Hell, that’s what I look like two hours into a trip. I’m even less of a traveler. Used to travel all over the globe, all the time, but I sucked at it then and I damn sure suck worse at it now.
Is that an honest question? In my “I know nothing except what I like and what I don’t” opinion, the photo is a lot better, but the font and the text layout don’t quite work for me. There are other people on this site who know a lot more about that area and can give you a more educated opinion on that.
Y’know, Phil, I admire your zest for life and your sangfroid about appearing here. It really is cool to see. Most folks don’t have the aplomb to play along.
BUT…those of us who hang here really do want you to do better. To sell more books–and to do that, your cover must be clickbait. And neither of those are.
Yes, the Leaning Tower cover is better than The Hangover, Part 8 cover, but that’s not saying much. The bedroom/hotel one looks like you couldn’t take another step and collapsed. That’s not going to lure buyers.
Yup, you need something much, much better. I wish I had an immediate, clever idea to share with you. I truly do.
I appreciate your honesty. I have many many better photos than either of these but none of them would really illustrate the book to me. I would have to use something completely unrelated. Maybe that would work, but it would seem wrong to me. Maybe it is the design, or lack of it. The fact that it is just a picture and words. We are told not to judge books by covers, but we all do. All the photos I used in or are linked to the book are on the website link below. If you get bored one day, maybe you could take a quick look and suggest an alternative. There are a fair few nice ones on there. And others that you would never use in a million years. For the moment I a happy that news of my book has spread beyond the few mentions on Amazon and Goodreads, even if it is only as far as http://www.yourcoverisshit.com. It’s still publicity. 🙂
Well, here’s the thing–if you expect to be the entire audience for your book, then your perspective–“none of them would really illustrate the book to me,” is perfectly great.
If, however, you wish to sell the book, then you have to remove yourself from the equation. I say here, and on CoverCritics.com, fairly often: Your cover is clickbait. That’s all it is. Its entire job.
Whether or not it demonstrates or illustrates some plot or story element to you, or shows that all-important person or clue–is irrelevant. What matters is, that when some total stranger sees it, it cues them to the story being told and most importantly, makes them click.
Because if they don’t click–which they probably are NOT doing with this pair of covers–then they will never buy. It’s that simple.
You are making the same mistake that many self-published authors make–thinking that the cover has to be important to YOU. And again, if you expect to be the entire buying audience, then, yes, sure, do that. If however, you want other people to buy it, then you need to make the cover speak to them–and not to you. You need to make them click.
No. That is a very valid point. It leaves me nowhere of course, but hey. Now, what would sell the book to the public at large? This may take some time…
As an aside, my father was a published author and although I read his books, if had no personal connection and the covers were the selling point, I wouldn’t have read any. He didn’t have much say at all in the matter and generally agreed with me. Some of the earlier covers were trite beyond belief. But the books were good, they sold, and he was a success. Did the covers make the books or were the contents more important? I believe the latter. And, if I come up with a killer clickbait cover for my book and it turns out to be pants, people will be disappointed and some might quote the age-old saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. And where does one go to get their cover art sorted? There are probably a lot of people out there who do that stuff for a living. They will come up with something they may meet approval, but not change the content of the book. This has turned into a ramble so I’ll shut up. But I may submit a few more for approval. Or disapproval as the case may be
OK, I went back to the drawing board. But if these are only as good (bad) as the first two. I will admit defeat and seek professional help (creative and psychological)
Just out of curiosity–firstly, I’d love to suggest that you consider, when you have a real cover candidate, that you come visit us on CoverCritics.com–what exactly is this book about? Is it a travel memoir, is that it? Is it a romp? Humor? Serious?
Can you advise? Y’know, nobody here is trying to hurt your feelings or be a jackass–we really are trying to help. 🙂
I get that you are trying to help and appreciate it. The book is a collection of stories from my travels but it has everything. Humour, weirdness, the interesting and the sad. No one picture I have captures it all. I put together a few collages that I never used, but even then. Eye catching is the key. Even if the one I have now is shite, at least it isn’t really really shite like the original.
Based on the description on Amazon, I would say bottom left. I’ve been thinking about it (mostly to avoid thinking about doing my own work), and it seems to me that what you want to convey is a serious of adventures that leave the protagonists collapsed in a heap and thinking, “What the #$%! just happened?” Of all the images you’ve posted, I think the bottom left one conveys that feeling best without looking like it was the first picture you pulled off your phone.
Thank you. I may go with that. For the moment I have the guy with arms wide and head thrown back. Btw, please don’t tell me the other seven look like the first ones pulled off my phone :-). Especially as they were taken with my precious Nikon. They may not make good covers, but I rate them all as photos (and 5 had to be cropped from landscape shots)
It would be better with the text over the blank sky, rather than over details of the art. It’s almost like the covers that put text over people’s faces.
I’ll give them credit*, this is about what I look like a week or so into a long trip.
I’m not much of a traveler
*credit without value, cover is still terrible
Hell, that’s what I look like two hours into a trip. I’m even less of a traveler. Used to travel all over the globe, all the time, but I sucked at it then and I damn sure suck worse at it now.
a.k.a ‘The Hangover: SAGA Holiday Version.’
No, not by a very long chalk. But it illustrates the title story. I don’t think it’s a good picture but I was hoping for the weird vote
And I’ll take any publicity whatsoever 🙂
Besides, this is the cover for the print edition. Hoping it’s an improvement.
Is that an honest question? In my “I know nothing except what I like and what I don’t” opinion, the photo is a lot better, but the font and the text layout don’t quite work for me. There are other people on this site who know a lot more about that area and can give you a more educated opinion on that.
