Cover Art Discussion

[Gravy]

I guess maybe it's because I'm part of the target audience for the book. Maybe I just intuit it more.
Anyway, like I said, just from the cover art (sans text) I could make a pretty good guess about the book. But I read in so many different genres...for me it's pretty easy to tell a fantasy cover from, say, an historical, or mystery cover.

[Ryan]

I also love this one. The nicely blended mix of yellow, orange and black really captures the sand and heat and the scorching night sky is nice to look at. I also love the way the leaves overlapping the text gives it depth, but also invites the reader into the secret tranquility of the location. The way in which land seems distant also has some urgency. The cool little pyramids in the distance are awesome too and lead the eye towards the author, along with the leaves. Also, the way the title merges with the water and the slights slant of the middle part of the title catches the idea of movement beautifully. For me, this is a very successful piece of book cover art

Death on the Nile.jpg (51.85 KiB) Viewed 1078 times

[Gravy]

Not much more to say than that

[moderntimes]

The color mix of that "Nile" book is excellent. I do think however that the pyramids are kinda hokey. And the real pyramids are quite a ways inland of the Nile. But I'm a nitpicker. Hey, for my own cover, I was questioning the amount of smoke from the muzzle of the pistol, and then I shook myself. Hey, idiot, the artist did a great job! Don't fret over teeny things. ha ha.

Soon as my publisher sends me the cover art for the next 2 novels, I'll post it. The artist already is familiar with a common theme in a series of novels (my novels are a private eye series) and so they will have a common theme.

[Gravy]

Can anyone guess what this one might be?
I actually like this one a lot, and it does in fact fit the story, but both the cover, and the title, are.....less than descriptive

[moderntimes]

Well, from the outlines of the 4 people, it appears they are mid-to-late 19th century American. A dapper gentleman far left, a belle of the ball far right, and two frontier people in the middle (pioneer woman and male gunfighter).

The bullrushes in the foreground are ambiguous. No idea what the mean.

The backlighting glow indicates the 4 people are arriving via a supernatural mode, but that's just a guess.

Now I'll look up the book info to tell me what the book's about, but I won't reveal it here, let others guess before the reveal.

[maryakusiak]

I think the cover art of The Last Light Falling is very dramatic and the artist I recommend although I am not sure of the name of the artist that J.E. Plemons used for the cover art of his novels.

-- 20 Oct 2015, 22:40 --

I like the cover art that J.E. Plemons used writing his The Last Light Falling The Covenant series although I am not sure of the name of the artist.

[Crimsonsky 749]

I look at the cover to determine whether or not I want to read the book. Yeah I know don't judge a book by it's cover but we all do it anyways right? If the book's cover isn't good that mean that it's either your particular taste or they didn't spend enough effort or time on the cover. By this I mean when they looked over the book cover to make sure it fit the book. If they couldn't do that... Well what does that say about the book?

[moderntimes]

I look at the cover to determine whether or not I want to read the book. Yeah I know don't judge a book by it's cover but we all do it anyways right? If the book's cover isn't good that mean that it's either your particular taste or they didn't spend enough effort or time on the cover. By this I mean when they looked over the book cover to make sure it fit the book. If they couldn't do that... Well what does that say about the book?

Agreed. If you scan back to my post #60 in this thread, you'll see the cover which the publisher's artist did for me. It fits my genre of private detective perfectly, and catches the eye (even more with the title, but I deleted the title so I could post it here without commercially plugging my novel). I was absolutely happy about the cover art. The artist did a fine job.

[PashaRu]

I also love this one. The nicely blended mix of yellow, orange and black really captures the sand and heat and the scorching night sky is nice to look at. I also love the way the leaves overlapping the text gives it depth, but also invites the reader into the secret tranquility of the location. The way in which land seems distant also has some urgency. The cool little pyramids in the distance are awesome too and lead the eye towards the author, along with the leaves. Also, the way the title merges with the water and the slights slant of the middle part of the title catches the idea of movement beautifully. For me, this is a very successful piece of book cover art

Death on the Nile.jpg

Hey, very nice description!

[Ryan]

I also love this one. The nicely blended mix of yellow, orange and black really captures the sand and heat and the scorching night sky is nice to look at. I also love the way the leaves overlapping the text gives it depth, but also invites the reader into the secret tranquility of the location. The way in which land seems distant also has some urgency. The cool little pyramids in the distance are awesome too and lead the eye towards the author, along with the leaves. Also, the way the title merges with the water and the slights slant of the middle part of the title catches the idea of movement beautifully. For me, this is a very successful piece of book cover art

Death on the Nile.jpg

Hey, very nice description!

Why, thank you!

[CCtheBrave]

I do like the cover you picked, but I usually don't like covers with people on them. I do think a cover should give an idea of what the book is about. I also love a beautiful cover, but I can't think of one right now. They say don't judge a book by it's cover, but it's hard not to.

I agree, I'm never too fond of a cover with people on it. I tend to like simple covers with a lot of white space or geometric shapes and colorful wording. I think covers are incredibly important for sales. We might not want to admit it, but we still choose books by their covers, sometimes.

[moderntimes]

Today I received the cover art from my publisher for my 2nd and 3rd mystery novels. I think the artist did a terrific job. She used the "noir" feel which I asked for, and for all 3 novels, kept the same general pattern, so that readers will identify the books, but altered the color palette so as to differentiate each novel.

I've cut the book titles and my name (I write under my own name) so as to not break forum rules. Anyone interested in my series of modern American private eye novels, PM me and I'll give you my website.

What do you think of these covers? First book #2



And book #3

[rssllue]

They look good to me!

[moderntimes]

Since the books are set in Houston, images of the skyline will also attract local readers. Let's face it --- the purpose of a book cover is to catch the eye of the browsing reader, and these covers should do just that.

Now if the insides can live up to the whole package? Let's blame the author, okay? ha ha