Book Cover - What do you think?

[Fins Left]

This is for a spec fic / humor book

[Nimram]

I didn't read the book, but yes. I find it funny and I would pick it up, so it does its job.

I really looked to find something out of place...and I did: The space between the "n" and the "d" in the author's name,it needs a little more kerning.
And I'm not sure about the shadow in the title. Maybe it could work just as good without it.

[leahzero]

Not sure what the significance of the mouse is.

[Arpeggio]

The mouse although it's not a rat makes me think implied "rat race?".

I think the US flag is too established for you to use it in it's own space and normal appearance like that.

You could have the US flag with the lines made into lanes in which rats are racing, with a sign saying "rat race" as part of the picture (not title). The flag as the ground it is happening on would be at an angle to portray the rat race while still recognisable that it is the flag. That would take some skilled cartoonist I know.

Something much easier would be to use the flag sideways filling the entire cover (and bleed over trim), stars on the top left. The same cracking effect you have used but making bits of the (stone) flag missing at the bottom of the cover having crumbled away and dropped off as it is gradually succumbing to gravity, like old stone.

Perhaps the title on the bottom where there is white space to go over; "Dimocracy" being beaten by falling stones? or at the top somehow with use of colour and thickness so it stands out from flag. How much flag has crumbled off doesn't matter so long as it doesn't get as far as the stars (still recognisable) meaning you could have as much space as you have already between the bottom of the flag and the bottom of the cover on the current design.

[Fins Left]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to post.

@Nimram, thanks, I'll look at the kerning and try dropping out the shadow. That started because at first the text was over the flag... then I never thought about dropping it back out.

@Leahzero - mice play a role in the story line in a couple different ways.

@Arpeggio - wow, thanks for the input. I'm going to look at maybe crumbling up the flag. This is a political humor, so I'm not concerned about the flag being a prominent image. But I like the idea of crumbling it a bit. I hadn't even thought about that.

Thanks everyone.

[robertbevan]

i'd recommend doing away with the wacky font for "dim", and just go straight with "DIMOCRACY" all in the same font. i think most people would assume that it's a pun rather than that you don't know how to spell.

the corrupted flag removes any doubt.

and the mouse is a cool something extra. makes me wonder how that's going to be relevant to the story.

it's not something i'd personally pick up off the shelf, because i'm not into politics. but for someone who is, i think it's a tempting cover.

[Old Hack]

I'd be grateful if the OP could please reduce the size of the image: guidelines are here.

You'll have to use image-editing software to resize it, and then edit your post to delete the original image and upload the smaller one. Thank you.