I posted about book covers last week and how to ensure your book cover is a winning one, bringing you lots and lots of sales....At the end of the post, I uploaded a cover done by a talented designer ABSV, on the basis of one of my paintings. It's a great cover but somehow doesn't fit the book's genre or content. Looks too erotic, steamy and sexy. Here it is for those of you who haven't seen it:
Some people said my name tag was too small, that the type of letters suggested a mystery thriller while the illustration, rather artsy, was still too erotic for what is basically a contemporary novel about Robert, a Baby Boomer and an attractive Frenchman who faces a collapsing marriage when he retires from a successful career in the United Nations. He tries to build a second life as an artist but his conventional paintings irritate his much younger American wife, a wealthy New York socialite who runs a chic contemporary art gallery in Chelsea.They fight over art but what is at stake is their relationship. They separate, he moves to Italy, has a show in Paris and soon sexual adventures complicate his life. Can their marriage survive?
Now, I've mulled over the question, going through dreadful pains and self-questioning, and finally come up with a new cover (still based on one of my own sketches - done for the purpose). Here it is:
The landscape is a simplified rendering of Umbria, the lake of Trasimeno and the house where the protagonist retreats while his marriage collapses. The hook? Read the book! ...when it comes out next week (will let you know, promise). But I'll give you a hint: the title is the one Robert uses for a weird contemporary art installation he's dreamt up to try and win back his wife. It's a pile of aluminum ladders reaching up to a hook set high above so that it cannot be grabbed even if you stand on top of the tallest ladder, a fitting symbol of the human condition and our desire for transcendance!
Which one do you like best? Here's a poll - please vote and let me know which I should use! Please keep in mind the genre of the book when you assess the covers and do make comments, everyone's opinion is most welcome and most useful!
Now, I've mulled over the question, going through dreadful pains and self-questioning, and finally come up with a new cover (still based on one of my own sketches - done for the purpose). Here it is:
The landscape is a simplified rendering of Umbria, the lake of Trasimeno and the house where the protagonist retreats while his marriage collapses. The hook? Read the book! ...when it comes out next week (will let you know, promise). But I'll give you a hint: the title is the one Robert uses for a weird contemporary art installation he's dreamt up to try and win back his wife. It's a pile of aluminum ladders reaching up to a hook set high above so that it cannot be grabbed even if you stand on top of the tallest ladder, a fitting symbol of the human condition and our desire for transcendance!
Which one do you like best? Here's a poll - please vote and let me know which I should use! Please keep in mind the genre of the book when you assess the covers and do make comments, everyone's opinion is most welcome and most useful!
Comments
I'm anxious to read the book no matter which cover it ends up with.
The nude is false advertising. It doesn't relate to the story (at least that's what you tell me). So, I wouldn't use that one.
The illustration of the hook in the sky seems to violate the rule espoused by the designer in the TED presentation that I linked to in my previous comment. Remember, he showed an illustration of an apple and the word "apple." He explained why you should use one or the other, but not both. I agree.