[clgordon]

Hey, Kindle Board peeps, can you offer some of your expert advice for my cover and/or blurb? It's a sci-fi short story, originally titled "Soul Mates," but it was suggested I should change it to "Strange Soul Mates" to sound less romancey and more sci-fi/Twilight Zoney.

I designed a text-based cover--I'm trying to stick to something basic because when I work with art/images, I end up creating something too darn hokey. I'm hoping this design communicates it's a sci-fi story, and this is my first attempt at a tagline:

And here's the blurb:

"Do you have serious trust issues? Are you constantly wondering if your significant other is out meeting someone from Craigslist for a scandalous tryst? Have you ever wished you could just absorb your SO's mind into your own so you'd never have to worry about infidelity again? No? Well, you're not the guy that George Packard, an ex-government engineer, is looking for.

Jealous, possessive, and intoxicated Steven is that guy. And he's about to take a trip down the rabbit hole by way of invasive technology and drunken desperation."

I'm pretty sure I'm at the point where I've lost all perspective on how to present this short work at this point. Help me, Kindle Boards!

 

[Rene Folsom]

The blurb sounds very interesting to me. The only suggestion I have on the cover is your name is too small. In my opinion, an author's name is just as important, if not more significant, than the title itself. Now, since your title basically makes the whole cover (for good reason too, as it fits nicely), I wouldn't necessarily suggest your name be larger than the title. However, it definitely needs to be larger than it is at the moment. Maybe bumping up Soul Mates and the tag line just a tad to span your name along the bottom of the cover. I'd also get rid of the word "by" before your name. "A Sci-Fi Short Story" text is a bit hard to read. And, at the size Amazon displays covers, no one will be able to read it at all. So, if you want that to be known on the cover, I'd suggest making that larger as well. So, maybe putting that line along the top in a more muted tone and your name along the bottom. Always zoom out to see what it will look like small and it will give you a better perspective about how others will view it.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[HezBa]

Wow, great blurb!!

I like all the covers (yours and the suggestions from phycel). I like how, with yours, the slanted author's name and "short story" break up the symmetry. If you stick with that one though, I think you should make the swirly background standout more (in thumbnail, you can barely see it), and make your name and the "short story" bigger.

But then I really like the effect that phycel added to the name and "short story" at the top and bottom...

Tough choice.

A really good cover and blurb all around though. Best of luck with it!

 

[dotx]

I really like the cover. I think phycel's suggestion of making your name bigger is a good one. Other than that, I think this is a really good cover.

 

[clgordon]

OK, seeing those two thumbnails helps a lot. Thanks, Phycel! Thanks everyone for taking a look! For some reason, I thought the author name should be tiny since I'm unknown, but I think I must've confused some argument about the author name size becoming bigger as they become more popular? Anyway, it's clear to see people won't be able to read any of that yellow text in a thumbnail.

I'm going to bumble through photoshop again and bump up that text size!   

 

[Rene Folsom]

Good luck!  Honestly, I think the author name should be large regardless of how popular you are.  But, that's just me... I don't know if there is any real rule of thumb regarding this.

 

[Scarlett_R]

I really love the cover, I think it's fantastic.

I agree with phycel about making the name bigger, however I would discourage from using the gradient effect as she has. I feel this adds too many different font face treatments, and the one we want to focus on is the title treatment which is crazy, and chaotic and great. I'd keep the sans-serif, reduce it down and make it a flat colour, no gradient. It should be a second thought.

Can't wait to see how this cover comes together! I really do love it.