Creating my own YA book cover

28.3.11

Okay, it's nearly taken me all day but I can now reveal the potential cover for my book. Tadaaaaa......


I quite like it but I would love to hear your opinions on whether it's right for my target YA audience or not. Please be honest!!

14 comments :

  1. That is a nice cover. Someone walking into the woods makes me want to know what's in there. I don't know how I feel about the tag line being under your title, as it could be mistaken for a subtitle, but that's my honest self talking. Nice work!

    Come check out my giveaway. :)

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  2. A great cover and title, Suzy. It may be that I can't see it as it really is - after all it's dependent upon the amount of d.p.i. on this page. The over heaviness of the black cuts out most of the detail, and I want to see what she is going towards, a suggestion of what lies ahead through those trees. Her black top and the black behind her makes her disappear. But as I said, probably due to the reproduction on blogger and it's a brilliant idea for a cover.

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  3. Great, but why have you not sent it to me for your web interview...laugh...send please for me to include. Hugs xx

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  4. Honestly I have no clue what covers work commercially. BUT I love the mysterious woods and I especially LOVE the title RAVEN.

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  5. At first glance it looks fabulous, but I must say the person walking into the woods seems a bit androgynous. Is that your intent? Also, I agree with David about the tagline. I'd cut it. I'm excited to follow your progress! Good luck to you!

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  6. I was just about to say the same thing as Melissa - it gives us a mystery, but maybe too much. Is this a boy or girl? Are they entering/leaving the woods or just lost? Why isn't there a raven there? (okay, that's too many questions for just one cover - but thought I'd share since you asked) (that being said, I could NEVER design a cover, so I'm very impressed with your vision and your talent!)
    erica

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  7. Ver good start, different from the usual, so with own voice; question : do you have access to Adobe Photoshop ? Or do you have friends/colleagues who use it and could tweak it a bit ? I took the liberty of testing out: i.e. I would add a little more shadow, and adjust lighting to add more mystery - I did 2 quick examples, just to indicate the possibilities, many variations possible :
    http://twitpic.com/4ef8m7 (spotlight only)
    http://twitpic.com/4efaf9 (this is with spotlight plus airbrush work)

    You can also add 'omni'lighting effect, a little more diffused.

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  8. Very nice. I think you found a good balance here. It's mysterious, but not pretentious.

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  9. It's great! Although the only thing I would suggest is maybe playing around with different fonts. That one is kind of plain. I like the raven feathers as the border.

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  10. As a YA reader, I would pick up this book from the cover. It would intrigue me enough to want to read it. Everyone says the girl is walking into the woods but to me she looks like she's running. I'm not sure what your story is about but I think to make the cover that little bit more 'menacing', a tiny splash of bright colour would go well. Maybe a tiny flower amongst the ferns on the left?

    I would also make the tagline a smaller font and I'd try it above the title or maybe in two lines in the bottom right where the bare earth is.

    Just thoughts though ...

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  11. I'm absolutely blown away by your fantastic comments! Thank you so much for taking the time to check it out for me. It is greatly appreciated.
    Authorsanon... wow, you even had a play around with it for me. Thank you! I don't have Photoshop... I actually used an online 'programme'(?) pixlr??
    I'm taking all your thoughts into account when I have another little play.
    Thanks again for taking the time out!!

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  12. Hi Suzy, I just started following you today. I work with ParaYourNormal on Twitter. I love the raven feathers as a border. My first impression, without knowing what the book is about, is that it's YA, possibly suspense...maybe paranormal? Am I off target?

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  13. Hey Suzy, everyone seems to be right on the money! I like the font for the title, and the girl running away is interesting. I didn't realize there were feathers until I read through the comments... I'd love to see what the relationship is between the girl and the feathers along with the title. I think if you brightened the image a bit that would help.

    I think the tag line needs to be pulled away from the title, and that if you're going to have a tag line, it needs to draw me in. Right now, it's kind of a common sense statement... of course life isn't always what it seems, that's why it's interesting!

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  14. Hi Kelli! Thanks for following and for commenting. Yes you're spot on. Raven is YA paranormal (phew!). I love the ParaYourNormal blog site, it's very cool!
    Belinda... thanks for taking the time to check it out! Your comments are duly noted! x

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