YA Cover: The Aviation Waltz

AderuMoro

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I originally created this for the free proof copy that NaNoWriMo gave you for CreateSpace. Everything you see here is done entirely by me in Photoshop.

I'm leaning more toward e-publishing and POD and I was thinking that I could use this or a revamped version for the actual cover.

This is a YA novel with sci-fi elements.

My questions:

  • Do you think I should change anything?
  • Are the colors eye-catching or an eyesore?
  • Should I actually type out the title text instead of using my drawing there?
  • Is the placement of the text okay?
  • Is the sketch border weird?

I was trying to go for an overall sketchbook look (since the boy there, Edillan, draws in a sketchbook).

It would take some time to vamp it up but I were to, I was thinking about scrapping the background all together for a solid color just to give it a more "simple" look.

Please let me know what you think! Thank you very much!

843b6eac0a73c4f5d9e611c6c8d4f21a-d33b8na.png


Update: Well is that an improvement?

aw-titlecover-sizesandstuff.png
 
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jnfr

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It's pretty. You might try it in some small sizes (150 px, 300 px) because your type is thin and might not be readable.
 

Penang

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I really like the art work. The cover gives the impression that it's a lighter book, not fluff, just not dark and heavy. Could make it stand out form the crowd in the YA market.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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I like the handwritten text. I think it works very well. You might want to make it black, to contrast better with the blue sky -- or a little thicker, as jnfr pointed out, but apart from that I think this is a fine cover.
 

AderuMoro

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Thanks guys! I've did some tweaks and put up a comparison picture in the first post.

jnfr, I couldn't recall whether you said 100, 150, or 300px, and if that was width or length, but... heh :D

Personally, I like the bottom left the best. The brown makes it look gross, and the dark gray makes it look dull. What do you think? And is the placement of the text okay?
 

jnfr

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Your text looks pretty readable at the smaller levels, so that's good. I've noticed that Amazon's pages use the graphic at 300 x 300 with a larger image of 600 x 600. But a lot of marketing ads, etc seem to have the 150px size, and lots of titles are hard to read when they're that small. Your purple text is very readable, though.
 

MartinD

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It's pretty but reads young for me, even for YA.

What's the target age for your audience?
 

AderuMoro

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Haha, well that might be a problem. I have gotten comments before that it looks more like a children's book cover, but like Penang said, it might stand out to the YA crowd...

Anyway, my target audience is around 16 to 25. More mature because of some of the adult humor, but I have had thirteen year olds enjoy the story.

Is it the colors or the overall cartoony-ness that makes it come off this way? I'm just not fond of a lot of the photographed covers on a lot of the YA books these days. I do have an alternate, more mature cover in mind for this, but I'm not a photographer, and the items would be relatively difficult to come by.

Thanks for addressing this issue, Martin :)
 

jnfr

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I like the beveled look of the gold/gray text, which the purple doesn't show as much. But I used to be a typesetter, so I'm more attuned to fonts than most :)

I like the purple better as a color, but might like a more solid look for the letters generally.

But you might take everything I say with a grain of salt. I love dropshadows, too.
 

Soccer Mom

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I'm digging the bottom left. And I just have to say that I love, love the border detail. Very eye-catching. Really stands out to me.

For some reason, it reminds me of the classic The Little Prince cover, especially the way the boy is standing.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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When you reduce the cover size the fourth cover (black letters) is the most readable. However, the difference isn't vast. If you like the blue letters version better, it's just fine. It's a very appealing cover.
 

shaldna

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Pic isn't showing.
 

AderuMoro

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Pic isn't showing.

Does your computer support png, shaldna? Try this link if the pictures haven't reloaded yet.

Thank you for the comments from everyone else!

Now, to address what Martin brought up, does anyone else think that the cover is age appropriate, or does it look too young, and what can I do about that?
 

shaldna

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Ah, working now.

Okay, firstly, I REALLY like the cover, the art is lovely, light and fun.

BUT, if I picked it up, based on teh cover alone, I would think it's an MG and not a YA.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Okay, this is entirely my subjective impression. It does look to me like a younger-than-YA cover. The main thing that suggest that to me is the figure on the right. It looks kind of like a little boy in overalls. The clothing and hair suggest a pretty young age. It looks like he's wearing little-kid sneakers and some sort of jacket with puffy sleeves. Also the hair doesn't look like it looks that way deliberately, the way a child might leave it. Possibly if you could adjust that figure it would help.

The rest of it is a nice cover, well out of the pack of standard images.