I’m so glad I got your attention again! NOW; I need less general hate (although I will happily TAKE IT) but I would really like some really specific criticisms! Do understand I plan to do NOTHING with said criticisms. I write for fun and this WHOLE THING is a HOOT! Tell me what you hate! 😀 😀 😀 aaaaaand GO!
Then take the cover to CoverCritics.com. This is not the site for it–nor is bringing along friends or family to try to talk about how great it is.
When you put a book up for sale on Amazon or SW, you are saying that it’s a commercial product–that you are as good as trade publishers. You’re saying that you deserve to earn MONEY for having published it. That people should give up their hard-earned cash, to you–just like they would to a commercial publisher. It’s not a hobby publishing site. If you want to publish that way, there are FanFiction.net and other hobby publishing sites.
But if you use a bad cover, you’re only hurting yourself–nobody else. So….you do you.
Take It? I didn’t Take it here, but I love the ride, so Let’s begin:
1) I was so happy to see one of my covers here again. I blasted the link on most of my promo venues. I in fact begged for more ripping as I did here. I really only know one poster, but I have few followers and fans on reddit and FB (who as I said I invited to rip.
2)JUST WRONG. I put my book on a butt-load off venues because it is fun and it entertains me. As far as earning money goes HA! This is a hobby and it cost money (I’m a software engineer, I’m not short of money). Again, ALL THIS, including ‘THIS’ is just FUN for me. As far as you opinion on WHAT I should do with my books and where I should publish them, duly noted. That however sound less FUN, hard pass.
3)Hurting myself… My goal is to is to have fun and I’m having a HOOT! I moved 1200 units last month. If I were trying to make a living of this OMG I would be lost, but just entertaining myself WOO-HOO! Man ALIVE! BOOM! Done & Done!
I so enjoy this dialog and so must a few of my fans.
So that said. I’m not sure what the goal or end game of your site here, I hope you are having FUN. Or maybe it’s to drum up business for people making a living on the cover side of the industry and embarrassing some pour sole in to spending money on said service or whatever, but me personally it would prooooobably be be a pay cut for me to pursue a living as a writer (at moooost levels anyway). I’m a better writer than artist LOL, but not that good. If I take a pay cut it will be to write video games. NOW that would be super fun.
DO I HAVE A LOUSY Cover? I’ll Take That! Did I have fun making it? YOU BETCHA!
Thanks you so much for your time & and lets keep talking about my Lousy Cover Yaaaaaay! I hit number 1 for a minute with the title in some category or another (free at the time). Craptacular Cover and All!
Goodnite EVERYBODY!
Hahahaha, No protest, just a difference in a perception of posture. Again, “ALL THIS” is part of the FUN for me (not my bread & butter). I’m having fun and I hope you folks are too! 😀
I saw! I saw & a bravo for that author! Thank goodness the gatekeepers are gone and we get to see a slice of everything now! These are exciting times indeed!
I am proud to play my part in this wave of inclusion. I so enjoy my conversations with people who are of the singular mindset (opposite of your in disgusts) who think that if a women is built with (to quote my texts) a 1.5 to 1 boob to head ratio, it has to be some kind of hentie or porn. I must admit that I am a little less bothered by those like you who look down in disgusts hiding behind the righteousness of best health practices and the like (in a thinly veiled attempt to excuse bigotry and personal preference), than I am those who think if your breast are above a certain size, it can only been good for one thing… In my world… they get to be heroes! …protesting to much me thinks! Hahahahaha!
Soooo it’s protesting healthy living to have an appreciation for a fuller size, in a fictional universe, where it has no ill effects? (actually addressed a few time across both series). You do realize this is fantasy right? Now yes there are REAL WORLD consequences for everything, but in my fictional world, a world where the author is grossed out by the sight of a rib cage and put off by the occasional sharp collar bone and sees smaller breast akin to a shriveled arm that never quite grew, we are going to have fuller figure female heroes.
God I have missed these little chats!
Brief Aside: How you doing Hitch? What color is the sky in your world? Blue with fluffy clouds I hope!
“…in a fictional universe, where it has no ill effects? (actually addressed a few time across both series)…”
As a cover design discussion–the people scouring searches for books to read don’t know that and can’t know that. That’s like putting some element on the cover, of any type that “they’ll understand AFTER the reader finishes the book.” That’s a terrible cover design practice.
