# Cover Art Showcase - Show your best book covers here!



## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

I thought it might be fun to have a single thread for both authors and book cover designers alike to just show off their best book covers. If you are an author and are proud of your cover, post it and feel free to tell who designed it. If you are a cover designer, post samples of what you consider your best work. But this thread isn't for outright promotion, just for fun, enjoyment, and inspiration. But if someone wants to know about a particular artist's work, or wants a link to buy the book in question, that's fine as long as this is fine with the moderators.

And let's to do one book cover per post. You can always post more covers over time, but no back to back posts either. Let each cover and each person have there own moment to shine!

I'll start it off with a cover I just designed last week for one of my company's authors.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Here is a set of 4 for a series coming out next year. Artist is Tom Edwards.










Because you can't go wrong with elves vs vampires and unicorns.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I really like this cover which I made for the print edition of my short story collection (excuse slight graininess because of crap downsampling of the board software):


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2013)

Very happy with this one since it's the first I did almost completely on my own (I commissioned another artist for the dropship, then reworked it to my liking).


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## lynnfromthesouth (Jun 21, 2012)

I bought the stock image, but I did the design myself:


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## Skyler West (Aug 23, 2012)

My cover for They Won't Be Missed, my debut book. Made by me.


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## Zoe York (May 12, 2013)

This is easy. I only have one cover so far! But I'm still pretty proud of it.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

I love all of my covers, done by Robin Ludwig (I pick out the photos she alters/puts together). This cover won a contest.

Her link: gobookcoverdesign.com


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2013)

These are the first two of my Techxorcist series. Done myself.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Wow! These are all beautiful covers so far! Every one of them professional quality. Please keep them coming!


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## The world would be prettier with more zebra strip (Apr 20, 2011)

I have not consented to the new Terms of Service, which were implemented without any announcement and without the ability to accept or reject them. My continued participation on the forum is related only to addressing this issue and cannot be construed as implied consent.  9/21/2018


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## Darren Wearmouth (Jan 28, 2013)

Christ on a bike! Mr. Barnes can certainly bang out a good cover or two.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

This is the cover for an upcoming title in my Latter Kingdoms series. Nadica Boskovska did the art, and I did the layout/lettering. (I love all the cover art she's done for me, but I think she hit it out of the park on this one.)


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2013)

DAWearmouth said:


> Christ on a bike! Mr. Barnes can certainly bang out a good cover or two.


Thanks for the kidnd words Mr Wearmouth and christallya.  always nice to see the covers get a good reaction. There's some crackers here in this thread. Nice work, everyone.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Here's another one I did:


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## Keri Knutson (Apr 10, 2011)

Since this is just a show-off thread -- the covers I've designed for two of my own books coming out this year (a crime/mystery and a paranormal mystery):


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Ooh, I love that _Lost Things_ cover, Keri! Here's one my artist did for my upcoming series. No title yet and excuse my hasty watermark.


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## Jude Hardin (Feb 5, 2011)




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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Nicki Leigh (Aug 25, 2011)

This is a cover I designed for a piece of my own that I'm currently editing for Lyrical press.


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## CEMartin2 (May 26, 2012)

My latest short story... doing several of these to try and get my series some attention- and I ended up liking the stories 'covers better than my series!


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

> I've made a wide variety of covers and this is a sample of a few:


Come on, man, follow directions! Many of us have several to show off but he asked for ONE at a time.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Caddy said:


> Come on, man, follow directions! Many of us have several to show off but he asked for ONE at a time.


Sorry I'll remove them.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Caddy said:


> Come on, man, follow directions! Many of us have several to show off but he asked for ONE at a time.


All removed


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

> All removed


 Hey, I didn't mean don't join the fun. Just do one at a time so we can get a good look at it. And then wait so other books can come up.  Not trying to be mean, just sayin' that's what he asked for. So, which of yours is your favorite to show first?


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

I love this one because the alien in this image used be quite human. Fun with Photoshop. 
I wonder if models have any idea what we do to them


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

athanos said:


> All removed


Yes, all covers are welcome, but this thread is for everybody. One post with a bunch of covers will take up too much space, and I don't want any one person to "hog all the spotlight" as it were.


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

Great covers everyone!

Here is my favorite, hand-drawn by the talented artist Alla Alekseyeva:


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## Liz Davis (Dec 10, 2011)

Caddy said:


> I love all of my covers, done by Robin Ludwig (I pick out the photos she alters/puts together). This cover won a contest.
> 
> Her link: gobookcoverdesign.com


Caddy, this has always been one of my favourite covers.


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## JGrover (Aug 10, 2011)

This cover to my fantasy novel has received more attention than any of my covers. I have to agree. It is my absolute favorite of all my covers. I give you "Possessing the Grimstone."


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## BelindaPepper (May 19, 2013)

My favourite cover at the moment was actually one created by Malcolm McClinton (one of the illustrators in my RedSwallowDesign studio):










In case that pic is too small, yes that's a butcher feeding a zombie through a meat grinder.  Malcolm's got mad illustration skills. His commentary & detail shots are on his portfolio page: http://redswallowdesign.com/portfolio-addicted-to-the-dead-cover-illustration-by-malcolm-mcclinton/

The only thing I DIDN'T like about the cover is that the author went DIY on adding the typography, which imo totally detracted from Malcolm's awesome work. Moral of the story? If you're gonna shell out for a custom illustration, you should save the typography for the designers.


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## emilyward (Mar 5, 2011)

Wow, there are some awesome ones here. So jealous of the amazing talent with illustration. Quiss, nice photoshop skills! 

I recently designed this for Dzanc Books and I really like how it turned out:


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

This is the cover for my upcoming re-release of a novella, with a new title.


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

#1: My personal favorite is one I did for a novella that isn't going to be released for a long while still. I thought it would be my next release, so I started the cover for it (not that I need much of a reason at all to start working on a cover, lol!), but then I decided it made better sense to release a couple of my other WIPs first. So this one was put back on the shelf.

#2: Also, the original cover image for EWTF (revised typography) will always hold a special place in my heart. People didn't know what to make of it though, so I had to kick it to the curb and go with something safer. Ah well.

















@Keri Knutson, I love both of those! They're very eye-catching and clever!


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

emilyward said:


> Wow, there are some awesome ones here. So jealous of the amazing talent with illustration. Quiss, nice photoshop skills!
> 
> I recently designed this for Dzanc Books and I really like how it turned out:


I LOVE this cover.


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## horse_girl (Apr 9, 2010)

Paul Davies just finished the whole series for me with these:




























I love them! And he's now working on the prequel cover, Prophecy  I am eagerly awaiting his first sketch ideas.

