Here’s
the cover of my soon to be released book and the cover to the novel I published in March. And here's
my question--do you think my books would sell better if they had people on the
covers? Stealing Mercy has sold many more copies than A Ghost of a Second
Chance and I'm wondering if it’s because its genre is more obvious. Although A
Ghost of a Second Chance isn't genre specific--I knew that before I published
it. I knew it would be a hard sell, but since I love it I hoped others would as
well.
I
do love my covers, but I'm wondering if I need a damsel in distress on the
cover, although that would be false advertising since I write really strong and
proactive female characters. Mary Stewart, Alice Hoffman and Elizabeth George
typically don’t have women draped in gossamer on the covers of their books.
Should I?
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Kristy, I think your book covers are great - very eye-appealing! Really don't see the necessity of a 'damsel' on either cover. The gate on the cover of The Rhyme's Mystery leaves thoughts to seek what is the mystery beyond the gate. Not knowing what the book is about, is Rhyme the family name? Get this impression because of the house in the background. Hope I am not way off base here.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second book, definitely leave as is! The old tower in itself reflects thoughts and aura of a 'damsel in distress'. Is that actually the era of the book?
What I've learned in reissuing my own backlist is that it's very important for the reader to get a sense of the genre and make an emotional connection with the cover. You can do that with or without a lady in distress.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input. I tried to put a lone, girly sort of shoe near the lion but it looked too funky. A Ghost is about a woman who has come from the after life to take her recently deceased husband to join her. And yes, Rhyme is my main character's last name. A graphic designer told me that people should need to take a second look--there should be something to arouse curiosity. I tried to do that, but it's hard to know if I've been successful.
ReplyDeleteKristy, I think your covers are outstanding and I would certainly buy A Ghost of a Chance by that cover and figure it's a paranormal. You can't tell by my beautiful cover what the story is about but the cover is so great people will pick it up and flip to the blurb on the back. It's just a bad ecomony for selling books--peole can't afford to eat and read.
ReplyDeleteMicki
I think both your covers are eye-catching. I'd pick up both books for a closer look. For THE RHYME'S LIBRARY, you might consider making the color of "A Rose Arbor Mystery" and your name a little bit lighter. There's not much contrast, and it's hard to read. Reduce it down to thumbnail size and see if it's readable then. That's the way it will be appearing on Amazon and many other places. Also, I think the composition might be a little bit more pleasing if the brick column wasn't right in the middle of the picture. Off-center might be more interesting.
ReplyDeleteFor A GHOST OF A SECOND CHANCE, it's too bad there isn't a person in the tower, maybe looking out the window or in silhouette, but that isn't really essential. The photo is dramatic and almost tells a story itself.
Please don't think I dislike your covers. I think they're both great as they are! But since you asked for input, I've given my thoughts. The covers may look much better in person, and my monitor could be to blame for the lack of contrast in the first one.
I like the second cover, the first does nothing for me, I'm sorry. It looks very ordinary. It's not a cover that would make me want to look in the book. The second does because it's interesting. I've got a lot of covers I really dislike for my books - the publishers are always keen to tell me that covers sell the books, so I've just had to give up moaning about them, but it's true that they are the first selling point and need to be eyecatching. That second one is because it's different. The first has nothing mysterious about it, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI love your covers and I wouldn't change anything--I think they speak volumes (no pun intended) just as they are!
ReplyDeleteBoth covers are attractive as scenes/photographs, but give little impression of what the novels are about -- looking at the first, I'd guess it's about a suburban family, and the second maybe a derelict lighthouse. If the books are connected, then they are actually too dissimilar; a unifying theme in the cover art will act as an important clue to the reader. Generally speaking, books in a series should also have the same font, size and placement for the title, subtitles and author name. You don't need a damsel in distress, necessarily, but a bit more drama or indication of the nature of the stories wouldn't come amiss. Since you mention Elizabeth George, I'll point to her dark and mysterious covers as an example.
ReplyDeleteSandy is right, the second book should say "A Rose Arbor Mystery" for continuity. And the lettering for that subtitle needs to be more like that for the first book for the reason given above, but also because that line disappears in thumbnail size.
Please keep in mind that this is just my highly subjective opinion! Though I've had 65 titles of my own and spent quite a few years listening to book reps discuss what makes one cover stand out from another, no one can really say what will make a book sell.
I love your Mercy cover; it's gorgeous. And it doesn't show a damsel in distress. I like your other covers too, but they aren't as eye-grabbing as Mercy. I'm terrible at covers, so I don't have anything to suggest to spice them up.
ReplyDelete