We talk about that here, with authors that reply, saying that same thing “it’s important at the end of the book!” or “they’ll get the symbolism after they’ve read it!,” or the like–and we talk about it at CoverCritics.com, as well. Anybody in the cover design or critique business will tell you the same thing–that’s hardly unique to this site. Why would any prospective purchaser care if the cover shows some element that’s important, later? That’s not the cover’s job.
The cover has ONE job, and one job only–it’s clickbait, nothing more, nothing less, meant to get someone to click through to the sales page (not out of curiosity, but out of intent to buy); then to read the description, then click into the LITB and then to read the LITB and hopefully, from thence to purchasing. If a cover isn’t doing that, it’s not doing its job, period.
Nobody looking at that is going to think, “oh, hey, look, a fantasy universe where there are no consequences to being fat/obese! Hoorah!” Won’t remotely cross their mind. All they are going to see are your obese figures, period. So, if you’re seeking fetishists, which, I take it, is the intent, fine–but you won’t get readers thinking that it’s a “no consequences’ universe.
But as I said, some 5-6 posts back–it’s your cover. You seem to be delighted with it and you assert that you have wildly successful sales–so, good luck with it.
BRAVO! Even thru all of that you seemed to “kinda” be getting my point. I had fun making that cover, but delighted might be TOO strong a word LOL As far as some deeper meaning like, “read it and you will get it”, NOT!. I promise you that much thought DID NOT go in it, or anything like that… NAH! Its probably leaning a bit more towards attention seeking of mainstream fetishists and an underrepresented subset. I respect your professional definition of “what” a cover is for. For me however, its just 3 letters FUN!
One last point; You are SO RIGHT that NO ONE, and I mean NOOOOO ONE is going to think “oh, hey, look, a fantasy universe where there are no consequences to being fat/obese! Hoorah!“, hahahaha, noooooobody. I am willing to bet however there will be those who will think something along the lines of “FINALLY a female hero who’s gender cannot be concealed with a hat and a trench coat”, or maybe “YAAAAAY! REAL Boobies” Hahahahaha!
Never mind. I give up. You obviously don’t really take authoring or publishing seriously, so what’s the point? You constantly deflect any critique with “it’s FUN!,” so, since you’re having so much fun, you just keep on keepin’ on. You do you. There’s clearly little point in continuing this–or any–conversation with you.
Give up??? Was there a goal on you part that you think you wanted to do more in? You should not give up. I now know so much more about what a “novel cover is for”, at least for someone who takes it seriously, which obviously I DO NOT. This really is ALL JUST FOR FUN for me. I have so enjoyed our back and fourth. You are truly a knowledgeable professional. Now I will offer an opinion that is just beside my profession “Software Engineer /Web Dev”
1) site name “TheCoverGuidedotCom”
2) stop taking juvenile pokes a some folks life dream and offer real constructive critique with a positive offer to help. One click button to contact you for help… price up front.
3)The VERY NAME of you site is a jab (at the more thin skinned). Ending up on your list for some WILL BE HURTFUL. They won’t care what you have to offer; you first contact IS A JAB. How about a site where when you end up there, you are in a safe place. People who end up with a book on your site should know you can and will help and “make them better than they were before…better, stronger faster”. You have to be a certain age to get that reference and its NOT the energizer bunny. FINALLY:
A little about me. I was an anti-bully in school. Little, Fat, Poorly Dressed, Outcast kids (many of which who gave me their cake at lunch time) stood around me on the playground to escape physical and rhetorical attacks from bullies. Mess with them and you messed with me. I was 6ft tall with a razor sharp wit. However you came, there was a trouncing coming back… That’s me I guess.
You dont need to embarrass people into buying your service…how about an embrace?
But hey, since you give up…
That kind of warm, fuzzy, helpful site exists — for free, even: http://www.covercritics.com (the sister site to this one). Very few authors take advantage of it. Why? For the same reason they haven’t gotten professional (or even well-meaning amateur) feedback of any kind before publishing their book, despite venues for such feedback not being hard to find: Because they don’t WANT feedback. They think that everything they do is just dandy, and they just want a pat on the head.