Edit: They are beautiful as posters for giveaways too!


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## Scarlett_R (Sep 30, 2011)

Loooving this thread!


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

My cover is very different, but it suits the contents.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

I love the detail work Sebastiene from Book Art Media did on this one.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

JGrover said:


> This cover to my fantasy novel has received more attention than any of my covers. I have to agree. It is my absolute favorite of all my covers. I give you "Possessing the Grimstone."


Nice cover! What font did you use for the title and author name? I like it.


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

this is my new favorite thread  great covers posted here!


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

It's almost IMPOSSIBLE to choose only one cover...


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## ellendominick (Feb 27, 2013)

I'm most proud of this one.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

I have a wide variety and many covers done for myself and others. Here they are first starting with one of my favourites. Done for an upcoming fantasy book by a fellow indie author: Heather Marie Adkins.








I'll stick to one at a time and hope that won't be too much.


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## RMHuffman (Apr 1, 2013)

I have exactly one cover for exactly one book that'll be ready for release in a couple weeks. Art is by Lucas Graciano - www.lucasgraciano.com - and design by CJ McDaniel at Adazing. I'm biased, of course, but I think it's pretty sweet.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)




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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

> Caddy, this has always been one of my favourite covers.


Just saw this. Thank you very much.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Gotta agree with Damon. It's hard to pick a favourite! I've definitely got a top five, but narrowing it to one is tough!










Rue


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## philstern (Mar 14, 2011)




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## Guest (Jun 14, 2013)




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## Stuffeshead (Jan 19, 2011)

ellendominick said:


> I'm most proud of this one.


Ummm.... I have to... Ummm.... Excuse me for a little while, while I.....

Wow....


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

This actually isn't my favorite, but I think it is my most EFFECTIVE cover, which is rather a different thing:










I'll post my own favorite later.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

This is my 2nd favorite of mine. Since it is the 4th of a series, most people won't be buying it without reading the previous books, so I wanted ambience and subjective meaning that readers of the previous book would get.


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

From the second in my current series which is coming out next week; my favorite so far.


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

August Wainwright said:


> From the second in my current series which is coming out next week; my favorite so far.


This is great. Very nice.


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

Damonza said:


> This is great. Very nice.


Thanks Damon. My designer is pretty amazing - very happy with his work.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Numero 2








I'll stick to one at a time and hope that won't be too much.


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## BelindaPepper (May 19, 2013)

RMHuffman said:


> I have exactly one cover for exactly one book that'll be ready for release in a couple weeks. Art is by Lucas Graciano - www.lucasgraciano.com - and design by CJ McDaniel at Adazing. I'm biased, of course, but I think it's pretty sweet.


SOOOOO freakin' jealous right now. I LOVE Lucas's painting skills. The title font is a little difficult to read, but that painting kicks ass.


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## RMHuffman (Apr 1, 2013)

BelindaPepper said:


> SOOOOO freakin' jealous right now. I LOVE Lucas's painting skills. The title font is a little difficult to read, but that painting kicks *ss.


Yeah, Lucas is a boss. If my book does anything, it's gonna be hard to chalk it up to anything other than his cover art. It'll be responsible for more than one impulse buy, I think.


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## yomamma (Feb 10, 2011)

I have to say, there are some wickedly gorgeous covers in this thread.

I'm currently in love with this one of mine.  It was done for me by my bestie, who is also an author and has far better photochop skills than I do.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)




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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Numero 3


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Here's one of my favorite book covers that I've designed.










And here it is animated. (This was way fun to do.)


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi,

Here's one from me that I did this year. I'm really quite pleased with it given that I have zero artistic ability. Got a comment back on facebook saying it looked like Zod's prison. Now I just have to work out who Zod is!



Cheers Greg.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

UFO over the church and shadowed people walking toward the building fits the story.

​


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## Ignis_Designs (Jan 28, 2013)

Not final yet, a 2nd Edition of my brother-in-law's debut novel.. The print cover is easily my favorite of the covers I have done.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

My most recently made book cover using a bought stock photo. (Need to finish the back yet)


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## Ryan Sullivan (Jul 9, 2011)

Here's my favourite and only cover.  Sorry I can't make it smaller.


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## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

I do tons of covers, of course, but I am still particularly fond of this one:


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## Shalini Boland (Nov 29, 2010)

It's great to see all these amazing covers shown larger than the usual thumbnail - some of the detail is incredible. I'm drooling at their beauty and now have itchy cover syndrome.

Here's one of mine:


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## penrefe (Nov 30, 2011)

Shalini Boland said:


> It's great to see all these amazing covers shown larger than the usual thumbnail - some of the detail is incredible. I'm drooling at their beauty and now have itchy cover syndrome.
> 
> Here's one of mine:


I love your cover, Shalini. I think it's really elegant.

Here's a cover I've mocked up for a story I'm planning to do for this year's NaNoWriMo, which is my current favourite cover:


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

I get cover envy all the time, and am constantly tweaking in the hopes I finally get one right.

I feel as though One Insular Tahiti's cover's finally right. So it's the one I'm most proud of.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

It's tough for me to decide what my favorite might be, but for now, I think it is:










Though if Devi will friggin' let me show off the Orbit covers they've made, I'd totally be showing something else here...


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## Rayne Book Covers (Sep 11, 2011)

Hard to pick but I'll go with this one for now:


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## Error404 (Sep 6, 2012)

Something I whipped up for an upcoming erotic romance serial


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

jljarvis said:


> I cannot begin to tell you how much I love your covers. I just scrolled through the fiction samples (again). <sigh>


Thanks, much appreciated!


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

Here's another recently designed cover I really like, although I realize it may not be to everyone's taste.


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

My personal fave probably:










Glad it's been selling really well too.

Some great covers in this thread. Awesome shares!


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

Thanks. That's awesome of you to say, especially when Damon is posting some of his work. I should actually be getting the third in the series from my designer today or tomorrow, so I'll throw it on here once it's finished.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

The cover that I like the best of all my covers (though not necessarily the most effective) is the cover of _Not for Glory_:

And yes, it is a scene from the novel.  










Not everyone likes that one but I really do. I love the title too. It is absolutely my favorite of my titles.


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

This cover was interesting to create and the matching cover flat for the paperback was just as challenging. But it is one of my best.

The cover I'm most thrilled with that a cover artist did for me is Night Hawk which I found Nicole here on Kindleboards.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Another favourite:










Rue


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

I've just changed the cover for Dying For You, #6 in the Rafferty & Llewelyn procedural series. This one was designed by Cheryl at ccrbookcoverdesign.com.

