# Does your cover pass this test?



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

Do you agree with this test?

http://authors.choosybookworm.com/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-cover/

_Few books are successful without some sort of cover image. A good cover image should give the reader an idea of the book content. Look at the image used without any title or author text. Does it give you an idea of what to expect?

Is there any sort of formula for judging a cover image? I would suggest looking at it without the text. Does the image give any idea of the book content?_

Is anyone willing to put up their cover without any text or author name?


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## Sonya Bateman (Feb 3, 2013)

Ooh, I'll play!

I think this one's fairly obvious with regard to genre, at least, but I could be wrong. 



(edited to make the image smaller... whoops, pretty big there )


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

I don't read any sort of paranormal, fantasy sci-fi stuff, but I would guess it is one of these genres with a romance thrown in  .


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## Sonya Bateman (Feb 3, 2013)

LOL. Well, yes, though I don't think of the romance as thrown in.  It is indeed paranormal romance.


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

S.W. Vaughn said:


> LOL. Well, yes, though I don't think of the romance as thrown in.  It is indeed paranormal romance.


We both win


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

Treat with maximum caution any article that sounds off about covers and then recommends using fiverr.


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

Mercia McMahon said:


> Treat with maximum caution any article that sounds off about covers and then recommends using fiverr.


Could be true, but there are some weird covers (and on bestsellers) that tell you nothing about the story, or the mood/tone of the book. Sometimes readers skim through the bestseller list and will register the cover picture before the title, and might even move past an unappealing cover without even noting the title.


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## Sonya Bateman (Feb 3, 2013)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> We both win


Woo-hoo!


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Probably too obvious but


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## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Probably too obvious but


Lemme guess... historical nonfiction? 

That image is awesome!


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

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Probably too obvious but


Women warriors taking over a future sci-fi world? (It's not my reading genre, so this is a pure guess)


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Women warriors taking over a future sci-fi world? (It's not my reading genre, so this is a pure guess)


Not far wrong, Jan. Women in the military save an alien world... sorta. Space opera in other words. The image is by Mark Brooks from way back. I had it done for paperbacks, but it looks nice on kindle and audio covers too with the right text.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Oooh, I wanna play!


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

ebbrown said:


> Oooh, I wanna play!


These are a bit more tricky. The first one has some sort of historical context, and the dark cover makes me think it's a dark story.
Not sure about the second one - but I don't think it's a western  I would think it's general fiction. It doesn't give out a happy ending vibe. I would expect some deep story.
The third one looks like it could be about a woman out to get some sort of retribution.


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## ♨ (Jan 9, 2012)

Mercia McMahon said:


> Treat with maximum caution any article that sounds off about covers and then recommends using fiverr.


Very true. I'll play regardless . . .


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## donna callea (Dec 25, 2009)

Just read and loved this, but the cover still has me shaking my head in wonder (which I guess is a good thing). 
This is something only a writer as wonderful as Ann Patchett could pull off:


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

ʇɹǝuuıɹ ˙ɔ uɐp said:


> Very true. I'll play regardless . . .


First one: Can't quite make out the pics on the cover, but it looks a bit 'other worldly' and perhaps humorous.
Second one: Could be about anything, but also hints at humour.
Third one: Looks like it could be a heart carved in a tree. Red for love?


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## ♨ (Jan 9, 2012)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> First one: Can't quite make out the pics on the cover, but it looks a bit 'other worldly' and perhaps humorous.
> Second one: Could be about anything, but also hints at humour.
> Third one: Looks like it could be a heart carved in a tree. Red for love?


Yes, yes and mostly yes.


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## going going gone (Jun 4, 2013)

ebbrown said:


> Oooh, I wanna play!


as a group/series, says "high fantasy" to me. (I didn't look at your sig before saying that.)


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## LeeD (Jan 16, 2014)

donna callea said:


> Just read and loved this, but the cover still has me shaking my head in wonder (which I guess is a good thing).
> This is something only a writer as wonderful as Ann Patchett could pull off:


I collect Patchett -- she's that good -- and I loved "State of Wonder," but this cover is awful. Might have to submit it to LousyBookCovers.com.


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## NotHere (Jan 21, 2015)

That might explain a bit why I can't tell my genre. Note to self, hire a cover designer. This is for my most current chapter book. I tend to tweak covers several times before publishing.










In the cover above the last post, my first thought for Cadle-Sparks was heroic fantasy. Though my experience with fantasy is extremely limited, so take that for what it's worth.

Is this cover to big? I can shrink it.

Also that's my wattpad name.


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## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

This is just the kind of flash-test I wanted for my cover! I'll bite! I did this one myself, and I always worry about the covers I do myself.










What do you think?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

SandraMiller said:


> This is just the kind of flash-test I wanted for my cover! I'll bite! I did this one myself, and I always worry about the covers I do myself.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


First thought was 007. What would James be in though? Spy thrillers I guess.


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## ♨ (Jan 9, 2012)

SandraMiller said:


> What do you think?


It's a thriller about a spy tasked with taking out performers of classical music played on string instruments.