Here’s the thing. We don’t invade people’s houses and lob insults at their kids’ art on their refrigerators. But as soon as you offer something publicly for sale, you’re saying that it’s worthy to participate in the worldwide Marketplace of Ideas without special pleading. That’s not the time for helpful suggestions, that’s the time to judge it against the other books which declare themselves worthy of your time and money.
(Also, this is my site, not Hitch’s; she’s just really invested in helping people get their heads screwed on straight, despite some people declaring upfront that they don’t want it.)
And, I would point out, many of us (nearly all, mind you) donate our time, helping those authors and small publishers that do ask for it, at CoverCritics.com , (Nathan’s sister site) even though pretty much all of us do this work (cover design) or related services for a living–for a wage. We don’t ask to be paid at CC.com, or here; we try to assist people simply because they ask.
Nobody here is “embarrassing’ someone to get them to use their service (at my shop, we don’t even accept cover work by itself, unless it’s part of a book design job, so someone coming to me, from here, for a book cover would be referred over to someone else). I comment here because I devoutly hope that the very same people who complain on various forums, groups, FB groups, etc. around the world, about why their wonderful, fantastic, amazingly-well-written book doesn’t sell, will take 5 minutes and look at the bloody obvious.
For that matter, I, myself, am not a cover designer. But I own a business that’s produced now over 7,000 books, of which over a thousand were paperbacks, along with a few thousand-plus covers, and I have customers that routinely sell from $10K-$50K in a month. (And many that don’t, mind you–many have their covers designed elsewhere.) I know what covers sell and which do not. That’s why I bother commenting here and at CC.com.
As I said, in my last post–if you’re happy with those covers, go with God. It’s not my book and frankly, I’ve invested enough of my time in it. Once again, good luck with them.
Ummm…. if THIS is the greatest marketing opportunity you could ever wish for in your career, you may wish to re-evaluate your marketing strategies. As well as your covers.
Hmmm, I almost think some of you folk are not reading my (albeit long winded) responces, hahahahaha. So… THREE LETTERS F. U. N. This is FUN, my hobby. My carreer is software engineer. The only thing ANY of this needs to do… is be FUN! While I do pick up a few reasonable, hobby priced marketing tactics (most really fun things cost, dude if you knew how much i paid busty influencers). This my good man is just gravy…FREE GRAVEY at that!
You folks have been awesome. Should I ever decide to do this for “more than fun” I will seek out “professional” cover design, but until such a time that this becomes more that a therapeutic repass, I would love your continued inclusion in the “what NOT to do area”.
Maybe one day I will write something that warrants something more than my own investment in time in the way of “cover work” my further investment, until then…
This is truly a hoot! Nate! Hitch! Party on!
Jerri did you ever think about sending one of your new books covers to https://covercritics.com/
?
So you might get some more constructive criticism then on the lousy book cover site. Just some food for thought.
Thank you so so much for your advice. I will certainly look into that. To be clear however the reason I found this site at all is because I googled my first book title and found my it here. I was delighted to be a part of this dialogue (this is my second title to make it here). That is to say I was not looking for help or anything like that and personally enjoy this site, but could envision a more charming posture for it. That said I am aware of my personal limitation with my covers and am enjoying my journey to get better. Do understand however, I AM NOT trying to make it big and be discovered. I’m just having fun and have discovered that the cover artist who can make better covers than me are beyond the budget of this hobby. Photography is another one of my hobbies and while a $1200 camera would be nice, it is JUST a hobby, so my $500 camera will do. I AM NOT an author (not really). Most of my disposable for this hobby goes to paying top heavy influencers to hold up a copy of my book on Reddit(NSFW) and IG. DUDE I’m telling you, I am having a BLAST!
Again thanks for the advice!
Uh, no.
I’m so glad I got your attention again! NOW; I need less general hate (although I will happily TAKE IT) but I would really like some really specific criticisms! Do understand I plan to do NOTHING with said criticisms. I write for fun and this WHOLE THING is a HOOT! Tell me what you hate! 😀 😀 😀
aaaaaand GO!
Then take the cover to CoverCritics.com. This is not the site for it–nor is bringing along friends or family to try to talk about how great it is.
