Here, for the first time on any stage, is the draft of the cover for my upcoming e-book, Troll Valley. Our own Phil Wade is the artist responsible for this work of wonder (though I took the picture of the house). And the tag line, of course, was provided by commenter Adam.
What do you think? We’re still taking suggestions, but I think it’ll look very much like this.
I very much like it!
I love it. I still need to work on it, things have been hectic. I’ll try to have something by Monday.
I like it LARS!!
Very nice!
Very Good!
Nice! Makes me think the story will be a little creepy.
I like it. The tag line is great, and I can’t wait to read it.
I love the concept.
Somehow, I want the photo to have more contrast, or at least something that is brighter. I like the thematics of the insistently drab color scheme, but it does seem to make one’s eye run a bit off the page.
Maybe if the clouds were bright white, or if the roof of the house had a vivid blue similar to the windows, or if all the grass were the same bright green as the grass near the text and the woman, or if the woman were lit up…I’m nit-picking, but I think small tweaks can make the difference between a perfectly appropriate cover (as it currently is), and a cover that pops and makes people take a second look. And I’m thinking the key is that the overall darkness needs something to contrast against, something that is more vivid and bright and engaging against which the house can look just that much more imposing.
This isn’t to say I dis-like the cover; it looks great, and I love the tag line. But you did seem to ask to crowd-source critiques….
Well, the idea is a twilight scene. No reference to vampire books of the same name intended, needless to say.
The grass is brighter near the woman because she is glowing. I could have made her eyes and face shine, but that usually looks so false, and she’s wearing black. How does black glow?
Perhaps to avoid eyes running off the page you would like the trees on the edges to be removed or cropped back they don’t bleed off the edge. What do you think of that?
Two distractions. One is that the woman appears so obviously photo-shopped in that it’s distracting. Having a near person at the same focus level as the distant house does weird things to my eyes.
The second is that the font on the author tagline get’s blurry in my low resolution screen. Warrior become WaHJJor.
Also, I think Grandmother might have more grab than Grandparents on the title tag line.
Another thing I see as I look more closely is the sparkly spots. They get me asking what they are there for and I don’t see a good reason. Therefore they may distract more than they add.
So now you have my two observations. No wait there are now four weapons of the spanish inquisition.
The sparkly spots, at least, I can speak to. Phil added them on my instructions. I love them. They’re meant to be mysterious, but I’ll tell you what they are if you keep it a secret.
They’re fireflies. They come from a scene in the book.
Well, I hope the woman isn’t “obviously photo-shopped.” I think she is standing far enough from the camera that she is as focused and proportional as she should be.
Thanks for your comments.
And it’s true “Grandmother” might be more evocative, but there isn’t actually a grandmother in the book.
But the tag line isn’t really about the story directly, so it would be referring to the reader’s grandmother.