# Which Cover? Can't decide.



## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

A brutal serial killer is slaughtering victims all over Michigan's countryside. The news media had labelled him Johnny Creep. He's crafty and always one step ahead of the police. He taunts them by leaving mutilated bodies with his signature carvings all around the city. Failure, frustration and raw nerves of everyone involved put them on edge.
Detective Carl Street finds another victim. It's someone close to him. The person's arms and legs are dismembered and stuffed into cubbyholes. After He throws up, he vows to bring the killer to justice. His rage has no bounds. Detective Street is prepared to bend and break the law if it means stopping this monster. 
Johnny Creep is a tense thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.


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## WordSaladTongs (Oct 14, 2013)

I prefer the one on the left, although it needs some polishing. I'd also lose the tag line (if you keep it, shorten it to punch it up and serial killer shouldn't be capped). YMMV


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## crow.bar.beer (Oct 20, 2014)

I like them both but would probably go for the first one, only without the tagline at the top and the little private eye image at the bottom. The first cover says rage much more, seductive rage really; the second says grief (the more depressing mood in the background and his anguished face as he holds the gun). The girl is smoking hot like that, the title captivating in how its styled.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

I like them both but would definitely lose the little trench-coated guy on the first cover- it looks really pasted on.  Agree with the others- Serial Killer is not a proper noun and shouldn't be capitalized.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

The first one.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

I capitalized serial killer on purpose to emphasize it. Thought it was a good idea even though it's not grammatically correct. Now you guys have me thinking about that.


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

Daniel Cane said:


> A brutal serial killer is slaughtering victims all over Michigan's countryside. The news media had labelled him Johnny Creep. He's crafty and always one step ahead of the police. He taunts them by leaving mutilated bodies with his signature carvings all around the city. Failure, frustration and raw nerves of everyone involved put them on edge.
> Detective Carl Street finds another victim. It's someone close to him. The person's arms and legs are dismembered and stuffed into cubbyholes. After He throws up, he vows to bring the killer to justice. His rage has no bounds. Detective Street is prepared to bend and break the law if it means stopping this monster.
> Johnny Creep is a tense thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.


Second one. I have a cover quandary too. How did you upload the images? Or I guess where did you get image links?


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

You really need to look at them in thumbnail size to be able to make a decision:

















The first one attracts more attention due to colour hues - there is a contrast between light and dark and the light area draws the eye in. The figure of the girl is more visible. The red hue also attracts attention. The second cover would need a lot of work to make it better. More colour harmony and contrast. If you use a silhouette like the man's figure in the second cover, usually you'd need a lot of light behind it to make it visible.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

I uploaded the images to my website and then used the


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Melody Simmons said:


> You really need to look at them in thumbnail size to be able to make a decision:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for posting those. They look better than I thought at that size. 
Never expected to read the tagline of course but you can in larger sizes just like physical books.


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Daniel Cane said:


> Thanks for posting those. They look better than I thought at that size.
> Never expected to read the tagline of course but you can in larger sizes just like physical books.


Taglines need not be visible in ebook size. But just the presence of a tagline can make especially a thriller book look more professional as many of the topselling thriller books have taglines or sub-titles or "New York Bestselling Author" etc. so I find it is good to have a tagline for that reason alone.

You could however move your title up and put the tagline on one side of the book (in a vertical rectangular shape if you know what I mean) and see if that looks better that way.

I would also consider making the tagline shorter - like maybe "Whatever it takes, he has to stop him." I am not so good with writing as I am with images - but I know taglines are quite short and pithy.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

another vote for #1 without the stalker in the corner, and I think the tagline needs cleaning up if you plan on keeping it.


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## crow.bar.beer (Oct 20, 2014)

Melody Simmons said:


> Taglines need not be visible in ebook size. But just the presence of a tagline can make especially a thriller book look more professional as many of the topselling thriller books have taglines or sub-titles or "New York Bestselling Author" etc. so I find it is good to have a tagline for that reason alone.


Interesting point.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

I'd go with the first one.
IMO, i would make the girl much bigger in the frame, almost touching the bottom of the author name. Also, I'd ditch the bad guy — distracting and doesn't add much.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Melody Simmons said:


> You really need to look at them in thumbnail size to be able to make a decision:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agree with this, but I quite like the man on the second one as I'd like to 'fancy' the detective. If he was more visible, and the colours more like the first one it would work for me.