When you put a book up for sale on Amazon or SW, you are saying that it’s a commercial product–that you are as good as trade publishers. You’re saying that you deserve to earn MONEY for having published it. That people should give up their hard-earned cash, to you–just like they would to a commercial publisher. It’s not a hobby publishing site. If you want to publish that way, there are FanFiction.net and other hobby publishing sites.
But if you use a bad cover, you’re only hurting yourself–nobody else. So….you do you.
Take It? I didn’t Take it here, but I love the ride, so Let’s begin:
1) I was so happy to see one of my covers here again. I blasted the link on most of my promo venues. I in fact begged for more ripping as I did here. I really only know one poster, but I have few followers and fans on reddit and FB (who as I said I invited to rip.
2)JUST WRONG. I put my book on a butt-load off venues because it is fun and it entertains me. As far as earning money goes HA! This is a hobby and it cost money (I’m a software engineer, I’m not short of money). Again, ALL THIS, including ‘THIS’ is just FUN for me. As far as you opinion on WHAT I should do with my books and where I should publish them, duly noted. That however sound less FUN, hard pass.
3)Hurting myself… My goal is to is to have fun and I’m having a HOOT! I moved 1200 units last month. If I were trying to make a living of this OMG I would be lost, but just entertaining myself WOO-HOO! Man ALIVE! BOOM! Done & Done!
I so enjoy this dialog and so must a few of my fans.
So that said. I’m not sure what the goal or end game of your site here, I hope you are having FUN. Or maybe it’s to drum up business for people making a living on the cover side of the industry and embarrassing some pour sole in to spending money on said service or whatever, but me personally it would prooooobably be be a pay cut for me to pursue a living as a writer (at moooost levels anyway). I’m a better writer than artist LOL, but not that good. If I take a pay cut it will be to write video games. NOW that would be super fun.
DO I HAVE A LOUSY Cover? I’ll Take That! Did I have fun making it? YOU BETCHA!
Thanks you so much for your time & and lets keep talking about my Lousy Cover Yaaaaaay! I hit number 1 for a minute with the title in some category or another (free at the time). Craptacular Cover and All!
Goodnite EVERYBODY!
Queen Gertrude, Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Hahahaha, No protest, just a difference in a perception of posture. Again, “ALL THIS” is part of the FUN for me (not my bread & butter). I’m having fun and I hope you folks are too! 😀
Oh, right. The grossly distorted women cover. I think I said at the time that it was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen on this site.
Unfortunately, it’s been outdone lately, though, with someone’s real grossly overweight and obese ass as an image on the cover.
I saw! I saw & a bravo for that author! Thank goodness the gatekeepers are gone and we get to see a slice of everything now! These are exciting times indeed!
I am proud to play my part in this wave of inclusion. I so enjoy my conversations with people who are of the singular mindset (opposite of your in disgusts) who think that if a women is built with (to quote my texts) a 1.5 to 1 boob to head ratio, it has to be some kind of hentie or porn. I must admit that I am a little less bothered by those like you who look down in disgusts hiding behind the righteousness of best health practices and the like (in a thinly veiled attempt to excuse bigotry and personal preference), than I am those who think if your breast are above a certain size, it can only been good for one thing… In my world… they get to be heroes! …protesting to much me thinks! Hahahahaha!
Yeah, okay. Yup, you’re striking a blow, protesting against healthy living. You betcha.
Soooo it’s protesting healthy living to have an appreciation for a fuller size, in a fictional universe, where it has no ill effects? (actually addressed a few time across both series). You do realize this is fantasy right? Now yes there are REAL WORLD consequences for everything, but in my fictional world, a world where the author is grossed out by the sight of a rib cage and put off by the occasional sharp collar bone and sees smaller breast akin to a shriveled arm that never quite grew, we are going to have fuller figure female heroes.
God I have missed these little chats!
Brief Aside: How you doing Hitch? What color is the sky in your world? Blue with fluffy clouds I hope!
Addressing solely this:
As a cover design discussion–the people scouring searches for books to read don’t know that and can’t know that. That’s like putting some element on the cover, of any type that “they’ll understand AFTER the reader finishes the book.” That’s a terrible cover design practice.
