Cover for my debut novel

So I came up with the idea for this cover the other day and quickly made a mockup in Photoshop (for a few hours). I have to use my older Dell laptop since my Macbook Pro doesn't have Photoshop on it, and the color differences between the two are very noticeable. I went back and forth between the two and have come up with a version that I really like, but I still see some places where it can be improved.

I'm concerned with title placement and visibility of the text. I'd also like to read any thoughts on initial impression of the graphics, if they pull you in or not. Any comments/constructive criticism in general would be very appreciated.

Image: http://www.crystalcierlak.com/Zoe/ZOEbookcover-7.jpg

I'm also playing around with the idea of flipping the image 90 degrees, which I have an example of here:

http://www.crystalcierlak.com/Zoe/landingimage2.jpg

The font on this image is one from the first image, but I feel like it could be better. In fact, I think all of the text needs work to increase visibility.

Edit: I added a new version in post #18
Edit 2: I added a new version in post #33
Edit 3: I added a new version in post #40

Alpha Echo said:

Frankly, I'm impressed. I think the text needs a little work, to make it a little more readable. But other than that, that's pretty awesome!

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If I may ask, why "impressed"? I take it that's a good thing. I do agree about the text and it's something I've worked on for about 8 versions of the cover. The perfectionist/OCD in me wants to get it just right.

veinglory said:

The text should be clearer and you don't need "a novel by". Other than that the graphic is nice. It makes me think YA sci fi with female protagonist. Is that on target?

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Thank you. Does "A novel by" make it sound as if it's some sort of great announcement? Like, "and now, a novel by Crystal Cierlak, whom you've obviously been aware of your entire life." It seems a bit wonky to me, lol. I can definitely change it.

You're not far off on the subject. It's new/adult (the MC is 25) and definitely sci-fi/romance with a bit of fantasy.

Cyia said:

25 isn't "New Adult". It's plain adult. New adult is the categorization for college years, so you're looking at 18-22.

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Well people seem to have differing opinions on that. Why is a three year age difference (22 to 25) so significant in terms of genre when a story about someone in their 40's or 50's (two or three decades in difference) is also considered adult? I'm mostly going by generation so if it helps, consider it a book for Millennials (which is 18-30).

merrihiatt said:

The collision is stronger in the 90 degree version, but it will be a challenge to get the image in the right dimensions for a book cover since it is wider across than from top to bottom. I like the blue and pink, reminds me of a young woman and young man colliding emotionally, as well as literally (as in the blowing up of two worlds).

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I had never even considered the blue and pink as gender references. That kind of blew my mind as there is definitely that kind of dynamic between the female MC and the male MC. Very interesting.

Cyia said:

Because the maturity / experience difference in a 22 yr old vs a 25 yr old is vastly wider than that of a 40 yr old vs a 50 yr old.

22 is the average graduation age for undergrad work. By the time someone's 25 they'll either be in grad school or well established in their career path. The "finding yourself" stage is over. Many, if not most, are considering families and it's more likely that they've already got kids of their own.

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Well that wasn't my life experience and research actually shows that that traditional path is no longer actually "traditional". Many people are going to school later in life, they're more likely to put off having children and getting married (IIRC 1 in 3 are more likely to put it off). And that's just in the Millennial generation alone.

I was 26 when I graduated with my BA in Art and I'm now 29 and working on a MA in Media Psychology. When I graduate with my PhD I'll likely be between 34 and 36 years old. My boyfriend of 4 years and I very much want to get married but are putting it off, as we are with having children.

So there's no typical experience for a person of a particular age. Yes, at 29 I'm a different person than I was at 20/21, but between 22 and 25 I was still trying to figure out my identity. So that's how I cater to my characters... through my life experiences.

Plus I did say it was "new/adult" meaning new-slash-new-adult.

I'm looking forward to making the recommended changes you guys made. Thank you so much for your input everyone!

I made a few changes, mainly to the stars overlapping the planets, the "a novel by" text, and how my last name appears. To me it still looks as though the last part of my surname is disappearing. I may start over and re-build from scratch. Hmmm...

Here is the newer version:

Link to full-size image

veinglory said:

I would suggest fading the name to a dark gray and giving it a shadow to help it stand out.

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I tried. The background is set against is basically like a gradient so when I change the text color it becomes lighter on one side and darker on the other. I can't seem to find the perfect balance.

Channy said:

Well what if you extended the white cloudy area behind the name? Is that portion of the picture a fixed point, or can you still add to it via a layer? I think maybe if you extend it down to your last name, specifically the K and maybe a tiny bit beyond, so that it's not obvious that the sole purpose of it being there is because of the name, then I think you're golden.

Also, still nitpicking but there's still 10 stars or so in the blue planet. XD Sorry, but it is yours, so if you like those there, keep them. But I think that now the planets have been purged of stars, they look even more out of place.

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Yeah I'll definitely try that out to see how it works! I still have the original .psd with all the layers to play around with so that's not going to be a problem.

So without the stars the planets look empty? But it looks better when the stars aren't there?

Gale Haut said:

I like the newer version better. Very nice job applying feedback.

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Thank you!

Jessianodel said:

The cover seems empty to me, but that's probably more because I'm used to books with blurbs on the front and little images from the publisher.

So besides that the cover looks really professional and well done! I noticed that the title letters are slightly shadowed but your name doesn't seem to be shadowed. It's really a very small thing, but as a suggestion you could try and see if it looks better one way or the other.

Really awesome cover!

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That's something I was thinking about recently. It doesn't have a tagline or anything of the sort on the cover. That's not really something I thought about but I'm going to look at other book covers and see how I can learn from them to make mine better.

The letters around my name have basically a color outline that's sort of like a drop shadow. That's the piece of text I'm having the most difficulty with so I'll have to just play around with it until it looks good.

I'm really touched you think it looks professional. Guess I'm putting my art degree to good use! LOL