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## NotHere (Jan 21, 2015)

I was actually thinking historical musical fiction. (Think biopics about composers, and things like that.)


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

The strange aspect ratio as the easiest way to get rid of the text was to cut the top and bottom from the cover.


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

LWFlouisa said:


> That might explain a bit why I can't tell my genre. Note to self, hire a cover designer. This is for my most current chapter book. I tend to tweak covers several times before publishing.


Tinkerbell's autobiography?


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## ♨ (Jan 9, 2012)

Rin said:


>


Techno-thriller revolving around a private school teen whose tablet holds the secret to solving the city's energy crisis.


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## NotHere (Jan 21, 2015)

Actually for the above cover, I was thinking boarding school in a cyberpunk dystopia.

This cover I'm a touch iffy about, as though it matches the books content, I'm not sure if it conveys YA or Middle Grade.


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## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

Rin said:


>


I'm terrible with genres, but I love this cover. Seriously, I want to read it and I don't even know what it is


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## Karen Mead (Jul 2, 2012)

I agree with SandraMiller, Rin's cover looks great. Here's one of mine:


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

LWFlouisa said:


> That might explain a bit why I can't tell my genre. Note to self, hire a cover designer. This is for my most current chapter book. I tend to tweak covers several times before publishing.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It suggests a young woman with a lot of angst. Not sure of the genre.


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

SandraMiller said:


> This is just the kind of flash-test I wanted for my cover! I'll bite! I did this one myself, and I always worry about the covers I do myself.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Romance/love story


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

LWFlouisa said:


> Actually for the above cover, I was thinking boarding school in a cyberpunk dystopia.
> 
> This cover I'm a touch iffy about, as though it matches the books content, I'm not sure if it conveys YA or Middle Grade.


You left the text on so 'nymph' makes the visual look a bit rude . Without the text I would have thought it was a 'dark' sort of story.


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> You left the text on so 'nymph' makes the visual look a bit rude . Without the text I would have thought it was a 'dark' sort of story.


Agh! Cannot unsee!


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

Rin said:


> Agh! Cannot unsee!


sorry


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## Christine Tate (Feb 24, 2014)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Do you agree with this test?
> 
> http://authors.choosybookworm.com/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-cover/
> 
> ...


 I like your book cover designs. Where do you get them or how do you create them?


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

Christine Tate said:


> I like your book cover designs. Where do you get them or how do you create them?


Hi Christine,
The book covers have been done by various designers. Three of them are trad published, one by Penguin and two by Gecko Books. I'm now using a graphic artist who lives conveniently only minutes away. She designed _But Can You Drink The Water?_ _The Race (an inspiring story for left-handers)_ and _With the Headmaster's Approval_ (which we are re-designing due to the KBoarders telling me readers are mistaking it for BDSM erotica!) If you want the details of any of the cover artists, message me and I will let you have them


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## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Romance/love story


Ah, we have a winner! I was biting my nails over here, figuring I must have missed the mark on this one. It's romantic suspense. Sounds like the suspense angle was coming through strong, but maybe not the romance.

Thanks everybody!


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## NotHere (Jan 21, 2015)

I may have to change the text then.:/ Having a hard time finding fonts that don't clash. Thanks.

By the way, is there some sort of taboo with making your own cover? I want my work to have the best chance it can, so I don't want to do anything that could risk more money lost than gained. I always heard that someone should always hire a designer.

On Karen Mead's, It has a vague reminder of Urban Fantasy anime. I also happen to be a big anime fan.

New cover a little big, tweaking it!XD

Still looks a little iffy to me. I drew it when I was seventeen, and later found a use for it. Drawn in charcoal.


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## dgrant (Feb 5, 2014)

LWFlouisa, 

There's no taboo against making your own cover. The reason it's generally suggested is because most writers are really great at writing, and not so great at designing the advertisement for the book (the cover.) Therefore, instead of losing a lot of sales because the browsing reader won't be interested enough in the ad to make it to the awesome writing inside, writers will hire someone who's spent time and skull sweat learning about the ways that different genres and subgenres signal on covers, and sunk their time into photoshop or gimp tools instead of foreshadowing or plotting. 

I know one writer who has a very nice urban fantasy, but she constantly got urban fantasy readers skipping right past it and paranormal romance readers picking it up and being disappointed. The reason was really subtle: in urban fantasy covers, the woman faces the viewer. In paranormal romance covers, the woman usually faces away from the viewer. Pick the wrong torso orientation, and the readers automatically assumes it's the wrong subgenre.


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

I'll play! Just, um, don't peek at my signature.


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## NotHere (Jan 21, 2015)

I could spot that genre (or at least sub-group of fantasy) right away. Who doesn't love a good ole pirate adventure?


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

LWFlouisa said:


> I could spot that genre (or at least sub-group of fantasy) right away. Who doesn't love a good ole pirate adventure?


Ding! Actually, it's just for this book in the series. And it's not just pirates...it's airship pirates. (They're a bit tame as far as pirates go, I admit, but there's still lots of action.)


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

Robert Dahlen said:


> I'll play! Just, um, don't peek at my signature.


Didn't peek, but thought children's fantasy.