It was such a lucky find as it's a pre-design, but perfect for the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Rafferty-Llewellyn-Police-Procedural-ebook/dp/B005MLA1TC/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371420462&sr=1-4&keywords=geraldine+evans[/img]

Hope the picture comes out as I've never added an image to a post here. Must get and change the images in my sig line.

Sorry. If you're interested in this technophobe's new cover, I'm afraid you'll have to click the link to see it! (Tried 'insert image', but couldn't get it to work. Advice, please!)
Geraldine


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Numero 4










I'll stick to one at a time and hope that won't be too much.


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## Georgia (Jun 13, 2013)

I worked in graphic design for over a decade, but did mostly boring corporate identity, web design, tradeshow, and infographic design. Back in the tech bubble, I had a few fun jobs, the best being creating a set of animated urine testers for a large German pharmaceutical company. They were all characters, done in a kind of ransom note collage style... I did fifteen minutes of lip sync animation wit them...those were the days.

Suddenly, as the client, I'm...complaining to myself about my own budgetary constraints!

Finding good stock photos that don't cost an arm and a leg is hard; developing illustrations from scratch is hugely time consuming. How do you find that sweet spot, getting a lot of bang for the buck? I liked this cover, as the photo of the young woman wasn't processed to the point where the woman's face was that textureless airbrushed beauty perfection plastic death mask. (You ever look at the American Apparel models, and wonder they seem so real, so... hot? They look like real people.)

I searched for various kinds of cabalistic and demonic symbols, found and modified the one above, which barely reads as a pentagram, which is fine, as my 'demons' are very science fictional.

I created the brand XSF, for Xplicit Science Fiction, as a way to differentiate my genre work from my contemporary work. I might end up sharing the graphic with people who work in the same genre in some of my writing circles, if that makes sense. It is reminiscent of the old SF logos they used to put on library book spines back in the day.

All in all, it's OK for a first effort in this space. I did the cover, layout, and design for a mass-market genre magazine a few years back, and so had begun to build out this skill set.

The book hasn't sold much yet, but I'm hopeful that by the time I have ten thumbnails under my name it will have done at least as well for me as my magazine fiction.

It's great to be able to talk to my fellow writers here, learn from them, in this new space.

I may at some point open my own cover business. This kind of design is soooooo much funner than the corporate stuff, even if the payscale is different. This is where I want to put the work now. If I can get some traction in a year or two.


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

Ok, just got this one from my designer. #3 in the series. Not sure if I like this one or the "Cipher" cover from the earlier post more.


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## Scarlett_R (Sep 30, 2011)

My second favourite in my folio:


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

Some beautiful covers here. But one, at a huge size, stopped me for 30 seconds while I tried to work out the title because the font is too fancy for its own good; a potential reader would be gone in less than 3 seconds. Quite a few others as thumbnails fail to tell anyone the title or the author's name.


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

The book isn't out yet, but I'm working on it and should have it finished by the end of summer, so I'm counting it. This is my absolute favorite out of all my covers. Designed by the amazing Keith Draws, of course. I love it so much, I'm actually sort of afraid to finish writing the story now, if that makes any sense.


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## CharMarieAdles (Feb 15, 2012)

http://nephan.deviantart.com/art/Moon-Branded-Official-Cover-344936340


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

Andre Jute said:


> Some beautiful covers here. But one, at a huge size, stopped me for 30 seconds while I tried to work out the title because the font is too fancy for its own good; a potential reader would be gone in less than 3 seconds. Quite a few others as thumbnails fail to tell anyone the title or the author's name.


Covers don't have 3 seconds. More like 1 second on Amazon. Big text is not a necessary thing. As long as your eye gets caught by something in the cover and makes you look, cover does it's job. It can be shape, color, face, thing, font, effect etc. You can win reader's attention by many things. If big text would be prerequisite then all the books would look the same way. Text should be as big as possible and as readable as possible but it shouldn't get in the way of concept overall.


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## Shalini Boland (Nov 29, 2010)

penrefe said:


> I love your cover, Shalini. I think it's really elegant.


Thanks Penrefe! Yours is great - where do you get your images from? Love the girl's face.


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

RBC said:


> Text should be as big as possible and as readable as possible but it shouldn't get in the way of concept overall.


I'm out of advertising; I believe in Beatrice Webb's vision of graphic design as the crystal wine glass that adds or subtracts nothing from the wine within. "As big as possible" and "as readable as possible" are weasel-recipes for designers to indulge in ego-tripping at the customer's expense. Title and author name should, at a minimum, be big enough to be effective, and that means *readable at the smallest size in use*. Consumers, generally speaking, have to see the product multiple times before they buy it. If they cannot identify a book by the author name or the title,, the sale won't happen. The only exception I can think of is where such a strong and consistent graphic presence has already been built up that you can do without the text altogether. There are two such examples shown in this thread. One is Caddy's books, and I would not dream of suggesting that she tries it without the text, because I cannot see that such a course would increase her sales, and it might damage here sales by reducing off new conversions.


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

Andre Jute said:


> I'm out of advertising; I believe in Beatrice Webb's vision of graphic design as the crystal wine glass that adds or subtracts nothing from the wine within. "As big as possible" and "as readable as possible" are weasel-recipes for designers to indulge in ego-tripping at the customer's expense. Title and author name should, at a minimum, be big enough to be effective, and that means *readable at the smallest size in use*. Consumers, generally speaking, have to see the product multiple times before they buy it. If they cannot identify a book by the author name or the title,, the sale won't happen. The only exception I can think of is where such a strong and consistent graphic presence has already been built up that you can do without the text altogether. There are two such examples shown in this thread. One is Caddy's books, and I would not dream of suggesting that she tries it without the text, because I cannot see that such a course would increase her sales, and it might damage here sales by reducing off new conversions.


That's a totally bad comparison.. cover represents book as it is the first thing that is seen. Whine glass is a container, not advertising tool...

And as far as ego-tripping... maybe it's some authors who ego-trip into thinking it is needed because it feels good to see your name in big letters.. If you sell by name only, then yeah, it makes sense to have a big name in design, otherwise, don't get too carried away. Let the cover concept do the job. When I buy a book from new author, name tells me absolutely nothing. I can't know anything by the name only.. design on the other hand, can intrigue me to check out it's description. Good cover attracts attention without reading anything on it. Purely because of timing issues. There are books without any text even, and those were coming from big name authors like Seth Godin or Steven Pressfield.. so big text is not be-all-end-all thing. Book covers work for different reasons, for different people.. name is one of the factors.


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2013)

Damonza said:


> Here's another recently designed cover I really like, although I realize it may not be to everyone's taste.


