Friday, March 11, 2011

Wings of Evil by J.R. Tomlin

What's the genre? What is it you like or don't like about this cover? Does it make you want to know more about the book? Does it make you want to BUY the book? Discuss.




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17 comments:

  1. Joshua PriceMarch 11, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    From the image I get medieval fantasy with dragons.

    I like the image, but for some reason the title's font reminds me of WW2 dogfighting. I'm not sure why, there's just something about it, almost seems like propaganda text.

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  2. GiseleMarch 12, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    It took me a while to figure out what the image was. Eventually, I realized it was supposed to be a dragon so, that can only mean fantasy novel.

    As a thumbnail, it is impossible to recognize what's going on on the cover. I just see a colorful blob. The name of the authors are completely blurry.

    This cover looks pretty amateurish to me. I'd suggest redesigning it.

    Cheers,

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  3. S.J. HarrisMarch 12, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    Yeah, not sure what to say about this. It reminds me of 1960s Japanese TV, and not in a good way.

    It looks like a DIY effort, so the most constructive thing I can say is hire a pro next time.

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  4. J. E. MedrickMarch 12, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    I use a 32 inch television for my monitor and I couldn't tell what this image was :P

    I thought, "Is it some sort of beetle? Is this a book about insects?" Then I thought, "Is that fire? Is this a dragon?"

    On top of that, the title/author is fuzzy (along with the general image).

    I'm sorry, I don't like this cover, nor do I particularly care for the title (It sounds cheesy in my head, like someone saying Wings of EEEEEEEEeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiiillll!). I would not buy this book :(

    Shackled
    Cheat

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  5. J. R. TomlinMarch 12, 2011 at 12:11 PM

    Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like it's back to the drawingboard on this cover.

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  6. J. R. TomlinMarch 12, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    Hmmm. Looking at it, it looks like through a mixup on my part, I sent a low resolution version of the jpg.

    I apologize for that. It certainly isn't what we used on Amazon. MY BAD! I am sorry.

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  7. AnonymousMarch 12, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    The image is very blurry, but if I squint hard enough, I realize it's a dragon But it looks like a plastic childs toy. Obviously sci-fi/ fantasy. I wouldn't pick this up, sorry

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  8. Joshua PriceMarch 12, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    When I posted my comment last night, there was a much crisper version of the cover up. I don't know what happened!

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  9. S.J. HarrisMarch 12, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    Sorry if I messed this up. I tried to make the image larger and must have inadvertently lowered the resolution. The image up now is the one J.R. sent, and it is indeed crisper.

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  10. UnknownMarch 12, 2011 at 4:19 PM

    The dragon illustration looks good on Amazon, even when zoomed in using the closer look tool. Seeing that the dragon has one broken wrist talon is a nice touch. It makes it personal. This is a specific dragon.

    As mentioned above, I think it's the font and layout that needs work. Maybe play around with different font choices, and different croppings of the illustration?

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  11. J. E. MedrickMarch 12, 2011 at 6:56 PM

    The crisper version is definitely easier to see... but I don't see the broken wrist talon (???) and it still looks like Mothra vs Godzilla to me.

    Shackled
    Cheat

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  12. Tara MayaMarch 12, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    I like the dragon--it immediately says "fantasy ." But the fonts make what could look like a professional cover seem amateurish.

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  13. Tara MayaMarch 12, 2011 at 7:33 PM

    I've read other comments, and I think when commenters remark, "This looks like fantasy. I wouldn't pick it up," it would be helpful to clarify if you mean, "This looks like a genre I don't read, so I wouldn't pick it up," OR do you mean, "Although this looks like fantasy, a genre I enjoy, I wouldn't pick this up because the cover looks uninviting."

    I think you can see it would make a big difference to the author!

    For myself, I DO read fantasy, and I would normally be attracted by a dragon cover, but the fact its not professional fonts in the title would send alarm bells ringing.

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  14. UnknownMarch 13, 2011 at 1:22 AM

    @J. E. Medrick The broken talon is almost impossible to see without using Amazon's Zoom feature. I had to zoom in twice to see it.

    I was vague in my comment: By re-cropping the illustration, I meant cropping tight on the dragon to bring out the details, like the talon.

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  15. ArchangelMarch 13, 2011 at 5:01 AM

    thanks Tara Maya for asking for differentiation. Agreed. makes it more clear for the author.

    FWIW, I cannot enlarge the cover. It remains a tiny thumbnail.

    dr.cpe

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  16. Tara MayaMarch 13, 2011 at 10:38 PM

    Can I ask why Freedom's Sword is not available to US customers? (I apologize if you are not J. R. Tomlin. I cannot tell which of the two authors of Wings of Evil posted here.)

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  17. UnknownMarch 18, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    ... Eww.

    Was my first impression. No, I wouldn't read it because the cover turned me off from checking out what the book was about.

    I miss out on a lot of books with terrible covers though, so it's no biggie - I just go for the pretty ones. Why? Because I'm just an average consumer lol

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