Framing. Background broken into thirds. One item in the foreground. Mirroring. Technically it’s quite solid.
I was given flack for not having the protagonist (or any character) on my cover. I’m not a big fan of characters on covers in general because I don’t want to imply an image that takes root in my readers mind before they read about them.
I don’t know who that is in your story. But their pose shows me more about their emotion. And I like that you don’t show their face. Both thematically based on the title, and also because it lets the reader construct that.
The only thing I think is at odds with the rest of the cover is the presentation of the title and your name over the cover. And I’m not sure how to fix it. Looks fine on the spine and the back, but it draws away from the front.
Edit: On a second look the name fits. But there’s something about the title presentation that’s losing a part of the title for me and a part of the cover behind it.
Still very nice. Making a cover that stands out at all and doesn’t look like every other generic fantasy cover is a challenge in and of itself.
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I honestly really liked your cover, but I never got around to reading the book
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Good point about having characters on the cover. My book is centred around a galaxy-spanning AI god, so any characters would probably be smaller than ants if I ever give mine a cover.
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A good cover is tough. You want to catch the eye and stand out, but it also has to say something about the story. I spent hours scrolling through covers. And most are so generic they fall into one of like four cover archetypes. I’m sure they meant something to the writer, but as a potential reader they were lost in a sea of covers indistinguishable from one another. I know they say don’t judge a book by the cover, but if I know nothing about your story that’s your one opportunity to get me to read the blurb on the back. Don’t mess it up. My cover is very heavy on symbolism. Everything in the foreground represents a major character in the protagonist’s life and the two trees entwined is recurring thematically through the whole story. My intent, and from the feedback I’ve gotten I feel I did a decent job sticking the landing, was as you go back and revisit the cover as you read. You begin to recognize those tokens and their significance.
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I know what you mean about the title, I noticed that myself. I'm not sure how to fix it.
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Only nitpick I have is maybe the subtitle should be larger than your name, but it still looks fine to me
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Just chew on it for a while. If you hired an artists you should be able to run a few tweaks. Maybe outline the letters or put it in a border. Not sure either. Still looks very good in general. You’re putting the finishing touches on something that’s good. That’s the hardest part,