This one is gorgeous, sir. Absolutely ghostly and enchanting. Love it. Well done!


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2013)

I'd shared these previously in a different thread, but this is the cover suite for the series I'm currently writing.


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## Rayne Book Covers (Sep 11, 2011)

Speaking of readable vs. non-readable text, I have to agree with RBC. For the cover of The Milestone Tapes, Ashley and I went through a lot of fonts to see what works best. The font on the cover isn't very easily readable, but Ashley decided that it conveys the story better. So we went ahead with it. The book does well and the cover gets a lot of compliments.

E-com websites work on thumbnails, and a thumbnail is no good if the image in it is too dull to grab someone's attention. Once it has grabbed the attention of a potential reader, he can even read the details written right below the thumbnail. But if we are talking about a big shot author like Stephen King or J. K. Rowling then glorifying the name certainly makes sense. It is all about what sells your book.


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

jasongurley said:


> I'd shared these previously in a different thread, but this is the cover suite for the series I'm currently writing.


All your covers are amazing. Really like the look of these, although, you _might_ want to go a little darker/stormy/gloomy with the 3rd cover, just so it stands out when compared to the first.

Either way, fantastic covers Jason.


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

August Wainwright said:


> Ok, just got this one from my designer. #3 in the series. Not sure if I like this one or the "Cipher" cover from the earlier post more.


Another fantastic cover! Really nice.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Andre Jute said:


> I'm out of advertising; I believe in Beatrice Webb's vision of graphic design as the crystal wine glass that adds or subtracts nothing from the wine within. "As big as possible" and "as readable as possible" are weasel-recipes for designers to indulge in ego-tripping at the customer's expense. Title and author name should, at a minimum, be big enough to be effective, and that means *readable at the smallest size in use*. Consumers, generally speaking, have to see the product multiple times before they buy it. If they cannot identify a book by the author name or the title,, the sale won't happen. The only exception I can think of is where such a strong and consistent graphic presence has already been built up that you can do without the text altogether. There are two such examples shown in this thread. One is Caddy's books, and I would not dream of suggesting that she tries it without the text, because I cannot see that such a course would increase her sales, and it might damage here sales by reducing off new conversions.


I created this thread for authors and artists to share their favorite book covers, not as a critiquing workshop. Respect that, please?


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)




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## emilyward (Mar 5, 2011)

My husband just did about two dozen for this author, Stephen Dixon. It was fun coming up with a seamless look for all of them:


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

RBC said:


> That's a totally bad comparison.. cover represents book as it is the first thing that is seen. Whine glass is a container, not advertising tool...
> 
> And as far as ego-tripping... maybe it's some authors who ego-trip into thinking it is needed because it feels good to see your name in big letters.. If you sell by name only, then yeah, it makes sense to have a big name in design, otherwise, don't get too carried away. Let the cover concept do the job. When I buy a book from new author, name tells me absolutely nothing. I can't know anything by the name only.. design on the other hand, can intrigue me to check out it's description. Good cover attracts attention without reading anything on it. Purely because of timing issues. There are books without any text even, and those were coming from big name authors like Seth Godin or Steven Pressfield.. so big text is not be-all-end-all thing. Book covers work for different reasons, for different people.. name is one of the factors.


Apparently Greg Banks set up this thread as a judgement-free and value-free space for designers to tout for business, so I won't answer your - er - interesting points. The absence of an answer doesn't indicate agreement, though.

Here's a designer who agrees with you, writing to my mailbox with a premade tweet, in the hope that I'll give him a plug:



> Graphicz X Designs @graphiczxdesign
> Self-publishing on a budget? Choose from over 500 unique ready-to-go #ebook covers from just $30 graphiczxdesigns.zenfolio.com


(Usual disclaimers: no connection, haven't seen his work, want to see the type on the cover, etc; maybe he has something to suit)


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

Greg Banks said:


> I created this thread for authors and artists to share their favorite book covers, not as a critiquing workshop. Respect that, please?


No problem. I just hadn't realized you and the other designers were touting for business (in fact, I hadn't even realized you were designers until someone wrote to me privately). Since I don't offer to do book covers for people, and my critical faculties are never in abeyance, I'll bugger off. Good luck. Ciao.


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

Andre Jute said:


> Apparently Greg Banks set up this thread as a judgement-free and value-free space for designers to tout for business, so I won't answer your - er - interesting points. The absence of an answer doesn't indicate agreement, though.
> 
> Here's a designer who agrees with you, writing to my mailbox with a premade tweet, in the hope that I'll give him a plug:
> 
> (Usual disclaimers: no connection, haven't seen his work, want to see the type on the cover, etc; maybe he has something to suit)


Wow dude.. Sure I posted my favorite cover. So did ton of authors. So did some designers. There is not much chance of getting work from thread like this tho. It is interesting to see other covers and see tastes. You'll see competitors complimenting other's work, so it's actually cool to see that.. Designer won't get hired because of this thread alone so you can calm down.

You want to discuss things? Start a new thread. But limit your condescending tone and be normal guy.. we can have a nice discussion..


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Andre Jute said:


> Apparently Greg Banks set up this thread as a judgement-free and value-free space for designers to tout for business, so I won't answer your - er - interesting points. The absence of an answer doesn't indicate agreement, though.
> 
> Here's a designer who agrees with you, writing to my mailbox with a premade tweet, in the hope that I'll give him a plug:
> 
> (Usual disclaimers: no connection, haven't seen his work, want to see the type on the cover, etc; maybe he has something to suit)


Apparently Andre Jute chose to over look that this thread is for AUTHORS and designers. And I'm really not sure which part of "Cover Art Showcase" or "Show your best covers here!" you were unclear about before you started posting unsolicited criticisms, but if you don't want to join in the non-judgemental, non-promotional fun, then yes, I supposed "buggering off" would be your best bet.


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## Hudson Owen (May 18, 2012)

emilyward said:


> My husband just did about two dozen for this author, Stephen Dixon. It was fun coming up with a seamless look for all of them:


I read the Publishers Weekly review of Frog, a loosely plotted novel, to be certain. I wonder if there is a trend, especially with this kind of book, to make a cover that has no visual association with the title; hence a narrow back street where one would not expect to see a real frog, or anything to do with frogs--dissonance rather than genre harmony. Put a pretty girl on the cover of a novel that has no pretty girls in it.


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## Georgia (Jun 13, 2013)

jasongurley said:


> This one is gorgeous, sir. Absolutely ghostly and enchanting. Love it. Well done!


this is really classy, really wonderful. It works at full size wonderfully.


