Christian Writing Critique the title and cover of my next book

[paulchernoch]

Check out GIMP, which is like Microsoft Paint on steroids. I'm pretty sure there is a function in GIMP where you can create a back "mask" of the locust and utilize that for the cover.

Click to shrink...

Actually, I downloaded the original image from Canva and am continuing my editing and refinement in GIMP. I love GIMP. I will see if anyone posted a video of how to get a silhouette from an image. (So many features in GIMP that it is hard to find the right one sometimes.)

And yes, I specifically have been using a locust image. There is a difference.

 

[JonMacIssac]

I think the cover is striking. I should prompt them to read the title.

 

[carolinamtne]

Now that's an eye-catcher, John!

 

[Nicola]

The ideas are sound. They just need a little nuance. Best selling covers have layers. @Travis Williams should weigh in on this. He is a master of layers. Graphic designers wield the magic of architecture. The Golden Rectangle and all.
For instance, I would put a fly in the top right hand corner, or on one of the letters in the first world. Flies are a more subtle suggestion of plague. How about a swarm? A cloud of insects has a specific shape that triggers fear in humans.

 

[Travis Williams]

I apologize, Nicola. I just saw this. I need to turn on notifications or start checking this site more often.

Book covers are difficult. I subscribe to a number of emails from the largest book sellers just to look at all the covers. It's like reading, the more good covers you look at the more you want to emulate them—or do something different!

The minimalism on this cover works for me. It reminds me of the cover of Fans First by Jesse Cole. However, it needs something. Since it's been a month, what does the latest version look like?

 

[M. D. Boncher]

Jeff - I was looking for a good silhouette but all I found were cartoonish hoppers. Maybe I should keep looking.

Click to shrink...

If you are proficient in any graphic design programs like photoshop or GIMP, you can probably run the picture through a "posterize" filter or something similar to make it a simplified black and white image.

Otherwise the cover grabs your attention well. If you choose to not put an image (virus/grasshopper/frog) in there, you'd do just fine I think.

 

[Zee]

My, my. One of the covers I created all by myself without the benefit of a design template was featured years ago on a website called bookcoversthatsuck.com. Perhaps my taste in templates is as bad as my artistic skills.

Click to shrink...

You know, when your cover is so bad that it actually gets featured on a website devoted to displaying awful covers…in some sense, I’d call that success. You’re so bad you’re good…

 

[paulchernoch]

Since it's been a month, what does the latest version look like?

Click to shrink...

The latest version has not changed. I am knee-deep in writing an appendix. This forced me to dive into chronology debates about when the 430-year sojourn in Egypt began, the time of the Judges, the age of Joshua when he crossed the Jordan, how long Jacob lived near Laban, and a host of other conundrums. I have new appreciation for the attention to detail that some Bible scholars possess. They spot clues I never noticed.

 

[carolinamtne]

Keep digging! You're get there.