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

I really like the cover on the left if you could only do something to make the trench coat look more realistic. I don't like the tag line, whatever it take and detective sounds so overdone in books. "Brutal serial killer terrorizing the countryside" sounds a little better. I love the blurb.It gets to the point and leaves  family out of it, well done.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

I also wonder, if you dropped the capital J and C of Johnny Creep down to the height of the lower case letters and tucked Creep more centrally under Johnny, the title would look more balanced, and your tagline would fit more neatly above.
If you're keeping it, I'd try to get the tagline to two lines, centre the text and maybe use a sans-serif font, possibly even italics. 
ETA
Very roughly, like this perhaps


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## P.T. Phronk (Jun 6, 2014)

I think the first one could be great with some work. 

The blood drop looks poorly photoshopped, as does the stalker dude (which I'd lose entirely). I feel like it'd be more striking if the girl was centred between the title and author.

Also, using capitals for emphasis is just plain wrong. Unless the serial killer's name happens to be Serial Killer.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Great ideas everyone. Thanks.
I have to remember to post early Sunday mornings. These are the best responses I've ever received on this forum.  Maybe it's early birds or maybe not, with time zones.


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2014)

Ravenandblack said:


> I also wonder, if you dropped the capital J and C of Johnny Creep down to the height of the lower case letters and tucked Creep more centrally under Johnny, the title would look more balanced, and your tagline would fit more neatly above.
> If you're keeping it, I'd try to get the tagline to two lines, centre the text and maybe use a sans-serif font, possibly even italics.
> ETA
> Very roughly, like this perhaps


Definitely. Very book cover-ish.


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## Anya Monroe (Dec 3, 2014)

They both look good, but I vote for the first one. I love the red and the drip of blood. I liked someone else's idea of shorting the tagline, or at least centering.


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## Scott.Tracey (Nov 30, 2014)

I really like the first one, it's very eye catching.  I agree with shortening the blurb and removing the man at the bottom left.


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## leona5667 (Sep 13, 2014)

I really like the first one...


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2014)

First one. Ditto on losing the bad guy. 

Maybe play with the shadow of someone stretching across the street towards her to add interest and go with the creeping theme?


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

I digested what everyone suggested and made another stab at it. The left is the old cover and the right the new. Any better?

















Should I put the blood splatter back on the letters?
I still don't like the tagline but it's shorter. Will have to come up with something.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2014)

The changes look great! I like it. I still don't like the dripping blood thing, but it's just one tiny thing.

For the blood spatter, I thought it was see-through letters and that I was seeing the branches. I didn't realize it was blood spatter. So not sure what I think of it. Overall, I really like the cover.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

Big improvement. Personally I'd lose the blood drip.
I also thought it was the branches showing through. 
Might be worth trying it zoomed in on the girl to make her central to the cover as some have suggested, and also to blend her in more, as it's more obvious she's an addition the bigger she gets. 
The idea of a sinister shadow on the road is quite cool, if you can pull it off.


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## Jarrett Rush (Jun 19, 2010)

I think the composition is fine, but I'm not a fan of the font being used for the title. I doesn't quite feel sophisticated enough. 

And, while I like the idea of a subtitle, what's here doesn't do anything to entice me to want to read more. It needs to be less matter-of-fact and act more like a teaser. 

Just my two cents.


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2014)

He said he was going to work on wording, but he was getting the positioning right.
Raven, how would he blend the girl in to look less added in? Is it a simple explanation? I'm curious myself. If it's too much to tell, never mind. Thanks.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Big difference - much more powerful.
I hadn't noticed the blood drippy thing until someone posted about it… cover is powerful enough without it.


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## Doril (Nov 2, 2013)

I also prefer the first one. Also shorten the tagline.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

Mizuki said:


> He said he was going to work on wording, but he was getting the positioning right.
> Raven, how would he blend the girl in to look less added in? Is it a simple explanation? I'm curious myself. If it's too much to tell, never mind. Thanks.


Mizuki, PJ Post gave a very good explanation of how it might be done in her post above, by feathering the outline and balancing the colour of the woman so it looks like her dress has the same light tones as the orange background.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

Tagline needs a little more hook. 

Can Detective Carl Hook stop a brilliant serial killer before he strikes again? 

Seems to imply the girl on the cover is about to get it, ties it together a little more.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

MyraScott said:


> Tagline needs a little more hook.
> 
> Can Detective Carl Hook stop a brilliant serial killer before he strikes again?
> 
> Seems to imply the girl on the cover is about to get it, ties it together a little more.