----------



## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Cover for a new pen name launch coming later this year:









(image by Lourdes Blazek, fonts by me and my friend)


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## John Daulton (Feb 28, 2012)

This was a fun thread to scroll through. You see them all the time small in the signatures, but it's nice to see them bigger.

For my own, I think I like the new one the best, though it might be because it's new. All I know for sure is Cris Ortega is an amazing artist, and I am thrilled to work with her.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Another favourite:










Rue


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Mine's not fancy and I did it myself, but I saw this guy on a stock photo site and he comes the closest I've ever seen to being Mark Taylor. I couldn't resist and it seemed like putting him on the prequel made sense.


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## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

My very favorite cover is the one by the amazing Karri Klawiter. I had picked out the images, but she made it so much more amazing than I had imagined:



Now I'm working on getting the second book into shape so she can work her magic on it too!


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

SandraMiller said:


> My very favorite cover is the one by the amazing Karri Klawiter. I had picked out the images, but she made it so much more amazing than I had imagined:
> 
> 
> 
> Now I'm working on getting the second book into shape so she can work her magic on it too!


Great cover! Karri turned my omnibus cover into a cool 3-D box set. I love how she carried the skyline theme over the spines. And she did it in, literally, about 30 minutes! She's amazing.


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

Man, KB has some crazy talent.

I'm a sucker for red, but this is my fave:


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## Deena Ward (Jun 20, 2013)

At the moment this is my favorite, but that is subject to change without notice.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

My latest, and the last in "The Gasten Series". This one is gay historical fiction and gay romance.


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## Catchy (Mar 3, 2012)

I spent years doing non-fiction covers, which is sort of my area, but I love it when I have the chance to sink my teeth into a good fiction project.

I don't want to post anything I've done for clients but here are a few of my rejected proofs (clients choose another proof to work with and use as the cover), that I've "reclaimed" for my own advertising purposes by changing titles and author names.

I'm not happy with the text of this first one, but the image was created using five different photos (I blogged about the process), so I sort of like it for that reason. These are the images I used:










These are two of the proofs I came up with:



















I've used elements from this cover on other covers (shadows over lettering, steel letters, bullet holes in letters), but I just like the simplicity and impact it creates. These work best for "guy" books, where message is usually more straight forward: masculine letters, a shadow with a gun, a brick wall indicating an alley or back doors. The red glow on the mortar gives the suggestion that red police lights are flashing nearby and creating the color on the wall... Nothing too original, but it does the job:


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## George Applegate (Jan 23, 2013)

Something I'm working on for a short WIP.
Criticism welcome!


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

I showed my cover previously (and these others have been up before too) but I figured I'd jump in this thread, being the cover junkie I am. There's a couple of pictures here but I wanted to point a few out and give a shameless plug to my favorite designer, Tom Edwards.

http://tomedwardsconcepts.deviantart.com/

I first saw this cover below for Martin Perry and she was kind enough to list the designer in her front matter. What I was attracted to at first (as a former film major and, for a very brief time, as a painting student) was the tone and depth Tom achieves through his palette and lighting values.

But I'm getting too artsy. On with the pics...










Around the same time I couldn't help but notice the same style in these designs as well.



















So a short search inexorably leads me to Deviantart where I'm treated to an even bigger display of this guys crazy-stupid skills.


























So, having found my new designer, and after some very brief negotiations (he's amazingly easy to work with) I sent him a concept sketch and he replied with a series of drafts that we fine tuned into this.

Naturally, it's my favorite cover.  I know it needs some more title and author font work as I was still learning the finer points of that aspect when we wrapped this up but they'll be improved before release this year.


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## August Wainwright (Apr 25, 2013)

D.L. -

+1. Those are amazing. Thanks for sharing.


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

D.L.Shutter, I love the "Gentle Reminders" cover. Normally I find a lot of the sci-fi stuff very unappealing, but that artwork is fantastic along with the typography.

Here's one I ground out the other night, needing something fresh and light for my short erotica. All done in Inkscape. Admittingly there's some further tweaks I could go with, but what took me by surprise was that the ever-loathed "Impact" font turned out to be the ideal one this time around, I'm still shaking my head about that.


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

Nicole

You have some pretty hot covers. Writing erotica on the side is defintely fun. Moreso if you get paid for it.


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

D.L. Shutter said:


> You have some pretty hot covers. Writing erotica on the side is defintely fun. Moreso if you get paid for it.


Yes, I find it a lot more relaxing than my other work, fun too, yes 

As for being paid, well I'll let you know when that starts happening on a grander scale 

Did you do the typography yourself on your covers?


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

> Did you do the typography yourself on your covers?


Oh god no, this is Tom Edwards work. I guess my insignificant commentary got lost between the pics. These are all covers and illustrations he's done and my cover from him is on the bottom.

But thanks for thinking it was me though


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

D.L. Shutter said:


> Oh god no, this is Tom Edwards work. I guess my insignificant commentary got lost between the pics. These are all covers and illustrations he's done and my cover from him is on the bottom.
> 
> But thanks for thinking it was me though


*laugh* thanks. I'll keep that guy in mind when I need some custom artwork done in some other books, it has the sort of style I want in the future. Great covers still


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## Rayne Book Covers (Sep 11, 2011)

Doomed Muse said:


> Cover for a new pen name launch coming later this year:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


At first I thought this was phatpuppy's work. Nice one.


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## Rayne Book Covers (Sep 11, 2011)

Here is another one of mine that I like.


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

> I'll keep that guy in mind when I need some custom artwork done in some other books, it has the sort of style I want in the future


Sounds good. Now if only we can get him to do alien tentacles with bikini model astronauts than we'd be in real good shape.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Catchy said:


> I spent years doing non-fiction covers, which is sort of my area, but I love it when I have the chance to sink my teeth into a good fiction project.
> 
> I don't want to post anything I've done for clients but here are a few of my rejected proofs (clients choose another proof to work with and use as the cover), that I've "reclaimed" for my own advertising purposes by changing titles and author names.
> 
> ...


Those are really good. Do you have a website or do pre-made covers?


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

My favorites of my own covers won or got some recognition in the eBook Cover Design Awards from The Book Designer.

For The Man Who Did Too Much:









And one of my short story collections (I couldn't find a link of my own to this one that was more than a tiny thumbnail, so this is a link to the image on The Book Designer):










Camille


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Wow! Can I just say there's some amazing covers in this thread? I'd quote them but that'd make this a looong post.


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## kklawiter (Jan 23, 2012)

Wow, there really are some amazing covers here. Makes me feel like I need to step up my game! lol I am glad to see a couple I did here though


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

It's the first in my series, and I really love the cover. I just think the artist nailed the tone I was going for.


