I Need Your Opinion
by Julie Coulter Bellon
I have some wonderful news. Great news. Stupendous news. Well, okay, not stupendous, but still pretty good.
I have been working with Encore Editions to put my backlist on Kindle, Nook, etc. and my first book, Through Love’s Trials, is now available here (for Nook, Kindle, and any other ereader) and here (Amazon, Kindle readers). I love the new cover and I even still love the story. But that’s not the news.
My second book, On the Edge, is about to be available on both of those same sites, but here’s the thing, my cover designer (love her!) has designed two wonderful covers and I can’t decide which one I love the best. So, because I couldn't decide, I sent it out to ten of my most trusted author friends, and ten of my extended family members. And, you guessed it, ten people liked the first cover and ten liked the second. It was dead even!
So I still want some input.
If you are so inclined, I would like you read the backliner below, look at both covers, and tell me which one you like the best and why. After the final cover is chosen, wouldn’t it be fun to put everyone who voted for the chosen cover into a drawing for a copy of On the Edge? I think so.
So here’s the backliner:
Dylan Campbell, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, is recovering from a gunshot wound and looking for a new direction in his life. Armed with his newly found testimony in the LDS Church, he soon embarks on a routine fact-finding mission to Africa.
While there he befriends Elizabeth Spencer, a beautiful American working to ease the suffering in Uganda. Their relationship is just beginning to deepen when Dylan discovers that a biological weapon has been manufactured in the private hospital where Elizabeth works. He realizes the terrorists plan to infect millions of innocent people across Canada and the United States.
Dylan must catch up with the terrorists in Greece to stop them from taking the weapon to North America. However, he is captured before he can act, and it takes every ounce of Dylan’s physical and spiritual strength to stay alive.
Can Dylan trust his heart and accept Elizabeth’s offer of help? Will he learn the true identities of his enemies in time to stop the biological weapon from being unleashed?
From the wilds of Africa to the ancient ruins of Greece, this book takes you to the edge of civilization and will keep you on the edge of your seat
Here’s cover #1
Here’s cover #2
I won’t say anything else about them because I don’t want to sway anyone’s opinion, so go ahead and comment and be sure to tell me which one you like best and why.
And if it's dead even again . . . well, maybe I'll just tell the designer to flip a coin. Or have her throw a dart and whatever one it lands on is the winner. Hmmm . . .
I have some wonderful news. Great news. Stupendous news. Well, okay, not stupendous, but still pretty good.
I have been working with Encore Editions to put my backlist on Kindle, Nook, etc. and my first book, Through Love’s Trials, is now available here (for Nook, Kindle, and any other ereader) and here (Amazon, Kindle readers). I love the new cover and I even still love the story. But that’s not the news.
My second book, On the Edge, is about to be available on both of those same sites, but here’s the thing, my cover designer (love her!) has designed two wonderful covers and I can’t decide which one I love the best. So, because I couldn't decide, I sent it out to ten of my most trusted author friends, and ten of my extended family members. And, you guessed it, ten people liked the first cover and ten liked the second. It was dead even!
So I still want some input.
If you are so inclined, I would like you read the backliner below, look at both covers, and tell me which one you like the best and why. After the final cover is chosen, wouldn’t it be fun to put everyone who voted for the chosen cover into a drawing for a copy of On the Edge? I think so.
So here’s the backliner:
Dylan Campbell, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, is recovering from a gunshot wound and looking for a new direction in his life. Armed with his newly found testimony in the LDS Church, he soon embarks on a routine fact-finding mission to Africa.
While there he befriends Elizabeth Spencer, a beautiful American working to ease the suffering in Uganda. Their relationship is just beginning to deepen when Dylan discovers that a biological weapon has been manufactured in the private hospital where Elizabeth works. He realizes the terrorists plan to infect millions of innocent people across Canada and the United States.
Dylan must catch up with the terrorists in Greece to stop them from taking the weapon to North America. However, he is captured before he can act, and it takes every ounce of Dylan’s physical and spiritual strength to stay alive.
Can Dylan trust his heart and accept Elizabeth’s offer of help? Will he learn the true identities of his enemies in time to stop the biological weapon from being unleashed?
From the wilds of Africa to the ancient ruins of Greece, this book takes you to the edge of civilization and will keep you on the edge of your seat
Here’s cover #1
Here’s cover #2
I won’t say anything else about them because I don’t want to sway anyone’s opinion, so go ahead and comment and be sure to tell me which one you like best and why.
And if it's dead even again . . . well, maybe I'll just tell the designer to flip a coin. Or have her throw a dart and whatever one it lands on is the winner. Hmmm . . .
Julie Coulter Bellon — 4/28/2011 04:59:00 PM
27 comments
27 Comments:
I much prefer the first one. It captures the tension of the plot better. If you do use the first one, I'd either ditch the "a novel" tag or change the typeface so it's not a script typeface.
