow he would launch intended to hit my face would never see the light of day. I still remember my front and side blocks, folks, and hopefully I just made him put his foot in his mouth!
Available on Smashwords for FREE using coupon code QB37C until 23 February 2015. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/500846
P.S. Sharon, bless you for standing up for me!!!
Sharon, of course they haven’t read the story. Nathan’s blog here is to trolling for a commercial cover artist enterprise by trashing books by summarizing the story by cover appearance; essentially driving business that enterprises’s way. That, by the way, is an ethical conflict of interest. I have already complained to said enterprise.
Say what? What commercial enterprise are you referring to? Neither this site nor CoverCritics.com solicit services; CC.com is an attempt to HELP authors and publishers whose plan is to prepare better covers before publication (instead of blathering and foaming at the mouth after publication, which appears to be be your intent).
Your “complaint” to CC.com is full of personal insult, drivel, and bizarre homophobic slurs; you have been judged a Public Display of Assholery, and will be treated accordingly.
Why should we read the story? The name of this site is lousy book COVERS, not lousy books. If you want book reviews, go to GoodReads, FFS. Learn the difference.
No sane person is going to read a book JUST SO IT WOULD UNDERSTAND THE COVER. THAT’S NOT WHAT THE COVER IS FOR.
You cast aspersions on other people’work, not knowing the circumstances under which the work was produced, pick it apart, and you just conveniently happen to run a business that among the services are cover design. You do not have to ask for the business verbally. It is implied.If you are not doing this to drum up busines, which at least be a reasonable excuse, then you are doing it just to be mean and because you take pleasure into running other people’s work down and it pumps up your own egos thinking you know more than the person who did the work. I doubt if you know any more than I do with 50 years as an artist and graphics designer.
a) I assess the work BY the work. You certainly realize that you can’t stand by the shoulder of everyone who might see your book cover on Amazon and say, “Please understand the circumstances of its creation.” The cover stands or falls on its own.
It’s not like I break into people’s houses and steal the artwork hung on their refrigerator. I showcase the covers that people have consciously decided to display in front of the world as the best possible marketing for their book. If you can’t stand the idea of anyone out there commenting critically on your work, DON’T LET IT BE PUBLISHED.
b) I’m sorry, but I DO NOT “run a business that among the services are cover design.” I just don’t. The end. At one point, I did have a shingle hung out to do cover design, but it was too hard to schedule freelance work among my other projects, so I retired it; I now only do some work for friends. It’s simply 100% untrue that anything I post either on LBC or on CC.com drives any work to me.
c) “I doubt if you know any more than I do with 50 years as an artist and graphics designer.” Just as I initially posted your book cover with very little comment, letting the cover speak for itself, so I shall simply point readers back to the cover in question and rest my case.
I read through all the comments you have posted, and I will say this:
If you book is getting 5 star reviews… imagine how much better it would be selling if the cover matched the content!
How much MORE money could you be making if you had a true professional cover?! You could have a huge hit here. You could be raking in money and be sharing your story with thousands of more readers who would love it.
Why are you defending this cover so adamantly? It is stretched out in a way the artist didn’t even want when she designed it. The typesetting wasn’t even done by her and is one of the worst parts. Apparently there is a space station and cheese algorithms in this book, but no where is that indicated. How will sci-fi romance genre readers even attempt to find this while looking at the cover?
Author and Artist: Is your collective pride so high that you cannot admit a mistake when you see one? Is your pride worth more to you that the potential profits of this novel were it given a more appropriate cover?
Think about it and answer this honestly.
Is your pride worth more than your profit?
Don’t know if I should fetch some popcorn or a first aid kit.
What scares me the most is that this went through someone who calls himself a PUBLISHER. “A House Of Craft”, no less. Can’t find a web site, which means that they either don’t want (or know how) to be found, or don’t have one which also mean they don’t want to be found.
Guys, I say this to you with my best intentions, and you can take it or leave it as you wish, but whoever that “publisher” is, you should ditch him. You’d be better off on your own. No serious, professional business person who knows what he’s doing would squish the cover art and paste such amateurish and genre inappropriate font over it. Secondly, I took a peak inside, and the formatting is WRONG. THERE ARE LINES OF TEXT WHERE FONT BECOMES THREE TIMES SMALLER FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I have never seen a book do that IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. And that’s just part of the problem. I don’t know who did it, if it was you yourself, then that should’ve been the publisher’s job. If the publisher did it, he should have done it properly. I’m afraid to even ask what your monetary arrangements were, I just hope you didn’t pay any money for it.
Here’s the part that you might have trouble grasping: PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING. Imagine you’re going for a job interview at Wall Street. What would you wear? Would you come looking like a beach bum? Or would you put on a suit and a tie? You could be a financial genius, but without a suit and a tie no-one, NO-ONE would take you seriously. And right now, your book looks like it came to that interview wearing only it’s dirty underwear, unwashed, unshaven, with hollow eyes, saying “duuuude, that was some party.” Would you go out of your house looking like that? Then why do you let your book do it? Just like it wouldn’t fly on that interview, if I ran across your book and took a peak inside in spite that cover, I’d never read it. Why? It’s not presentable. Which tells me that if the author/publisher/whoever didn’t bother with the cover, AND with the formatting, chances are he didn’t bother with editing either. And there’s no way I’m wasting my time and money on an unedited book. A book which neither the author nor the publisher haven’t found worthy enough to be bothered with making it look good. Especially since there’s a ton of presentable books out there for the same price. Competition is huge, guys, and you’re not helping yourselves with this lack of presentation.
Save your breath Catie.
These people are too in love with being right. Why should they bother trying to be good?
I took the cover at 500×760 and skewed it to 800×760 in what I think is close to pre-squished format. Like a lot of cover art I have complained about being squished or squashed, this art is better at natural aspect ratio. A printer/publisher who won’t work with you to present your art as you want to see it, but instead squishes or squashes to fit, has not earned your money.
You should look inside. I have never seen a worse formatted book in my life. Every paragraph is in a different font.
Whoa. Didn’t know this went so far. Lol.
Looked inside. Good GRIEF. Unindented paragraphs plus no spacing between paragraphs? Random font size changes? REALLY?
Catie is right. This is the worst formatting in an ebook I’ve ever seen. And that, I reckon, is saying something.
Look closer. Did you notice why the size changes? Because the fonts are different (not slightly different, one is serif, the other is sans serif!). For all we know, they might all be 12pt in size, but not all fonts are actually the same size at 12pt!
And then there are places with BOOM! A word in all caps, all bold, huge size, emphasized for impact value. Weird, but at least it looks deliberate.
Oh, sorry. You couldn’t have noticed it if you looked at the Amazon version. That one actually looks much better. Yes, the font changes size but at least it’s the same font. It’s the version on Smashwords that’s having a field day with fonts. At least in the online reader version. Weirdly enough, the size stays the same. It’s like who ever did both formatting is a schizophrenic with a split personality disorder. I’m so beyond confused.
You should see a better cover and much better formatting here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V0YQPWC
The preview software distorts fonts no matter what’s put into it. There is no more smashwords version anymore. There is a quality upgrade in the illustration. See if this is worth more of your attention.
The formatting is good now. Nice work.
New cover by professional designer.