a critique site for book lovers, hosted by author Jude Hardin
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Two-Way Split by Allan Guthrie
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.
I love the artwork and the color scheme. And I really like the title and typface. However, the placement of the author byline makes it confusing. It looks like the title is "Two Way Split Guthrie." Or maybe "Two Way Split A Novel Guthrie." I would drop Guthrie down and move "A Novel" right. Perhaps make the author name a little smaller.
Oh and, um, the blurb? First of all, I have NO clue who "Theakston" is so the award sort of sounds like making big of nothing. And unless whoever Theakston is spells it that way for some odd reason... peculiar is misspelled.
Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime/ Google is a wonderful thing. ;-)
I like this cover and the artwork - perhaps because there isn't a hunky, half-naked guy on the cover. Robin, I know what you mean by the placement of the title and author's name. But this is common on Allan's books - kind of a branding that give all of his books the same look and feel. It's a little jarring at first, but after you see a few you immediately recognize it as one of Allan's books.
@Jude, thanks. I almost googled it then didn't. My bad. I guess it's a UK thing; it sure didn't mean a thing to this American.
@Merrill, to me as a new person who hasn't seen his books, it's jarring. And could be very easily fixed. But oh well...overall the cover is quite strong.
The cover looks interesting. It's clear what it is since it's stated on the bottom of the cover. I like the rainy day it shows. So this is a crime/suspense/mystery. I wouldn't mind finding out more about it.
Thanks v. much for the thoughts, folks. Merrill's right about the branding aspect of the title and name. Interestingly, we were more concerned about the colour coding than the alignment but possibly the combination is what jars a bit. Theakston's do indeed spell 'peculier' peculiarly. It's not a US-only cover, Robin, otherwise I may well have dropped all mention of it, but the award is reasonably well known in the UK and generates a fair amount of publicity over here. There may well be a case for having separate editions with differently tweaked covers, though. You mentioned liking the typeface: thanks. I chose that myself. It's called DIRTY EGO, which probably sums me up pretty well! And I'm very pleased you'd like to find out more, Angela. Thanks again to everyone for your comments and to Jude for running with Two-Way Split. Much appreciated.
I would have guessed crime/mystery even without the teaser. I do like the snow effect and would definitely be enticed to read the synopsis, though I don't see a connection as it is about it involving robbery, murder and mistake in identity.
I love the artwork and the color scheme. And I really like the title and typface. However, the placement of the author byline makes it confusing. It looks like the title is "Two Way Split Guthrie." Or maybe "Two Way Split A Novel Guthrie." I would drop Guthrie down and move "A Novel" right. Perhaps make the author name a little smaller.
ReplyDeleteOh and, um, the blurb? First of all, I have NO clue who "Theakston" is so the award sort of sounds like making big of nothing. And unless whoever Theakston is spells it that way for some odd reason... peculiar is misspelled.
Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival
ReplyDeletehttp://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime/
Google is a wonderful thing. ;-)
I like this cover and the artwork - perhaps because there isn't a hunky, half-naked guy on the cover. Robin, I know what you mean by the placement of the title and author's name. But this is common on Allan's books - kind of a branding that give all of his books the same look and feel. It's a little jarring at first, but after you see a few you immediately recognize it as one of Allan's books.
I looked it up. Theakston Old Peculier is a brand of beer, and it does use the odd spelling.
ReplyDelete@Jude, thanks. I almost googled it then didn't. My bad. I guess it's a UK thing; it sure didn't mean a thing to this American.
ReplyDelete@Merrill, to me as a new person who hasn't seen his books, it's jarring. And could be very easily fixed. But oh well...overall the cover is quite strong.
The cover looks interesting. It's clear what it is since it's stated on the bottom of the cover. I like the rainy day it shows. So this is a crime/suspense/mystery. I wouldn't mind finding out more about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks v. much for the thoughts, folks. Merrill's right about the branding aspect of the title and name. Interestingly, we were more concerned about the colour coding than the alignment but possibly the combination is what jars a bit. Theakston's do indeed spell 'peculier' peculiarly. It's not a US-only cover, Robin, otherwise I may well have dropped all mention of it, but the award is reasonably well known in the UK and generates a fair amount of publicity over here. There may well be a case for having separate editions with differently tweaked covers, though. You mentioned liking the typeface: thanks. I chose that myself. It's called DIRTY EGO, which probably sums me up pretty well! And I'm very pleased you'd like to find out more, Angela. Thanks again to everyone for your comments and to Jude for running with Two-Way Split. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI will also day that this is a very good cover with a great picture and good text graphics.
ReplyDeleteI would have guessed crime/mystery even without the teaser. I do like the snow effect and would definitely be enticed to read the synopsis, though I don't see a connection as it is about it involving robbery, murder and mistake in identity.
ReplyDelete