Those are HER covers, (the linked ones) on HER books, done with her co-author of THIS book. I know, right? I feel bad about saying all this–she put herself out there and all that, but as my friends in the American South say, “Lawd-oh-mercy!”
Some of them are decent design ideas, just without the ability to pull them off.
I mean, the “Chocolate Can Kill” one — I can imagine something good using that idea of chocolates on a dainty plate with a doily, and one broken open with blood seeping out. That’s a great idea. It just needed better execution. (And, dare I say, a bit more money spent on it.)
And the other ones, well, at least you can tell which ones belong to the same series, which is something we don’t often see here. The general idea of “photo of the lake house with overlaid title on a panel”, for instance, is fine for a series that’s apparently centred around the house itself. Use a slightly different photo of the house each time instead of one stock shot with filters, and settle on a single (readable) style for the title, and you’d have something reasonable.
I looked at the preview of the paperback edition. TOC page is particularly … er … interesting. For “not knowing how to do a right-aligned tab” reasons.
Well…maybe it’s a collection of negative examples?
Oh, sweet baby jesus. And the scary part is that people will actually buy it, I bet.
Why not? I mean….yowza. Let us never forget the immortal words of PT Barnum, amirite?
What’s with the ridiculously weak chins? Are they both inbred British royalty?
I think they’re supposed to be part of one of those optical illusion “Is it a vase or two faces” pictures.
At least the don’ts are clearly visible.
Clearly visible, as in the entire book?
At first I thought it was a joke.
Then I was really hoping it was a joke.
Some days the only way to get through life is to assume that you’re part of a really, really thorough practical joke.
If you guys really want to enjoy this, the author (Annie Acorn) regales readers with the story of how she got into self-publishing, her search for a cover designer, etc. and then mentions the covers that were the result of this extraordinary collaboration: https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Kill-Emily-Harris-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00788EOKE/ and https://www.amazon.com/Annie-Acorn/e/B00DJFJTNM/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 .
Submitted for your kind perusal.
Are these supposed to be examples of *good* covers?
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that someone who identifies as Tammy Faye Baker clip art would find these exemplary. *le sigh*
Those are HER covers, (the linked ones) on HER books, done with her co-author of THIS book. I know, right? I feel bad about saying all this–she put herself out there and all that, but as my friends in the American South say, “Lawd-oh-mercy!”
Some of them are decent design ideas, just without the ability to pull them off.
I mean, the “Chocolate Can Kill” one — I can imagine something good using that idea of chocolates on a dainty plate with a doily, and one broken open with blood seeping out. That’s a great idea. It just needed better execution. (And, dare I say, a bit more money spent on it.)
And the other ones, well, at least you can tell which ones belong to the same series, which is something we don’t often see here. The general idea of “photo of the lake house with overlaid title on a panel”, for instance, is fine for a series that’s apparently centred around the house itself. Use a slightly different photo of the house each time instead of one stock shot with filters, and settle on a single (readable) style for the title, and you’d have something reasonable.
I agree with you. Not bad ideas at all–but the execution…man. (SMH)
I looked at the preview of the paperback edition. TOC page is particularly … er … interesting. For “not knowing how to do a right-aligned tab” reasons.