Does this cover look self-published?

rosepetal720

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I am in love with my book cover. I worked really hard on it, and it is exactly how I imagined it. But...can you tell it's a self-published book? I'm too close to the project to have an unbiased opinion. I am a photoshop newbie, so I'm not pretending to be an expert at this. I'm about to buy ads, and I want to make sure I have the right cover, or else I'm just wasting my money.

What do you guys think?

kids-front-book-cover-reduced_1_orig.jpg
 

The Second Moon

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I think it looks professional. If you hadn't told me it was self-made, I wouldn't have guessed it. But that's just my opinion and I stink at judging art.

What font did you use if I may ask? I've had people tell me to use a good font when cover designing. I personally don't see a problem with the font, but just a heads up in case other, more artistic people tell you to do that.

I have found this website (1001fonts) to have a wide variety of fonts to pick from (free and ones you can buy).

Good luck!
 

stephenf

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I'm not sure I know what a self published cover looks like. Your cover says the book is about kids . Unless I'm wrong , it works . It doesn't look amateurish . I'm guessing that is what your asking .
 
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Night_Writer

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Looking at it, I would guess that it came from an indie press.

Funny title, BTW.
 

sandree

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I love the title of your book. It tells me right away that this is non fiction, it’s funny and it’s about kids/parenting.

I think there are some things you could do to make it better.

You could leave a little more white space to the right and left of the title (bigger margin). What is the title typeface? Is it Times Roman? If so, I think that font is overused/old fashioned. I like the typeface of the author name better though a lot of non fiction uses sans serif typefaces. Take a look at other books in your genre. There are also lots of articles about suggested fonts for particular genres. Here’s are a couple:

http://inspiredcoverdesigns.com/the-best-fonts-to-use-on-a-book-cover-by-genre/

https://designmodo.com/funny-webfonts/

I’m not sure why there is so much empty space at the top of the cover. You could move the title up or move the author name to the top as it gets a little lost over the photo. Don’t be afraid to make the title really large. You can see how big the titles are on the books below.

Just play around with type and positioning. Maybe experiment with black type or a different background color. I haven’t done a non fiction cover but I would suggest studying popular covers in your genre to see what appeals to you.

Here’s a few to look at - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1510704973/?tag=absowrit-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0175P5LI8/?tag=absowrit-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GR0CK4Q/?tag=absowrit-20

Hope that wasn’t too much feedback.☺️ I just kind of love thinking about covers.
 
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Oh Non

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I think it's perfect. And I love the title.
 

Marissa D

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I agree with everything sandree said. Definitely move your name to the top because there's too much empty space up there, and look at some other fonts for title and name. Fonts can help signal the tone and mood of the contents of a book, and what you've got here isn't communicating much. Have you looked at other parenting memoir/humor (I assume this is humorous?) type books on Amazon or in your local bookstore? That might give you some ideas.
 

cornflake

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Yeah, it's something about the blank space at the top and the way the whole title is pushed down. The background with the photoshopped kids is also... I dunno, too blank? Too blue and blank? Something. Sorry, dunno much about design, just opinion on what I'd think if I saw it on Amazon.
 
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Cindyt

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I agree with Cornflake about the color and the way things are pushed to the bottom. I'd make the background white and move things up with the author's name at the to me.