[Emeline Danvers]

Thanks KBers for the suggestions I've gotten so far. So...I found a better picture and did some updated covers. I think all of them are much better.

Link to post of covers 1 and 2, for those who didn't see them yet: http://www.emelinedanvers.com/2011/07/test-cover-for-regency-short-story.html

Here are pictures of the new covers I made:

Cover #3:

Cover #4:

Cover #5:

Cover #6:

Here is a thumbnail of cover #5. For some reason, it was the only thumbnail image that turned out right. Just couldn't get the rest shrunk down for some reason.

I do have some shrunk-down images of all the covers on my blog, although I couldn't get them as small as I wanted: http://www.emelinedanvers.com/2011/07/new-test-covers-for-upcoming-regency.html

Yes, I know, I suck at even the most basic techy stuff!

So I like #3 best in full size. #6 is the most readable, but doesn't "pop" as much. I think #5 is probably the best choice, because it's pretty readable and also looks (to me) the closest to a professional cover. Your thoughts?

 

[daringnovelist]

I checked out your others at 100 pixels wide, and I think you're right: the dark against light drop shadow (or is that a glow?) just doesn't work as well. (Ironically, the one with the smaller type is actually easier to read at thumbnail size.)

The only thing I don't like about #5 is the gray font.  Can you increase the saturation on that a touch?  It also might need to be lighter after the saturation gets bumped.

I also might like #6 better if you put the font in the dark negative space rather than right across her chin.  What about laying the title out more like you did in #5 -- with "love" shifted right rather than left? (Unfortunately, though, the font might be too small for a thumbnail, even if you did move the layout around.)

Camille

 

[Ilyria Moon]

I like #5 best; prefer that image, too.

 

[Ashley Lynn Willis]

I like #5 best; prefer that image, too.

I agree. And I love the blue dress. Very pretty.

 

[Emeline Danvers]

Ashley-- I know, isn't it gorgeous! When I'm rich and famous, I'm hiring an expert costume seamstress to make me a dress with sleeves like that, in the same exact color. And I'll wear it to the RWA Rita awards...where I will be passed over because, despite my millions of sales, as an indie I won't be considered a real writer.

Anyway, I loooove that dress, especially the lace. And the color was exactly what I was looking for, too. And the artist who painted it was so talented, it reads more like a photograph than a painting.

By the way, I showed my son the cover, and he said:

"It's great...what that thing in the dress?"
"What thing?"
"Wearing the blue dress. What is that?"
"That's a woman."
"Oh. Is she dead or something? She looks so white."

ROFL. So I guess I could re-use this picture for a paranormal Regency about proper young miss vampires.

 

[Ashley Lynn Willis]

LOL!  Your son is hilarious.  Oh, and I have a great idea.  I've got a paranormal romance coming out in October.  And of course it's going to be a best seller.    How about I have the dress made in red, you have it made in blue.  We'll cake on white powder to give us a vampish look and take the RWA Rita awards by storm!  Hee hee.  I can dream. 

 

[Ciye Cho]

I like #3 and #5

Up close, the color of the text against the fabric in #5 is my favourite out of all the combos. Oddly, #3 looks really nice when its shrunken--even though I find the color combination to be hard to read at full size (too much blue?).

I also like the size of the title in #3. It leaves a lot of room for viewers to see the woman's hands. Your eye can follow her arm all the way down to her hand... and then to the title. As if she's pointing at it.

 

[valeriec80]

I'm not sure about the grungey font for a Regency romance.

I know this love you speak of is "on the edge," but is there something in the story that warrants the distressed font?

(Love the painting, btw)

 

[TiffanyLovering]

I like number 5, but only you know what will best highlight your book. 

 

[CraigInOregon]

 

[CraigInOregon]

Seeing them all, none is ideal yet.

The glow around 3 and 4 doesn't work in thumbnail... makes the title illegible.

I like 5 and 6 better on title grounds, but your author name is hard to make out in thumbnail on all versions.

 

[xtine]

man - so much is going so right with this cover, but I just can't read that font without working too hard.
Maybe the grunge treatment isn't helping. I think you need some real edges around the words (while keeping the glow).

 

[marshacanham]

I like the dress, it instantly identifies the book as a Regency.  But the font on the title...ugh. just doesn't fit at all.  It's too...disjointed, almost sloppy looking and about as far from professional looking as I think you could get. And your name vanishes in the thumbnail, while the title turns into blobs.  Sorry, sorry, I hate being blunt, but you asked and...it's only one person's opinion anyway *s*

 

[Les Turner]

My only thought is that it looks like the cover for Dara England's 'Accomplished in Murder'.

 

[Tom Junior]

I believe you said this book has an erotic element right? (I'm sorry if I'm wrong).

If so, I'd go for some classical nudes, maybe boudoir type paintings.

Something like this

http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_303524/Alico-Giovanni/In-the-boudoir

or this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cupid_and_psyche.jpg

Still classy (and free) but provocative.....

 

[Izzy Hammerstein]

Did you do the oil painting?

 

[unkownwriter]

First I have to say that painting is gorgeous; the colors are luminous!

I like the way the title and your name are set up on the first one, but the font needs some work (I can't really read it in thumbnails).

Other than that:  WOW.

 

[C.A. Deyton]

I like #5 best; prefer that image, too.

ditto

 

[LCEvans]

That dress is beautiful and really catches my eye. I like number 5 best, but I'm not crazy about that font.

 

[marshacanham]

My only thought is that it looks like the cover for Dara England's 'Accomplished in Murder'.

Something like this might actually work better. It would show off the title and name more clearly, that's for sure. And have you ever noticed that publishing houses will put out a book with a great cover and if it works, they follow it with a thousand similar covers hoping for lightning to strike again. That's how clinches started, how single flowers on the cover started, how the bands top or bottom started...even stepbacks. Anyone remember The Prince of Midnight? The year escapes me, but there was a pic of Fabio on the front, flowing mane of hair, bare chested, seated on a horse. The stepback cover inside was the clinch with the man and woman. That started a whole flood of artwork that got rid of the clinch on the front and put it inside where it wasn't displayed to the person sitting opposite you on the bus or train. It boosted romance sales by bazillions.