Sunday, September 21, 2014

Cover This

This week I'm hoping to finish up In the Leaves, my Toriana story from Just Write Thursdays. Once I do I'll need some cover art for it, so I began playing around with some ideas and put together three possibilities:

Cover A



Cover B



Cover C



I haven't been able to narrow it down to one because I like all three ideas, so now I need some other opinions. Which cover of the three do you like most, and why? Let me know in comments.

23 comments:

  1. It depends on what you want your cover to say. Judging by the title, I'm assuming you're talking about a tea leaf reader. If so, the first one is more apt only because of the woman's gypsy style dress.

    The other two look like an English breakfast which doesn't tell me anything about the genre or story --unless it is indeed about English breakfast.

    I'm glad your name is nice and big on all three because fans will snap it up on name recognition alone.

    If this is about reading leaves you might try a close up of a tea cup with the leaves at the bottom of the bowl. Or maybe a chipped cup to give it character and a sense of drama.

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    1. Also (forgot to mention) I did look for a decent stock picture of a cup with some tea leaves in the bottom or showing, but none of them appealed to me.

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  2. Thanks for the feedback, Maria. I like the first cover because (being girly for a minute) I think it's the most colorful and attractive. The second, which is darker overall and has the hourglass on the tray, fits the feel of the story a bit better. The third is much more generic, but it is the closest match to what I think you'd actually see in the universe. Thus my dilemma, lol.

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  3. A is too busy, and C makes me want a cup of tea. B is more atmospheric. Don't forget that the book has to look good in thumbnail.

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  4. FWIW, I like the first cover, because of the composition of the photo, and the implication of character in the gypsy dress, implying a bit of intentionality and peaking my curiosity. My two cents at any rate ;-)

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    1. Thanks, Dale. Everyone is all over the place with this, but then, so am I. Now I don't feel quite so waffly. :)

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  5. I like the second one best. The first one is pretty, but too busy. The third one is too modern. Cover B has a great Victorian / Steampunk feel to it.

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  6. Peggy3:06 PM

    I like the third one best for contrast. If you made the top/bottom bands on the second one a different color, I'd probably like it best. I think the first one is too busy, and I'm really not a fan of cut-off heads in pictures overall, so it's my least favorite.

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    1. I didn't want to decapitate the lady in the Cover A image, but she wasn't a match for the protag -- and boy, was she smiling! You could count her molars, ha.

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  7. clairecherven4:21 PM

    I like Cover B best. The hourglass, shape of the tea cup, the serving tray and the silver service all seem to fit the time period. The tea cup in Cover C looks too modern and the shawl in Cover A is distracting for me. But it's the words that count, right?

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    1. I thought the same thing about the shawl in A -- really too bright and likely too expensive for the protag to own something like that. C does seem to be drawing a concensus of being too modern, too.

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  8. I like the cool teapot dispenser thingy in the first cover, the simplicity of colors in the second, and nothing about the third as it is too modern and not what I've been imagining whilst reading this story. Big help I am... ;D

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    1. Every thought helps, believe me.

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  9. Anonymous7:41 PM

    After seeing the first two, I didn't like the third, because the first two set me up with a steam-punk expectation. But that's not to say the third is bad, just that I had already judged what the atmosphere might be from the first two (although I think the cup is too generic looking with the font). After reading your comment, maybe that is the expectation you want to send readers though.
    When I went back and looked at the first two, I decided I liked B much more than A, maybe because of the spotlight effect and the less cluttered look.
    After reading the comments, I do wonder about Lynne's point: will it look good in a thumbnail? I think it wins over A, but C might look the best.
    JulieB

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    1. Thanks for the feedback, Julie. Also, I never think about how anything would look in a thumbnail -- I should frame Lynne's comment and hang it somewhere. :)

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  10. I'm going to throw a wrench in the works and say I'd love to see hands holding an empty china cup save for the tea leaves. Sorry...

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    1. Always the troublemaker, Theo. :)

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  11. I like the first cover best. Cover A is more artistic to my mind. Cover C makes me think of a cookbook. I'll read it no matter which cover you choose.

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    1. I think you've described exactly what I don't like about C, Dianna -- it DOES look like a cookbook illustration. :)

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  12. Anonymous12:13 PM

    I like the idea of the first one, like it having a person in it...but it seems too busy and you would lose it, I think, when you shrunk it.

    I think the second one is too static and symmetrical, and doesn't have anything moving or human.

    The third one is the best picture, I think, but I didn't think of it before, looks a bit like a cookbook.

    I think hands holding a cup with tealeaves does sound like a good idea.

    if you wanted to emphasize steampunk throw a couple of cogs/c clamps in with the tea leaves.

    I'd read it with any of the covers.

    --Liv

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  13. I like the 1st picture best because I find it intriguing so I want to read the story, but take out the melon & basket and it'd look better. I actually like that her head is cut off as it makes the viewer (me) use my imagination, and that just piques my interest in the story. I also like the mechanical tea device as it reminds me of the one Kit uses and is very steampunk. No. 2 is also good but it doesn't jump out at me and make me want to read the story behind the cover. No. 3 is a café advertisement from the 21st century and doesn't inspire anything except a desire to visit the shop for a cuppa.

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