Sounds good. Thanks.


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2014)

Ravenandblack said:


> Mizuki, PJ Post gave a very good explanation of how it might be done in her post above, by feathering the outline and balancing the colour of the woman so it looks like her dress has the same light tones as the orange background.


Ah! Thanks. Missed that. Very helpful.


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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

Left.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Here's the latest.


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## Kate. (Oct 7, 2014)

I like the shadow.

Not such a fan of the J and C nearly touching. Is there any way they could be spaced a bit further apart?


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Love the latest - shadow is a great touch.
Nicely done.


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2014)

It looks great!


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

It looks great other than being too wide.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

I like the latest one, a lot. Love the shadow of her stalker on the street. Everything about it makes me want to scream, _"Look behind you!"_

As for the tag line, I agree it doesn't necessarily need to be readable in thumbnail size, but I do feel it's too long and sounds a bit cumbersome. For branding purposes, you want your protagonist's name on it so readers become familiar with it. If it was my book, I'd probably go with something like "A Detective Carl Street Mystery" or just "A Carl Street Novel" Similar to what Lee Child does with his Jack Reacher series.


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2014)

P.J. Post said:


> In case you were wondering how to do any of what I mentioned, here's a little more detail, using the current cover as an example:
> 
> Feather the girl's outline:
> 
> ...


Great info. Thanks. I'm saving it.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Great help from everyone. I taking a break tonight and will get back to it tomorrow. 
That's a good tutorial PJ. I done some of that but a different way. Will give that a try.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Here's another one. I think that I finally got the girl isolated from the background from the original image.










Below is the original image. I had a hard time with the busy background. Haven't used "quick select" much, but it seemed to work the best with this one.










I appreciate all the help with this. Frustrating but fun.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

Frustrating, I'm sure, but so worth it. The cover is looking really slick now. You've done a great job blending in the girl and the shadow really works


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## H.G. Suren (Jan 23, 2012)

Definitely the first one, on the left.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

I love it! It looks great.   Nice work.


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## Ghostwalk (Nov 1, 2014)

The girl in that latest cover is looking a little orange even compared to the background. if you're using a recent version of Photoshop, have you considered using a gradient map to make the girl and the background seem a bit more connected? It would mean messing around a bit until you got the colours the way you wanted, but I think it's probably a step worth taking.

If you want I can post your cover with a gradient map applied so you know better what I'm talking about, but since I'd have to upload it somewhere first I don't want to do that without your permission.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Ghostwalk, sure go ahead if you want.
Not sure if she's too orange but maybe it would look better.
Funny thing is the girl's layer is above the hue adjustment layer. All I did to her is colorized her dress with the color replacement brush. Maybe it's the dress?
The original image looked a bit yellow/orange like it was either a sunrise or sunset.

I have CS3 so it's what, maybe 10 years old now?


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

Looking good!!  She is a tad orange-y.  Overall it looks great!


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Nice, like the added creepy shadow!


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## Ghostwalk (Nov 1, 2014)

Daniel Cane said:


> Ghostwalk, sure go ahead if you want.
> Not sure if she's too orange but maybe it would look better.
> Funny thing is the girl's layer is above the hue adjustment layer. All I did to her is colorized her dress with the color replacement brush. Maybe it's the dress?
> The original image looked a bit yellow/orange like it was either a sunrise or sunset.
> ...


Might be that it's just that the skin it's a different shade of orange to the more reddish tone in the background -- you could try a hue adjustment layer just on the girl to match the background but to be honest she does stand out okay as it is so it's probably not an issue.

CS3 should be able to do gradient maps -- I think they'll be under Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map. The below is just me doing it quickly to show what sort of thing you can do -- basically it can be a shortcut to making it seem like the entire image is affected by the same lighting. The top image is where I tried to get it similar to your original. The bottom image is just one of the default gradients in my version of Photoshop, but I thought it looked quite nice so I put it up anyway as an illustration of the sort of variation you can get.

With both of these I ended up making your original image black and white to stop it interfering with the gradient, then on the gradient map layer added a gradient overlay in the blend options to go from black to an orange-ish colour (with that gradient overlay set to blend mode: overlay).

Hope this helps in some way.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

I have been playing with the hue adjustment. For some reason there's something about the image of the girl that is problematic. Either I have to leave it alone or use another girl with more natural lighting. I do like this model though.
There probably is another way but I don't know it.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

Daniel Cane said:


> I have been playing with the hue adjustment. For some reason there's something about the image of the girl that is problematic. Either I have to leave it alone or use another girl with more natural lighting. I do like this model though.
> There probably is another way but I don't know it.