We talk about that here, with authors that reply, saying that same thing “it’s important at the end of the book!” or “they’ll get the symbolism after they’ve read it!,” or the like–and we talk about it at CoverCritics.com, as well. Anybody in the cover design or critique business will tell you the same thing–that’s hardly unique to this site. Why would any prospective purchaser care if the cover shows some element that’s important, later? That’s not the cover’s job.
The cover has ONE job, and one job only–it’s clickbait, nothing more, nothing less, meant to get someone to click through to the sales page (not out of curiosity, but out of intent to buy); then to read the description, then click into the LITB and then to read the LITB and hopefully, from thence to purchasing. If a cover isn’t doing that, it’s not doing its job, period.
Nobody looking at that is going to think, “oh, hey, look, a fantasy universe where there are no consequences to being fat/obese! Hoorah!” Won’t remotely cross their mind. All they are going to see are your obese figures, period. So, if you’re seeking fetishists, which, I take it, is the intent, fine–but you won’t get readers thinking that it’s a “no consequences’ universe.
But as I said, some 5-6 posts back–it’s your cover. You seem to be delighted with it and you assert that you have wildly successful sales–so, good luck with it.
BRAVO! Even thru all of that you seemed to “kinda” be getting my point. I had fun making that cover, but delighted might be TOO strong a word LOL As far as some deeper meaning like, “read it and you will get it”, NOT!. I promise you that much thought DID NOT go in it, or anything like that… NAH! Its probably leaning a bit more towards attention seeking of mainstream fetishists and an underrepresented subset. I respect your professional definition of “what” a cover is for. For me however, its just 3 letters FUN!
One last point; You are SO RIGHT that NO ONE, and I mean NOOOOO ONE is going to think “oh, hey, look, a fantasy universe where there are no consequences to being fat/obese! Hoorah!“, hahahaha, noooooobody. I am willing to bet however there will be those who will think something along the lines of “FINALLY a female hero who’s gender cannot be concealed with a hat and a trench coat”, or maybe “YAAAAAY! REAL Boobies” Hahahahaha!
Never mind. I give up. You obviously don’t really take authoring or publishing seriously, so what’s the point? You constantly deflect any critique with “it’s FUN!,” so, since you’re having so much fun, you just keep on keepin’ on. You do you. There’s clearly little point in continuing this–or any–conversation with you.
Give up??? Was there a goal on you part that you think you wanted to do more in? You should not give up. I now know so much more about what a “novel cover is for”, at least for someone who takes it seriously, which obviously I DO NOT. This really is ALL JUST FOR FUN for me. I have so enjoyed our back and fourth. You are truly a knowledgeable professional. Now I will offer an opinion that is just beside my profession “Software Engineer /Web Dev”
1) site name “TheCoverGuidedotCom”
2) stop taking juvenile pokes a some folks life dream and offer real constructive critique with a positive offer to help. One click button to contact you for help… price up front.
3)The VERY NAME of you site is a jab (at the more thin skinned). Ending up on your list for some WILL BE HURTFUL. They won’t care what you have to offer; you first contact IS A JAB. How about a site where when you end up there, you are in a safe place. People who end up with a book on your site should know you can and will help and “make them better than they were before…better, stronger faster”. You have to be a certain age to get that reference and its NOT the energizer bunny.
FINALLY:
A little about me. I was an anti-bully in school. Little, Fat, Poorly Dressed, Outcast kids (many of which who gave me their cake at lunch time) stood around me on the playground to escape physical and rhetorical attacks from bullies. Mess with them and you messed with me. I was 6ft tall with a razor sharp wit. However you came, there was a trouncing coming back… That’s me I guess.
You dont need to embarrass people into buying your service…how about an embrace?
But hey, since you give up…
That kind of warm, fuzzy, helpful site exists — for free, even: http://www.covercritics.com (the sister site to this one). Very few authors take advantage of it. Why? For the same reason they haven’t gotten professional (or even well-meaning amateur) feedback of any kind before publishing their book, despite venues for such feedback not being hard to find: Because they don’t WANT feedback. They think that everything they do is just dandy, and they just want a pat on the head.
Here’s the thing. We don’t invade people’s houses and lob insults at their kids’ art on their refrigerators. But as soon as you offer something publicly for sale, you’re saying that it’s worthy to participate in the worldwide Marketplace of Ideas without special pleading. That’s not the time for helpful suggestions, that’s the time to judge it against the other books which declare themselves worthy of your time and money.