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## Catchy (Mar 3, 2012)

MaryMcDonald said:


> Those are really good. Do you have a website or do pre-made covers?


Sorry Mary, did I answer this privately?

If not, my site is http://www.BookCoverExpress.com, I have an e-book only site at http://www.eBookCoverExpress.com and I have added a few ready-made covers, but I think my prices are a bit high compared to most on here: http://ebookcoverexpress.com/ready-made-book-covers.html


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

My lastest novel, I did not create the cover, but Daryle Beam over at Bright Boy Designs did and he ROCKED it!


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

Ashy said:


> My lastest novel, I did not create the cover, but Daryle Beam over at Bright Boy Designs did *and he ROCKED it!*


Um, yeah... yeah they did. That cover is freaking awesome. Wow. plus, love the 3D image too. I wish I could figure out how to render images like that!


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Steve W. said:


> Um, yeah... yeah they did. That cover is freaking awesome. Wow. plus, love the 3D image too. I wish I could figure out how to render images like that!


Thanks, Steve. Actually, the 3D version was done by a pal of mine in photoshop. You take the 2D image and manipulate it a bit, add a drop shadow and yer done.


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Scott William Carter said:


> I second that being a great cover, Ashy. Completely indistinguishable from the best covers coming out of NY.
> 
> I'll play, too. Here's my latest:
> 
> ...


Thanks, Scott! Daryle was a DREAM to work with too, I **HIGHLY** recommend him. The guy did like 16 initials for us to pick from and worked with us through multiple revisions - very, very rare indeed.

Yea, your cover rocks on toast, Scott. I have no idea what the book is even about, but I _SSSOOOOO_ want it already!


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

It's been a while but here's Numero 5










I'll stick to one at a time and hope that won't be too much.


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

Artist is Ferdinand Ladera. I found him on deviantArt. He does amazing work and he did the art work for my first cover in the trilogy too. I designed the book cover.


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## momilp (Jan 11, 2010)

Victoria J., your Schisms cover looks amazing! Whenever I see your sig, my eyes are drawn to that cover.


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## BelindaPepper (May 19, 2013)

I have a new favourite. I may be biased, seeing as I loooooooooove dystopias, but whaddaya gonna do. 

Low budget cover, but I think it worked out well.


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Very nice, indeed, Belinda!


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

I've had a lot of fun playing around with GIMP over the past few months to whip up a bunch of covers for my titles. I'm still a total amateur, and mostly it just involves slapping text on a stock photo, but I was really happy with how the cover for my latest release turned out:


__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2013)

Black Adagio is the one I like best.


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## Just Browsing (Sep 26, 2012)

Someone who wrote a very nice review of Volksie on his blog said he badly wanted a poster of the book cover. What the heck--I'm having him sent one.


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## sarracannon (Apr 19, 2011)

The Dark Rayne said:


> Here is another one of mine that I like.


Wow, Renu, this one is amazing!! Your covers still just make my jaw drop. Cannot wait to work with you on Book 2 of my new YA series!!!!


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## EvilTwinBrian (Jun 20, 2013)

Belinda,
That cover is awesome! It really grabs my attention. Great contrast, great style. I really need to spend more time on my covers. Perhaps when I finish an actual book, and not just short stories.


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## sarracannon (Apr 19, 2011)

It's really fun looking at all of these covers. Damonza, I am a new fan! LOVE that Jessica Park cover.

I have loved every single one of my covers. Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations did my NA cover, which I love, and Renu Sharma did the awesome cover for Death's AWakening in my sig that just came out Friday. All of my Demons covers, though, were done by Robin Ludwig, and she is also so very talented. I Love all three of these designers and would recommend them to everyone. Since Robin just got this cover to me yesterday, it's the one I'm currently looking at over and over! This is the full print cover for Demons Forever, the sixth and final book in my Demons series.


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## pauldude000 (May 22, 2013)

This is the book I am currently editing. I do almost all of my own covers.

I thought this cover turned out quite well. Simple can sometimes be more.


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## EvilTwinBrian (Jun 20, 2013)

pauldude000 said:


> This is the book I am currently editing. I do almost all of my own covers.
> 
> I thought this cover turned out quite well. Simple can sometimes be more.


Yes simple is nice. But I think having your name vertical like that tends to drag the eye across the cover in an odd direction. I think if you just put it horizontal across the bottom, the title, the eyes, and your name would create a nice flow.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

This one is my favorite right now. Done by Frauke at Croco Designs.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Here's another cover I did.


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## Aducknamedjoe (Apr 25, 2013)

George Applegate said:


> Something I'm working on for a short WIP.
> Criticism welcome!


Ooh, I'm intrigued! Is this sci-fi? Steampunk?

I think having the full "canals of Mars" visible would be ideal (adds to the intrigue), and I'm not sold on the way the author name is done with the bar at the bottom. I'd take out the bar and make the name bigger and colored.


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## emilyward (Mar 5, 2011)

I really like this one my husband and I did for Dzanc Books:


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## George Applegate (Jan 23, 2013)

Aducknamedjoe said:


> Ooh, I'm intrigued! Is this sci-fi? Steampunk?
> 
> I think having the full "canals of Mars" visible would be ideal (adds to the intrigue), and I'm not sold on the way the author name is done with the bar at the bottom. I'd take out the bar and make the name bigger and colored.


Thanks. It's a 15K-word SF short - a near future murder mystery on a struggling Mars industrial colony, complicated by the recent imposition there of sharia law.

I added "Canals of Mars" to aid recognition of Lowell's map for those to whom it is unfamiliar, and obscured the end of "Mars" in part to appear less like cover typography, and also to add intrigue. I guess it has the opposite effect. Someone else also commented that truncating "Mars" bothered them.

I wanted the author bar as a branding device to be used on other works with colors to match the cover motif. Perhaps if I made the background much lighter, and the text in the title color?


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## Aducknamedjoe (Apr 25, 2013)

George Applegate said:


> Thanks. It's a 15K-word SF short - a near future murder mystery on a struggling Mars industrial colony, complicated by the recent imposition there of sharia law.
> 
> I added "Canals of Mars" to aid recognition of Lowell's map for those to whom it is unfamiliar, and obscured the end of "Mars" in part to appear less like cover typography, and also to add intrigue. I guess it has the opposite effect. Someone else also commented that truncating "Mars" bothered them.
> 
> I wanted the author bar as a branding device to be used on other works with colors to match the cover motif. Perhaps if I made the background much lighter, and the text in the title color?


