Cover Reveal (2)

Based on feedback I've been getting, I've made some changes to the cover. Unfortunately, I do not know how to use Photoshop, or any of the imagining programs. So, I'm pretty limited in what I can do. I hope this cover is more appealing. Please let me know what you think.

Word Count: Six Months Later

Yesterday I finished the revision of my 117,000 word novel Only The Lonely based on Tanya Reimer's comments on reading the entire book.

I've trimmed the book down to about 81,000 words by eliminating some of the subplots. I consider my work on the book about 95% complete. I rewrote some chapters, added a few new ones, and combined some chapters. The 5% of the work I have left to do is polishing the revisions, possibly adding one small element, and making sure the book flows properly. Hopefully, I can get that done this month. Then it's on to self-publishing the book.

I need to come up with a book cover. The one I have works, but I may look into doing something different. I'm undecided.

The subplots I eliminated are not lost or wasted effort. They will be the basis of, or part of, one or two sequels I have planned.

Book Covers

 I'm in the throes of trying to design a book cover for my novel that I'll self-publish before long. I've already self-published a collection of short stories, Battles and other stories. I like the cover. The problem is that the image isn't large enough to qualify it for Smashwords premium catalogue. I downloaded the image from a free stock photo site. I have no idea how to increase the size of the image, or if it's even possible. Add to that the fact that I know nothing about Photoshop, or any other image processing system.

I have now designed a cover for the novel I will self-publish pretty soon. However, I put it up for evaluation at AgentQueryConnect (see image below) and received some negative opinions of it. Again, part of the problem is that the image seems to be too small, and not enticing to people to look further into the book. (I just noticed that volumn is spelled wrong. It should be volume.)

I've been playing around with designing my own covers with the limited tools I have to work with, and this is what I've come up with.

I'm trying to create something that is unified and would be my signature style.














I have to admit the plain versions with no pictures are not very interesting. They give no hint of what the books are about. I really prefer having pictures.

What do you think?