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

ʇɹǝuuıɹ ˙ɔ uɐp said:


> Techno-thriller revolving around a private school teen whose tablet holds the secret to solving the city's energy crisis.


[/quote]


LWFlouisa said:


> Actually for the above cover, I was thinking boarding school in a cyberpunk dystopia.


It's urban fantasy starring a hacker. 



SandraMiller said:


> I'm terrible with genres, but I love this cover. Seriously, I want to read it and I don't even know what it is
> It's free, go grab it. ^_^


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

Robert Dahlen said:


> I'll play! Just, um, don't peek at my signature.


The blonde character is adorable - if I had kids, I'd grab this right away.


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## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

> It's free, go grab it. ^_^


I just did! Thanks!


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

Rin said:


> The blonde character is adorable - if I had kids, I'd grab this right away.


Beth may look adorable on this cover, but she's got a reason. Three months before this story takes place, she could only daydream about airships. Now, she's piloting one. She's never been happier. It's almost a shame what I put her and Michiko through later.


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Didn't peek, but thought children's fantasy.


Technically, I'm aiming this at teens and up. There's stuff for younger kids to enjoy there too, though some of the jokes may go over their heads, but there's a long-term plot development coming up in the fourth book that'll tick off the socially conservative, so I'm not marketing to the young crowd.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I think you should change this thread to "does your COVER past this test?"  It's about leaving off the title, after all.

And I was particularly interested in this thread, because I tend to buy books based on titles, and only look at the cover second.

Camille


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## JohnsonJoshuaK (Nov 2, 2011)

Ooooh, I'll play!


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

Robert Dahlen said:


> Technically, I'm aiming this at teens and up. There's stuff for younger kids to enjoy there too, though some of the jokes may go over their heads, but there's a long-term plot development coming up in the fourth book that'll tick off the socially conservative, so I'm not marketing to the young crowd.


I started with a 'cartoon' cover for Mystery at Ocean Drive, but was told that teens would think it was a children's book, so I changed it to include figures and scenery.


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

daringnovelist said:


> I think you should change this thread to "does your COVER past this test?" It's about leaving off the title, after all.
> 
> And I was particularly interested in this thread, because I tend to buy books based on titles, and only look at the cover second.
> 
> Camille


You're right. What was I thinking


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

Anyone else like to put their cover up without any text?


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## Stephanie Marks (Feb 16, 2015)

I would love to but I have no idea how since the only file I have is WITH the text.


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## 80593 (Nov 1, 2014)

Well, I only have one and it's in my sig, so I'm not being very tricksy posting it without text, but here it is with the text deleted:










This wouldn't work as a straight-up/standard representation of my genre. But some readers might consider the tone and mood of my stories to be somewhat at odds with my genre, so I have to try to convey both.


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

Jen Rasmussen said:


> Well, I only have one and it's in my sig, so I'm not being very tricksy posting it without text, but here it is with the text deleted:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would hazard a guess that it's something literary.


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

I definitely agree with the general premise. Your cover is packaging, so make sure that the reader knows what she's going to be getting when she buys it. With that in mind, here is Lorenz Hideyoshi's cover art for the first book of my new series. Should tell the reader exactly what to expect, and is, in fact, from a scene in the book, as are the covers for #2 and #3.


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## 80593 (Nov 1, 2014)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> I would hazard a guess that it's something literary.


Really? This game is great, because it never would have crossed my mind that was the impression I was giving. Thank you for telling me! I'm pretty sure someone who bought my book looking for a literary read would be a mite disappointed.


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

It looks more as if she's about to take out his eye with her bow.
[disclaimer: I am not qualified to judge people's covers]


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Mine would all fail this test because I make my covers on the icon strategy. All of my images are in a style where ONE element is really prominent, but from that image alone, you wouldn't be able to tell genre. 

I think when you look at the top 100, many book covers are just a background with typeface really doing the heavy lifting. That's what I aimed for. My titles are specific font faces for the series they are in, my author name is always Ba-BAM! The image is just an icon for readers to go "that's the horse book"  "that's the pink flower book" "that's the lamppost book" etc.


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

MichaelWallace said:


> I definitely agree with the general premise. Your cover is packaging, so make sure that the reader knows what she's going to be getting when she buys it. With that in mind, here is Lorenz Hideyoshi's cover art for the first book of my new series. Should tell the reader exactly what to expect, and is, in fact, from a scene in the book, as are the covers for #2 and #3.


Star Wars comes to mind.


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

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> Mine would all fail this test because I make my covers on the icon strategy. All of my images are in a style where ONE element is really prominent, but from that image alone, you wouldn't be able to tell genre.
> 
> I think when you look at the top 100, many book covers are just a background with typeface really doing the heavy lifting. That's what I aimed for. My titles are specific font faces for the series they are in, my author name is always Ba-BAM! The image is just an icon for readers to go "that's the horse book" "that's the pink flower book" "that's the lamppost book" etc.


But I get the impression that they are all 'feel-good' stories, even if I couldn't get the genre.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

JohnsonJoshuaK said:


> Ooooh, I'll play!


Alternate history?


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