Could you decrease the saturation of the layer with the girl, so that her skin tone appears more natural/less orange to begin with?


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Ravenandblack said:


> Could you decrease the saturation of the layer with the girl, so that her skin tone appears more natural/less orange to begin with?


I agree, start with the girl. I was going to suggest making the adjustment to the original photo to make it look more natural, less orange. If you start with more natural tones, it should be easier blend the girl with the cover.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

I like the green one that someone posted. I still have an issue with the ratio of the image. It's too wide and looks weird. Here's a mock-up of the green one with a more normal ratio, I think.


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## cebap (Dec 15, 2014)

I like the first one, the saturated colors catch my eye.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

The green is pretty, but the orange screams serial killer to me and is much more striking IMO
Plus the cool creepy shadow is no longer visible on the green version.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

I think this will do.  I did make the book cover slightly skinnier. 
Added a bit of red/orange tint to the white dress. May have to move the text slightly left.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

The text not being centered really, really bothers me, especially since the right side is so much busier and that seems where you've nudged the text. Aside from that point, it looks good.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Going to publish the book Soon.Just got it back from editing.
I can't decide on the title font though. Any of these or do you have suggestions? Hard to find a good font that has a great lookin J.

What do you think of these three title fonts?


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## Keith Soares (Jan 9, 2014)

Personally I prefer the more rough lettered version of typography. At this point you may be all set, but I feel that the woman is *almost centered* but not. That often can look like a mistake in graphic design - to be *almost* doing something, but not quite. I feel like you either need to center her or commit to her being notably off-center. To me, there doesn't seem to be too much going on on the left, so centering seems the easiest/best option.

[I edited this response because I realized my previous response was not up to date with how the cover design had changed over time]

K.


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## Guest (Dec 17, 2014)

I like the thicker, heavier font, the third choice.


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## anicolle (Dec 13, 2014)

I like the 2nd redone one in your most recent post. Maybe enlarge the title font slightly, but that might be veering toward unnecessary tweaking territory


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

It's a tossup between one and three for me. They're both great.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

Well I published it with the third cover. I did edit the J to make it look more like a J.


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

Congrats. The final version looks really great


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Congrats and best of success!


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## crow.bar.beer (Oct 20, 2014)

P.J. Post said:


> Feather the girl's outline:
> 
> The down and dirty method is to use the magic wand (PS) and select the area outside the girl on that layer, then grow the selected area by 4 to 6 pixels. Then hit filter > blur > blur more. That should soften the edge. You might have to adjust the amount of blur with Gaussian blur (a little goes a long way). Make sure that all of the white (or other old backdrop color) outline has been removed. The easy way to do that is the same technique as above, but hit delete instead of blur. Only grow the selected area by one pixel at a time to make sure you don't delete too much.
> 
> ...


Wanted to say thanks for posting all that! Going to play with this stuff and add it to my repertoire.


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## hermione47 (Nov 5, 2014)

WordSaladTongs said:


> I prefer the one on the left, although it needs some polishing. I'd also lose the tag line (if you keep it, shorten it to punch it up and serial killer shouldn't be capped). YMMV


Your avatar has just made my evening (UK time). Thanks


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

That cover helped my free days.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 90 minutes (44-64 pages) > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime Fiction > Murder
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime Fiction > Serial Killers

Been free 18 hours.


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## donna callea (Dec 25, 2009)

I'll join the crowd and vote for the first one.  The letter dripping blood is a nice touch.


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## Kathryn Meyer Griffith (May 6, 2013)

Here's a thought...BOTH covers are very intriguing, in my opinion, but the one on the left seems to me would appeal more to women and the one on the right more to men. Are your best customers women or men? Who are you aiming for?


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Daniel Cane said:


> That cover helped my free days.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 90 minutes (44-64 pages) > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
> ...


Those are impressive numbers! Congratulations.


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Daniel Cane said:


> That cover helped my free days.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 90 minutes (44-64 pages) > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
> ...


Yay! Knew it was a great cover...


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## LeonardDHilleyII (May 23, 2011)

Love the one on the left.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Congratz on the #1 Daniel!


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## rjspears (Sep 25, 2011)

I like the first one.  It has better focus.


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

I really like the first one. I find the red very eye-catching. Only commenting as a reader, not as a cover expert!


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