I think it's clear that "Canals of Mars" is part of the map, so I wouldn't worry there. The author bar could be used as a branding device, but it feels flat to me (especially given the font/texture of the title text) and kind of looks like one of those late 90s textbook/English class book editions. I'd recommend doing something to make that pop a bit/modernize it if you want to keep it there for branding.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

The first one I made about a month ago and the second I made today.















(Top front runs a white horizontal line, in print this will be omitted. I might have to do some more work on the font)


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

momilp said:


> Victoria J., your Schisms cover looks amazing! Whenever I see your sig, my eyes are drawn to that cover.


Thanks so much!


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

Claudia

Very hot covers! Homemade on Gimp or not.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

For my adventure fantasy series, a new cover by Tiziano Baracchi with fonts/layout by my friend and me:


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## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

Not a cover. Just a quick little promo-ish poster I knocked out a few minutes ago.


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## KaryE (May 12, 2012)

I have two faves right now. The first is by Nadja Berberovic (photo) and Scarlett Rugers (type). The second is by Humblenations at Go On Write. I highly recommend all of them.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Bumping an old thread to post my current favourite cover I designed:










Rue


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

We need more covers, please!


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## Scarlett_R (Sep 30, 2011)

I really love how this one turned out.


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## Griffin Hayes (Sep 20, 2011)

*Here's the cover for my post apocalyptic zombie trilogy. Done by a terrific designer named Conzpiracy. *


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

Griffin Hayes said:


> *Here's the cover for my post apocalyptic zombie trilogy. Done by a terrific designer named Conzpiracy. *


Oh, dang. Pure awesomesause! Love this one.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

New book that I've put up for preorder on Kobo and Smashwords.


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## Damonza (Apr 11, 2013)

I like how this one came out...


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## YoclaDesigns (Feb 15, 2013)

Damonza said:


> I like how this one came out...


I am an absolute fan of all your covers. You're such an inspiration!

I haven't posted here before... 
I don't know which to pick but I went for this instead


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## Midnight Whimsy (Jun 25, 2013)

I LOVE this thread! It was so much fun looking at all the covers.

This cover is among my all-time favorites because it's one of the first serious covers I did, and it's for my first novel. The cover, to me, really embodies the main character and beautiful yet surreal fantasy setting.


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## Rayne Book Covers (Sep 11, 2011)

I think this one turned out alright.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

This is the current cover for my latest book, however, I'm working on a more detailed one for the printed book. I may leave this one on the ebook, but not sure yet.


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## George Applegate (Jan 23, 2013)

Here is one for a SF WIP I hope to get out in October. Criticism welcome.


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## ER Pierce (Jun 4, 2013)

These are my new covers and they are by far the best I have <3

The Cover Collection did a fabulous job


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

This thread has some AWESOME freaking covers in it. After looking at 8 pages of them there are way to many to call out. Love Darla's, DDark's, and the ones with dragons and the ones with out!  But what suprises me is that many of you have "favorite" covers that you swoon over, and are not among the covers in your sig? 

I REALLY like my cover that Yoly did for my new yet to be released book - but since I have not paid her yet, I do not think it would be right to show it off just yet... soon though!


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

The new book I am working on. Cover designed by Damonza


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

The Dark Rayne said:


> I think this one turned out alright.


That is a very "Beautiful cover"


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## Dan Fiorella (Oct 14, 2012)

While I love each of the covers she did, the second cover the designer created for me I really fell in love with as she was doing it. She took the slightest wisps of ideas from me and created this:









While I didn't create the cover, I did create the designer.


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## Cappy (Sep 6, 2011)




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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

My modern twist on a classic children's tale (the legs belong to my daughter):


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

And my latest release:


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

My latest release is my favorite:


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## FAUSGA (Aug 7, 2013)

I've made this one recently


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

Cappy said:


>


Cool cover, really hits on the title. The guy looks like he has not slept for years. I like how the cover and title work together, really a great idea.


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## lisamaliga (Oct 28, 2010)

My love of macarons can be seen here:


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## RyanPoore (Sep 21, 2013)

There are some excellent covers in this thread. I will keep coming back for inspiration.


----------



## Connie Chastain (Jun 25, 2011)




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## Connie Chastain (Jun 25, 2011)




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## FAUSGA (Aug 7, 2013)

KRGriffiths said:


> Some really awesome covers in this thread! Here's one of mine, designed by me


that burning effect is really good! nice covers!


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

Lots of inspiration to be found in this thread! A recent premade I designed:


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## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

Was hoping for Halloween release but may not happen.


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Jill James said:


> Was hoping for Halloween release but may not happen.


Oh, great title!


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## Kalen ODonnell (Nov 24, 2011)

Here's a cover I just finished for a client, pretty pleased with how it turned out and more importantly, so's the client, haha.


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## Karen Kincy (Aug 11, 2013)

Damonza did a gorgeous cover for my latest book. Some of you guys have seen it already, but I'll share it again.










Karen


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## RJ Kennett (Jul 31, 2013)




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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Bumping this to see if somebody has any cover to showcase... Waiting for my designer to finish mine and I'm having cover withdrawal...


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

KarenLK said:


> Damonza did a gorgeous cover for my latest book. Some of you guys have seen it already, but I'll share it again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Basks in the sheer attractiveness of your cover. It looks amazing!


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

KarenLK said:


> Damonza did a gorgeous cover for my latest book. Some of you guys have seen it already, but I'll share it again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


One of the best covers I have seen yet.


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## chrisanthropic (May 28, 2011)

Here's our newest one for the soon-to-be-released third in the series. Still waiting on the final art for updating the first two to the same style.


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## Karen Kincy (Aug 11, 2013)

YolyM said:


> Basks in the sheer attractiveness of your cover. It looks amazing!





Michael Buckley said:


> One of the best covers I have seen yet.


Thanks so much, guys! Credit of course to Damonza.

Karen


----------



## Shalini Boland (Nov 29, 2010)

Loving all these fabulous covers!!

Here's my latest, which I'm quite proud of. I think I'm getting better at matching my covers to my genre. I liked my earlier covers, but they don't immediately say YA so I'm going to have to change them at some point soon.

Anyway:


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Here's one for my latest collection, Love in Disguise, down by my usual designer Frauke of Croco Designs.


----------



## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)




----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

A cover for a novella I released recently (pre-published in Giganotosaurus)



I made this cover myself, with the aid of a 3D imaging program and photoshop.


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## Keri Knutson (Apr 10, 2011)

Here's one I recently did for a client that we were both quite happy with.


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## Shalini Boland (Nov 29, 2010)

Wow, Keri! That's very cool.


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

Some gorgeous covers in this thread!

