It's Pretty (My New Book Cover)
I received the latest revisions to my book cover late yesterday, and this may sound irresponsible, but I just wanted to get on with it. Thus, I now have a professional cover!
My reputation for being completely useless at designing precedes me, so I can't be a reliable judge of a good cover, but overall, this one works.
The pros are the typography, most of all. I needed type that didn't scream "homemade", as my two previous covers did. This is one area in which Canva is deficient. In fact, even its pre-made templates are overall dull. I appreciate how my Miblart artist used type that suggests movement (to mirror the "running" in the title). Miblart does love gold, but here it works due to its non-garishness. And the cursive lends informality, which is great, since my novel is hardly formal. My author name is upfront and not hidden like it is with all my other books. It almost makes me feel like somebody.
Another "pro" is the color scheme. I do like the blue and (again) gold. I needed something that popped. And the gold, of the sky ahead and of the sun, are metaphors for good things to come. (Obviously the designer is unfamiliar with the story.)
As to the character illustration...the initial design I was presented with had a woman with long dark hair and wearing what looked to be an evening gown. Obviously, this was all wrong. As I noted in a previous post, Leah has blonde hair. One may ask why I'm so adamant about that, and no, I don't have a hair fetish. To me, if I'm describing her in the novel as having blonde hair, then why depict her as exactly the opposite on the cover? She actually has naturally curly blonde hair, but I was willing to bend on that. As little as I know about design, I recognized that the long hair, kind of wind-blown, adds to the sense of movement (she's heading down a road), so I told Miblart I would forego the curls as long as her hair was blonde. The dress, however, had to go. Leah is almost embarrassingly casual and I believe she wore a dress exactly twice in the story--once for an awards show and the other time for her big concert. And someone else had to buy them for her and practically force her to wear them.
Now to the possible "cons". Well, I was so focused on getting the characterization correct that I never stopped to think that this cover isn't genre-conforming. But, you know, so be it. I'll grant that the overall design is more reminiscent of romance than women's fiction, but not enough that it would confuse anyone as to what they were viewing. When I had my first cover reviewed by a respected designer, he showed me examples of what my cover should imitate. Like these:
Know what? I don't like these. Each of them is apparently going for "sophisticated" or "hip". My book is neither of those things. (And I bet they each cost a few grand to design, which the author didn't have to pay.) I understand that they're catchy, and I'd like mine to be catchy, too, but I can only afford $270.00 catchy. My cover is at least in the competition now. It sure wasn't before.
This brings me to the musical notes. Initially, I thought they should be nixed. Later I realized that would just leave a woman walking down a road, and I certainly had no replacement suggestions. (Me? Asking the wrong person.) I tabled my concerns for the next go-round of revisions, but the musical notes have grown on me. They do signal what the story is about and that music is leading her...somewhere. So I decided to keep them.
And now, here it is:
Lesson learned. Leave the writing to me, but hand the designing over to a professional.
POSTSCRIPT:
PSS:
My "ARC" is now trending. I've never had anything trend before.
I think it's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
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