It’s not an honest question really. Just joining in.
Y’know, Phil, I admire your zest for life and your sangfroid about appearing here. It really is cool to see. Most folks don’t have the aplomb to play along.
BUT…those of us who hang here really do want you to do better. To sell more books–and to do that, your cover must be clickbait. And neither of those are.
Yes, the Leaning Tower cover is better than The Hangover, Part 8 cover, but that’s not saying much. The bedroom/hotel one looks like you couldn’t take another step and collapsed. That’s not going to lure buyers.
Yup, you need something much, much better. I wish I had an immediate, clever idea to share with you. I truly do.
I appreciate your honesty. I have many many better photos than either of these but none of them would really illustrate the book to me. I would have to use something completely unrelated. Maybe that would work, but it would seem wrong to me. Maybe it is the design, or lack of it. The fact that it is just a picture and words. We are told not to judge books by covers, but we all do. All the photos I used in or are linked to the book are on the website link below. If you get bored one day, maybe you could take a quick look and suggest an alternative. There are a fair few nice ones on there. And others that you would never use in a million years. For the moment I a happy that news of my book has spread beyond the few mentions on Amazon and Goodreads, even if it is only as far as http://www.yourcoverisshit.com. It’s still publicity. 🙂
Well, here’s the thing–if you expect to be the entire audience for your book, then your perspective–“none of them would really illustrate the book to me,” is perfectly great.
If, however, you wish to sell the book, then you have to remove yourself from the equation. I say here, and on CoverCritics.com, fairly often: Your cover is clickbait. That’s all it is. Its entire job.
Whether or not it demonstrates or illustrates some plot or story element to you, or shows that all-important person or clue–is irrelevant. What matters is, that when some total stranger sees it, it cues them to the story being told and most importantly, makes them click.
Because if they don’t click–which they probably are NOT doing with this pair of covers–then they will never buy. It’s that simple.
You are making the same mistake that many self-published authors make–thinking that the cover has to be important to YOU. And again, if you expect to be the entire buying audience, then, yes, sure, do that. If however, you want other people to buy it, then you need to make the cover speak to them–and not to you. You need to make them click.
But, hey, it’s your book.
No. That is a very valid point. It leaves me nowhere of course, but hey. Now, what would sell the book to the public at large? This may take some time…
As an aside, my father was a published author and although I read his books, if had no personal connection and the covers were the selling point, I wouldn’t have read any. He didn’t have much say at all in the matter and generally agreed with me. Some of the earlier covers were trite beyond belief. But the books were good, they sold, and he was a success. Did the covers make the books or were the contents more important? I believe the latter. And, if I come up with a killer clickbait cover for my book and it turns out to be pants, people will be disappointed and some might quote the age-old saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. And where does one go to get their cover art sorted? There are probably a lot of people out there who do that stuff for a living. They will come up with something they may meet approval, but not change the content of the book. This has turned into a ramble so I’ll shut up. But I may submit a few more for approval. Or disapproval as the case may be
The way I’ve seen it described it like this:
It’s the cover’s job to get people to read the description.
It’s the description’s job to get people to read the “Look Inside.”
It’s the “Look Inside”‘s job to get people to buy the book.
So, yeah, ultimately it’s your contents that will sell your book…but it’s your cover that will get people to give those contents a look.
OK, I went back to the drawing board. But if these are only as good (bad) as the first two. I will admit defeat and seek professional help (creative and psychological)
No2
No 3
No 4
No 5
Had a bit of agg with posting pics, so…
If these all suck, then I don’t know.
Well, ok, I’m not serious about bottom right.
As nutty as it is, I might consider the bottom row,2nd from the left, with some adjustments. Seriously.
I went with 3rd from left in the bottom row and enlarged the image to bring it up the cover a tad
Just out of curiosity–firstly, I’d love to suggest that you consider, when you have a real cover candidate, that you come visit us on CoverCritics.com–what exactly is this book about? Is it a travel memoir, is that it? Is it a romp? Humor? Serious?
Can you advise? Y’know, nobody here is trying to hurt your feelings or be a jackass–we really are trying to help. 🙂
I get that you are trying to help and appreciate it. The book is a collection of stories from my travels but it has everything. Humour, weirdness, the interesting and the sad. No one picture I have captures it all. I put together a few collages that I never used, but even then. Eye catching is the key. Even if the one I have now is shite, at least it isn’t really really shite like the original.
Based on the description on Amazon, I would say bottom left. I’ve been thinking about it (mostly to avoid thinking about doing my own work), and it seems to me that what you want to convey is a serious of adventures that leave the protagonists collapsed in a heap and thinking, “What the #$%! just happened?” Of all the images you’ve posted, I think the bottom left one conveys that feeling best without looking like it was the first picture you pulled off your phone.
Thank you. I may go with that. For the moment I have the guy with arms wide and head thrown back. Btw, please don’t tell me the other seven look like the first ones pulled off my phone :-). Especially as they were taken with my precious Nikon. They may not make good covers, but I rate them all as photos (and 5 had to be cropped from landscape shots)
No, the other 7 pictures in this montage were nice, they just didn’t seem to fit the tone of your book to me.
As an aside, bottom left was the easiest one to capture as it’s just a wall painting.
Exactly this. ^^^
It would be better with the text over the blank sky, rather than over details of the art. It’s almost like the covers that put text over people’s faces.
Yes, I did try, but none of my efforts worked for me.
Can I have my replacement cover link please 🙂
Or you could just see it here. I’m not looking for feedback. At the very least, I don’t think it’s lousy