This one's for the third novel in my series, that I'll be working on this NaNoWriMo










This one is for my planned December release, that I'm editing right now. I think it's one of my favourites.


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

This is my one and only cover at the moment (although that will change soonish). it was done by my husband, Tiziano (who some of you know). The style is quite different from his usual work but we both are very happy with the result.


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## CEMartin2 (May 26, 2012)

I love my latest cover- book should be up in a couple of weeks. My cousin, who is a graphics artist and gives me critiques, actually came up with emaciating the hand, so I used his hand with some color tweaking.


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

Keri Knutson said:


> Here's one I recently did for a client that we were both quite happy with.


Keri, that's absolutely gorgeous. I have cover art envy


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi,

Just completed Wildling and pubbed it a few days ago. Did my own cover for it and think it's great. My only concern is that it doesn't scream fantasy and shapeshifters. Also my sister thinks the font's too small and a bit awkward to read but honestly I loved the image too much to cover it with text.



Sorry - can only seem to use the standard link maker for some reason. Cutting and pasting the large one doesn't work for me.

Thoughts?

Cheers, Greg.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Keri, that cover is GORGEOUS!

Rue


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

This is for an upcoming book. It's probably my favorite so far. Stock image, my design.


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## Joel Ansel (Oct 17, 2013)

I'm not real happy with mine, but I'll show then anyway. I used paint.net to make them. 
I intend to make new ones now that I know more tricks and I have GIMP.


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## Joel Ansel (Oct 17, 2013)

And this one.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

My newest cover, is my favorite cover so far. It is for my 5th novel, due out December 13th, was created by the one, and the only, YOLY! 

Here:


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## keithdraws (May 20, 2011)

David Scroggins said:


> The book isn't out yet, but I'm working on it and should have it finished by the end of summer, so I'm counting it. This is my absolute favorite out of all my covers. Designed by the amazing Keith Draws, of course. I love it so much, I'm actually sort of afraid to finish writing the story now, if that makes any sense.


Thanks David. You have so many other books that I feel very honored to know you picked mine as a favorite. 
I'm currently working on the new one you ordered and now I feel the pressure! LOL


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## keithdraws (May 20, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> Man, KB has some crazy talent.
> 
> I'm a sucker for red, but this is my fave:


That's fantastic.


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## 48306 (Jul 6, 2011)

My most recent release's cover. I love the colors and it's so perfect for the story!


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## Richard Tongue (Jul 19, 2012)

My latest Alamo cover, by the fantastic Keith Draws...


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## keithdraws (May 20, 2011)

Richard Tongue said:


> My latest Alamo cover, by the fantastic Keith Draws...


Thanks Richard  Made my day!


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> My newest cover, is my favorite cover so far. It is for my 5th novel, due out December 13th, was created by the one, and the only, YOLY!
> 
> Here:


Thanks Vincent! Glad it's your favorite


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

This thread is awesome.

None of these are my own covers, but I keep a list of my favourite book covers on my blog (http://pattyjansen.com/blog/awesome-self-published-book-covers/).

Some of the earlier authors (bottom of page) have since dared to change their covers. GRRR


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

This is a fun thread. Of my own book covers, I think this one is my favorite. It's kind of creepy.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> This thread is awesome.
> 
> None of these are my own covers, but I keep a list of my favourite book covers on my blog (http://pattyjansen.com/blog/awesome-self-published-book-covers/).
> 
> Some of the earlier authors (bottom of page) have since dared to change their covers. GRRR


 I know I am not on your page but...  anyways 

As of late last night I have change every single cover of every single book I have on Kindle.  I will have to up my sig here with the 3 new ones I put up last night and still working though the various stores... BUT I expect this will be the last cover change since all my selfmade covers are now dead.


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## BookflyDesign (Oct 22, 2013)

L.C. Barlow commissioned Bookfly Design to create a new cover for _Pivot_, a psychological horror novel that's been getting great reviews.


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## RichardHein (Jun 8, 2011)

Some absurdly good cover art in here.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

This is one of the cover options for the upcoming revamp of my zombie novel:


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

I'm reviving this thread because I'm anxiously waiting for my own new cover and would love to see others in the meantime. So, please, post again!


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

At least I'm in classy company with the colours of my book  The designer also happened to use the red/orange with white text on the back cover of the print version.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Here's a cover for my upcoming urban fantasy series: (designed by myself and a friend using stocks purchased)


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## TheresaV (Mar 23, 2013)

This is the cover for my upcoming YA Sci-Fi. Made by Cover Shot Creations (who I found on kboards ) www.covershotcreations.com


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

TheresaV said:


> This is the cover for my upcoming YA Sci-Fi. Made by Cover Shot Creations (who I found on kboards ) www.covershotcreations.com


This sounds awesome. Adding to my Goodreads shelf...


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

Just found these useful comments about book covers. I think 'easily describable' is a good point.

_These are the guidelines I use for cover creation Manager's Choice

Duke Pennell
Publisher/Editor at Pen-L Publishing
A cover needs to 1) draw the eye from a distance, 2) convey a sense of what the story is about, 
3) make the reader turn the book over to see what's on the back cover, and 4) be easily 
describable (four words or less is best).

Draw the eye: primary colors and recognizable shapes are very useful here.

Convey a sense of the story: make the main picture relate to the story.

Make the reader turn it over: be sure the graphic continues around the spine and onto the 
back page.

Easily describable: man with big knife, girl with teddy bear, tornado carrying sharks inside, etc.

Start with the story theme, come up with a picture to convey that theme (a single, coherent 
image), and choose your colors. If those three items are done correctly, the reader will 
naturally want to see what's on the back cover (because it's easy and a continuation of 
the interesting front cover) and that's where the blurbs and such will draw the reader 
into opening the book. If the reader opens the book and begins to read on page 1, the 
cover has done its job._


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Here's the cover for my new boxed set... I think it's spectacular


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Siiiigh. I love cover art. I could look back through this thread all day long. It's drool-inducing. Delicious stuff.

Here's the whole set of my Egyptian series' covers:


































I still need to make the box set image. Not sure yet how I want it to look for the "cover" of the set. I'll have to tinker with it tonight.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Still working on this. Finally got the graphic to where I want it, but having trouble making the composition snap. Feels like it's missing something.


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## gainesarnold (Jan 22, 2014)

This is, as many have said, an awe-inspiring thread. I have thought of myself as an artist in the distant past, but some of these covers show truly art. I especially enjoy those by Scarlett Roger. Great marriage of image and letter design on those covers. 

Also, can't say I am a fan of the zombie genre, but that last cover by Saul is great too.


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