- Pronouns
- He/Him
I've been wanting to write something like this for a while, but I've never quite had the time to devote to it until now. As a someone who's been reviewing Alternate History titles for a couple of years now (and indeed several other genres, especially horror), I've found that I've come up with as number of thoughts about the use of cover art for alternate history titles; and how a good piece of cover art can instantly attract my attention as a reader/reviewer, but a bad piece can push me away and make me scroll downwards through the Kindle listings.
Now, obviously some provisos first: I'm in no way a cover artist, or an illustrator, graphic designer or anything else like that, and I've no doubt that my attempts to create a piece of cover art would be disastrous at best. I understand that finding a skilled illustrator/artists can be difficult and extremely expensive to do, especially for an author self-publishing, or going through an independent publisher. So none of the (hopefully helpful) points and criticisms I make below are meant personally - they're just my thoughts.
Part I: Unrepresentative Cover Art
What makes a bad piece of cover art? Honestly there are quite a few things that can make a piece bad, but surely the greatest sin is that it doesn't correctly illustrate what the author's story is about. When I think about this, one Alternate History title always come back to me - in fact it's one I (eventually) reviewed on the SLP Blog:
Reich of Renegades by Mark Lynch is, in fact, a fantastic piece of Alternate History fiction that goes into the realities of what the Ostfront colonies would have looked like if the Third Reich had been triumphant. But I passed on it multiple times before properly reading the back-cover blurb and taking a chance. Almost nothing about this cover - apart from the excellent title itself - either attracts my eye as a reader, or conveys what the text is about. Why is there a picture of generic ruins? Little of the plot takes place in a ruined city, though I'll grant that tracts of Eastern Europe are ruined after the Second World War. And, most of all, why is everything green? I genuinely thought this was meant to represent radioactivity or nuclear war, and passed on it for that reason; although the Reich's nuclear program is mentioned in passing, again it's only a minor aspect of Reich of Renegade's plot. Even the font doesn't help, being stretched upwards.
The sequel, Soldier of the Reich, is even worse:
When I saw this, I genuinely thought this was one of those dodgy Waffen-SS memoirs where they go on about blood and soil and honour and forget to mention all of the Einsatzgruppen and the dead Jews. Apart from the tiny text banner at the top, I wouldn't have even remotely associated this with Reich of Renegades, espevially because that's about the most generic title I can think of producing. Unfortunately it's a bit disappointing as sequels go as well.
These, to me, are classic examples of unrepresentative cover art for a title. But Skinny, you would rightly say, if one is on an incredibly limited (or even non-existent budget) then surely this is the best you can do?
And I would say that isn't true, because have you seen what @Cymraeg has done with his cover art?
I hope that Cymraeg doesn't mind me using his cover art as a positive example, but look at the cover for The Fireflies of Port Stanley:
Look at how clean and crisp everything is here. The text stands out, nice border around the cover, and most importantly we get the main themes of the book: a map of the Falkland Islands with Port Stanley highlighted, and a Sherman Firefly below it. Basic, yes, but perfectly done. From this, I can readily infer that the Falklands conflict in 1982 will be proceeding differently, and for whatever narrative reason this will involve the presence of some Sherman Firefly tanks. I am now intrigued enough to purchase the book.
Or look at the cover art for Splinters: A Different El Alamein
Still done on a small budget, but very smartly done: a neutral, pale background, some nice font choice that's easy on the eye and not stretched around, and a simple piece of imagery in the middle that's both relevant to the title's central thesis (A different El Alamein, as the subtitle proclaims) and eye-catching.
Those are my thoughts so far, and I hope they've come across as useful and critical, rather than harsh. Next up is Part II: Generic Cover Art; or, I See You Have Access To The Getty Images Archive
Now, obviously some provisos first: I'm in no way a cover artist, or an illustrator, graphic designer or anything else like that, and I've no doubt that my attempts to create a piece of cover art would be disastrous at best. I understand that finding a skilled illustrator/artists can be difficult and extremely expensive to do, especially for an author self-publishing, or going through an independent publisher. So none of the (hopefully helpful) points and criticisms I make below are meant personally - they're just my thoughts.
Part I: Unrepresentative Cover Art
What makes a bad piece of cover art? Honestly there are quite a few things that can make a piece bad, but surely the greatest sin is that it doesn't correctly illustrate what the author's story is about. When I think about this, one Alternate History title always come back to me - in fact it's one I (eventually) reviewed on the SLP Blog:
Reich of Renegades by Mark Lynch is, in fact, a fantastic piece of Alternate History fiction that goes into the realities of what the Ostfront colonies would have looked like if the Third Reich had been triumphant. But I passed on it multiple times before properly reading the back-cover blurb and taking a chance. Almost nothing about this cover - apart from the excellent title itself - either attracts my eye as a reader, or conveys what the text is about. Why is there a picture of generic ruins? Little of the plot takes place in a ruined city, though I'll grant that tracts of Eastern Europe are ruined after the Second World War. And, most of all, why is everything green? I genuinely thought this was meant to represent radioactivity or nuclear war, and passed on it for that reason; although the Reich's nuclear program is mentioned in passing, again it's only a minor aspect of Reich of Renegade's plot. Even the font doesn't help, being stretched upwards.
The sequel, Soldier of the Reich, is even worse:
When I saw this, I genuinely thought this was one of those dodgy Waffen-SS memoirs where they go on about blood and soil and honour and forget to mention all of the Einsatzgruppen and the dead Jews. Apart from the tiny text banner at the top, I wouldn't have even remotely associated this with Reich of Renegades, espevially because that's about the most generic title I can think of producing. Unfortunately it's a bit disappointing as sequels go as well.
These, to me, are classic examples of unrepresentative cover art for a title. But Skinny, you would rightly say, if one is on an incredibly limited (or even non-existent budget) then surely this is the best you can do?
And I would say that isn't true, because have you seen what @Cymraeg has done with his cover art?
I hope that Cymraeg doesn't mind me using his cover art as a positive example, but look at the cover for The Fireflies of Port Stanley:
Look at how clean and crisp everything is here. The text stands out, nice border around the cover, and most importantly we get the main themes of the book: a map of the Falkland Islands with Port Stanley highlighted, and a Sherman Firefly below it. Basic, yes, but perfectly done. From this, I can readily infer that the Falklands conflict in 1982 will be proceeding differently, and for whatever narrative reason this will involve the presence of some Sherman Firefly tanks. I am now intrigued enough to purchase the book.
Or look at the cover art for Splinters: A Different El Alamein
Still done on a small budget, but very smartly done: a neutral, pale background, some nice font choice that's easy on the eye and not stretched around, and a simple piece of imagery in the middle that's both relevant to the title's central thesis (A different El Alamein, as the subtitle proclaims) and eye-catching.
Those are my thoughts so far, and I hope they've come across as useful and critical, rather than harsh. Next up is Part II: Generic Cover Art; or, I See You Have Access To The Getty Images Archive