Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Cover power 2! (as in two, not too)

Yes, well, to solve my pending NaNo problem, I started writing the second option, too, and kinda lost my liking for it. It's not that it's bad, it only starts off slow. There are 2-3 chapters of introducing all the characters and the real live fantasy stuff kicks off in chapter 3/4. So...eh, still thinking about it. 

Instead, I got a new idea and motivation for the villain in my paranormal romance, and that makes me happy :)

I didn't write squat today. But I've been doing something fun and pretty useful. Oh, yeah, you probably guessed it, since the title is not exactly subtle (and I've used it before here). I've been working on more covers and tweaking the ones I had a little. And... here it is:

Cover 1 - y'all know it 

So, Cover 1 is the first cover I've ever pestered everyone with. I was pretty darn proud of it. And now I am again since I made a few changes that I happen to like a lot. I made the girl a lot less transparent, hoisted her a little higher and changed the fonts. The text placement remains the same, but I think it reads better. I'm satisfied with this version of it.




Cvoer 2 - Y'all know this one too



The second cover, you also know. The only change I actually made to it was making the chick less transparent. I think it makes the city background less distracting. For a long time, this one turned out to be my favorite. I kept the fonts and the title placement since everyone seemed to like it.




cover 3 - know it

 Cover 3 stayed exactly the same because people either loved or hated it. It does scream fantasy, but I think it's pretty striking all the same. Now let's move on to the good part.









Cover 4 - First new one
Cover 4 was me getting annoyed with not making another cover. I tried to use this castle as a cover so many times, since my book actually has a castle in it. But it didn't work with any of my women, so I got pissed and threw in the eyes. The fonts are also pretty fun, and they're new, so I was aching to use them. What I like about it - the eyes are awesome. They have the kind of beauty and innocence that speak volumes about Rachel. So I'm really happy with them. I tend to think that this screams fantasy a tad too much. If I change the title it could work as a cover for the damn fantasy-romance I'm trying to write. Right, moving on.

cover 5a 
cover 5b


















Right, cover 5 has two versions:  version a and b (in case you hadn't figured that out yourself). The difference between them is the sky. In version a, I use awesome lady eyes which are supposed to be Rachel's. In version B, I use creepy vampire eyes (which aren't half as creepy as I would have liked them, but whatever, I work with whatever free stuff I can get. Who am I to complain?)

What this cover holds new are the fonts and display of the text. While in most covers I either place the title up or down, here, it's in the freaking middle of the page, and I personally love that. I also refrained from using the normal white title, like I did in all the others and stomped it red, just for the heck of it.
Also, this is Daniel's cover debut. I still can't find someone who remotely looks the way I've pictured him in my head, but blurry shadows seem to do the trick. I think that's the major advantage with this cover. Plus, both of them seem to be holding weapons.
Right... moving on the last one. 

cover 6b
cover 6a

This cover also has an a and a b, the only difference between them being the title font. I made the first version first (duh!), but then wondered if it would look better with the other font, so I made the second version just for the heck of it.
Now, you can see that the title is once again not white. I was going for a bloody red here. I just thought it looked better. Also, Daniel's in this one, too.



 Honestly, this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed making the covers I've done today very much. I'm starting to get the hang of this photshop crap. And maybe it's just me and the euphoria, but I think they're actually starting to look like book covers.

Now, of course, I'd like to know which one you like best and why, or if you see some possible combinations between them. Any thought is welcome.
And, honestly, if you were in a bookshop or on Amazon, which cover would make you pick up/click on the book?

Lol, I hope I'm not pestering everyone, but I personally LOVE book covers. :p

6 comments:

  1. Hiya, Stef!

    5a. Definitely. I'm a big fan of simple, powerful covers. The first crop just seem so busy. My only complaint on 5a is that "Rachel" seems to be standing kind of weird. I don't know why that sticks out for me, but it does. The "creepy" eyes (5b) just aren't working for me, sorry.

    For #6, I like the font on A better than B. That said, the cover 5 font works well with the rest of cover 5.

    There's my $0.02 USD. Do with it what you will.

    --j--

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like 5a as well. Only, not sure why, but in 5b, the book title seems to be much brighter, or it stands out more for some reason.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I still like Cover 1, but I like the font on 6a. The other covers are too busy/confusing. Cover 1 is simple, yet mysterious.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like 3. the lovely redhead, the old books, the cathedral window and the moon. Love the colors, the symmetry, the model's beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks guys! Keep 'em opinions coming. I'm not sure which one I personally like most. I always go for most recent (so now for me it's 6b), but after a while, when I get used to all of them, I actually get a fave, so I'll wait till then.

    @Jay: Lol, I know the pose is kinda weird, but it was th best I could find.

    @Diane: Now that you pointed it out, I noticed it too. I think it's because the background in 5b is lighter than in 5a and throws a different light on the text

    Thank you all for the comments

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm still very fond of cover number 1 (for all the reasons I've said before). I do like your changes though. Being able to see the girl better works well.

    I also like cover 5a (including the font, which made me think slightly of blood dripping down), although my reaction to 5b was "woah!". I liked the eyes, because it said there was something paranormal about it, and it also seemed to say there was something dangerous - certainly not your fantasy-romance ;).

    Speaking of the cover you said might do for that idea, how about darkening the sky? Maybe making use of the lovely sky in cover 1 for cover 4? Maybe the moon, etc. will make it more eerie.

    A question for you: If you look on Amazon, the book covers are thumbnails. This will likely be most people's first glimpse of your cover. If you look at your covers at that size, what works best for you?

    ReplyDelete

Show me the love :)