I like cover 2. It has an international feel.
Cover 1 reminds me a lot of Gregg Luke's cover for Altered State. Not a bad thing, just similar.
I prefer cover 2. It's much more intriguing. I feel drawn to #2. #1 I'm not interested in picking it up. Just my opinion.
I prefer #2. Either way, something needs to be done with the texture on the top half. It's a little bland.
I like them both. I think cover 1 portrays the suspense/terrorism better. Cover 2, although it drew me in with its promise of an exotic locale, could be the cover for any story about foreigners in Uganda. That all said, cover 2 drew me in first: it took me a moment to grasp what cover 1 was showing, besides a big drip. But once I got it, it sent shivers up my spine. ( How's that for wishy-washy advice?)
I prefer #1. #2 doesn't hint at the suspenseful nature of the story.
But I'd also like to see more suspense conveyed in cover #1. Maybe darker colors? A starker, scarier font?
I prefer the first one, because a map of Africa isn't very exciting. Now if it showed their jouney, that might have been cooler.
A drip in a bottle is boring. A compass and a map is exciting. You might see it differently if you're a chemist, but how many chemists are going to read your book? Travellers on the other hand, read lots of books. Your blurb describes both, I'd go with the second choice.
I'm going to have to go with #2, although the compass and the map makes me think someone gets lost.
The first one just makes me think someone is taking a drug test, if you know what I mean. ;)
Really, it's just nice to not see a knife image.
I vote for #2. The colors in the first one are too cool and the big drip is boring. The map and compass are intriguing--eye-catching.
I vote for #1, the second one is too busy looking. I read a lot of books and I would be more likely to pick up cover #1.
Everybody knows a compass and a map. We've seen it before (in this literary context). The First one seems more distinctive and would be more intriguing to me.
I pick the first.
#1! It screams suspense. The other one looks like a travel cover. I wouldn't buy the 2nd, probably, based on it's cover.
I figure that in a bookstore most customers are going to pick up the book, wonder about the cover, then read the blurb. Though the map may be a little bit more involved, once you read the blurb, cover number 1 is what would make me want to actaully put some money down. Not only is there some drippy biological weaponry on the cover, but there is also an edge---the edge of the lip of that bottle. Where is the edge in the second cover? I don't see one. I vote for cover #1 for two reasons. Its a natural bridge from the blurb to the story. And secondly, it has an edge.
Not being a graphic artist myself, I did wonder if you could combine the two somehow, so that the reader could get a hint of something mysteriously medical happening in Uganda ... but barring that, I think I like the second cover best.
I vote for #2. I think a map and compass look adventurous and exciting. #1 looks like a chemistry lesson. Of course, if the story is more about the details of the biological weapon than the desperate international search for truth and justice, #1 would fit better. You know your story best!
I like #1, probably because the dripping chemicals looks more sinister to me. I would want to pick up the first cover; the second I'd probably pass on.
I would go with #2. It says adventure to me, #1 says chemistry class,and I would be likely toput it back on the shelf, if I were unfamiliar with the author.
If you would have incorporated a biohazzard symbol behind the green drip that would have been a slam dunk. Anyone of these would have worked nicely as a background:
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1T4GGLJ_en___US302&q=biohazard&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=997&bih=449
I think the first could use darker colors, but it is similar to others I've seen. I vote for the second, especially if you ad the route of their journey!
Valerie
I'm not a writer, but I read and buy a lot of books. I would definitely want to pick up the first cover. It looks exciting and mysterious. The second one looks a little boring to me.
I like #2 better, especially after having read the book.
I like #2. #1 looks too clinical.
Forgive me, but number one looks, um, kind of phallic to me. It would not be my first choice for that reason. I like the coloring and all of the first one, and maybe it's just me, but I can't look at it without thinking, say what on the cover of an LDS fiction novel? I would maybe use the same color scheme and medical imagery without perhaps the bottle beneath.
Number 1 with this change.
I would change the green dripping fluid to red. It will then look like blood. Action, mystery, intrigue are now in the lab.
Good luck
Of the two covers, I would choose number 1. Cover number 2 reminds me of a dusty tome with old yellow pages that has been sitting unread on the shelf of DI. It is too busy, and the colors too similar, there is no clear focal point. As a book browser, I'll give you about three seconds to interest me in your book before I will even glance at your back cover. Cover number one I think: Green, drippy poison, I wonder what this is about. Cover number two I think: Oh. Another one of those "thrilling" tales about "deepest, darkest Africa."
Ask your cover designer which one she likes best. I bet she has a definite opinion. Artistically, she probably feels like she accomplished her specific aims better with one than the other.
Post a Comment
<< Home