(Also, this is my site, not Hitch’s; she’s just really invested in helping people get their heads screwed on straight, despite some people declaring upfront that they don’t want it.)
And, I would point out, many of us (nearly all, mind you) donate our time, helping those authors and small publishers that do ask for it, at CoverCritics.com , (Nathan’s sister site) even though pretty much all of us do this work (cover design) or related services for a living–for a wage. We don’t ask to be paid at CC.com, or here; we try to assist people simply because they ask.
Nobody here is “embarrassing’ someone to get them to use their service (at my shop, we don’t even accept cover work by itself, unless it’s part of a book design job, so someone coming to me, from here, for a book cover would be referred over to someone else). I comment here because I devoutly hope that the very same people who complain on various forums, groups, FB groups, etc. around the world, about why their wonderful, fantastic, amazingly-well-written book doesn’t sell, will take 5 minutes and look at the bloody obvious.
For that matter, I, myself, am not a cover designer. But I own a business that’s produced now over 7,000 books, of which over a thousand were paperbacks, along with a few thousand-plus covers, and I have customers that routinely sell from $10K-$50K in a month. (And many that don’t, mind you–many have their covers designed elsewhere.) I know what covers sell and which do not. That’s why I bother commenting here and at CC.com.
As I said, in my last post–if you’re happy with those covers, go with God. It’s not my book and frankly, I’ve invested enough of my time in it. Once again, good luck with them.
Good Show! Thanks for you time and all you do!
Tushay God Sir Bravo!
Hey, can we talk about the Crap-tacular, Lousiness of this current cover? Tell me what you hate about it!
Let’s keep talking! 😀
I don’t think it’s a bad cover. I like the use of landscape and hand drawn character.
Overall it is a good cover if you are truly doing it for fun! I actually read the book & like it.
Book cover so horrible i think i may just have to buy it
Just FYI I think THIS… THIS is my worst cover!
SINCE WE TALKING!
Lets rank all my cover from meh to craptacular on my site!
wwwTheJaraEra.com
…annnnnd GO!
Ummm…. if THIS is the greatest marketing opportunity you could ever wish for in your career, you may wish to re-evaluate your marketing strategies. As well as your covers.
Hmmm, I almost think some of you folk are not reading my (albeit long winded) responces, hahahahaha. So… THREE LETTERS F. U. N. This is FUN, my hobby. My carreer is software engineer. The only thing ANY of this needs to do… is be FUN! While I do pick up a few reasonable, hobby priced marketing tactics (most really fun things cost, dude if you knew how much i paid busty influencers). This my good man is just gravy…FREE GRAVEY at that!
Now I did treat myself one birthday and blow a wad on the character work for this cover.
You folks have been awesome. Should I ever decide to do this for “more than fun” I will seek out “professional” cover design, but until such a time that this becomes more that a therapeutic repass, I would love your continued inclusion in the “what NOT to do area”.
Maybe one day I will write something that warrants something more than my own investment in time in the way of “cover work” my further investment, until then…
This is truly a hoot! Nate! Hitch! Party on!
Man! Have you ever had a fun back an forth thread THIS DEEP ?
Jerri did you ever think about sending one of your new books covers to https://covercritics.com/
?
So you might get some more constructive criticism then on the lousy book cover site. Just some food for thought.
Thank you so so much for your advice. I will certainly look into that. To be clear however the reason I found this site at all is because I googled my first book title and found my it here. I was delighted to be a part of this dialogue (this is my second title to make it here). That is to say I was not looking for help or anything like that and personally enjoy this site, but could envision a more charming posture for it. That said I am aware of my personal limitation with my covers and am enjoying my journey to get better. Do understand however, I AM NOT trying to make it big and be discovered. I’m just having fun and have discovered that the cover artist who can make better covers than me are beyond the budget of this hobby. Photography is another one of my hobbies and while a $1200 camera would be nice, it is JUST a hobby, so my $500 camera will do. I AM NOT an author (not really). Most of my disposable for this hobby goes to paying top heavy influencers to hold up a copy of my book on Reddit(NSFW) and IG. DUDE I’m telling you, I am having a BLAST!
Again thanks for the advice!