Potential Book Cover + Question on Trilogies

[Ren_Silverstar]

Hi all!

I'm currently editing and uploading my husband's book trilogy to SH for a future release (to start once all of book one is uploaded), and in the meantime am also working on the cover of the first book. I've got a few different ideas, but this is the one I'm the most fond of, and the only one ready for review. What do you all think of it?

I know the lettering leaves a bit to be desired, but I've never done typography before, and hopefully I can find someone to help improve upon it once I've finalized the concept.

Even if this cover IS good, however, it's only relevant to the first book of the trilogy, so I'm not sure that it would work as my SH cover. Would it be better to design a cover appropriate for the series as a whole and release all chapters under the overarching series name, or would it be better to release each book individually, using the individual book covers? Or perhaps still release all three books under the same title, but change covers once I begin releasing chapters of the next book...

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Hi all!

I'm currently editing and uploading my husband's book trilogy to SH for a future release (to start once all of book one is uploaded), and in the meantime am also working on the cover of the first book. I've got a few different ideas, but this is the one I'm the most fond of, and the only one ready for review. What do you all think of it?

I know the lettering leaves a bit to be desired, but I've never done typography before, and hopefully I can find someone to help improve upon it once I've finalized the concept.

Even if this cover IS good, however, it's only relevant to the first book of the trilogy, so I'm not sure that it would work as my SH cover. Would it be better to design a cover appropriate for the series as a whole and release all chapters under the overarching series name, or would it be better to release each book individually, using the individual book covers? Or perhaps still release all three books under the same title, but change covers once I begin releasing chapters of the next book...

Hello !
For the cover : Very much like the illustration. Yes, the lettering needs a bit of work, try to look for similar covers to see how they did their lettering, that might help

Spoiler: Examples

For the trilogy : It depends on what you want. Some people here create different series for each book, and some do everything on the same page, just by writing [Book 1] before the title of the chapter. If you go for the second option, you can post the book's cover everytime you reach chapter 1 of a new book, to help the reader see where they are at, or you can do like some here : Update the cover art everytime you reach a new book in your release, essentially showing the cover of the arc being published as of now.

 

[Ren_Silverstar]

Hello !
For the cover : Very much like the illustration. Yes, the lettering needs a bit of work, try to look for similar covers to see how they did their lettering, that might help

Spoiler: Examples

Thank you very much!

I have actually done a little bit of research on cover design for the epic fantasy genre, however, I currently lack the know-how and/or software to get it looking the way I want The cover guide I was looking at showed what things looked like, but gave no instruction on how to actually do it. I did the typography on Canva, and they didn't seem to have the font (Vectis) or depth effects that I planned to use. Perhaps it's a copyrighted font or something? Or perhaps I just need to learn more about using the program. This was my attempt at learning/doing at 1am last night, heh heh If I'm going to do the typography myself I'll need to invest more time into learning, and probably get a better program.

For the trilogy : It depends on what you want. Some people here create different series for each book, and some do everything on the same page, just by writing [Book 1] before the title of the chapter. If you go for the second option, you can post the book's cover everytime you reach chapter 1 of a new book, to help the reader see where they are at, or you can do like some here : Update the cover art everytime you reach a new book in your release, essentially showing the cover of the arc being published as of now.

So all three options have been done on here and are viable? I think I'd prefer all the books under one series and then just use the cover of the current book/arc. Just didn't know if that was frowned upon or would confuse readers.

Appreciate your reply! ?

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

So all three options have been done on here and are viable? I think I'd prefer all the books under one series and then just use the cover of the current book/arc. Just didn't know if that was frowned upon or would confuse readers.

All the books under one series is actually more viable, because people who put the book in their reading list won't have to search elsewhere for the the next story, so you will retain more readers (and will accumulate the views of all the books)

No probs ;)

 

[RoyalTime]

I'll be very unbiased....

Spoiler: ?

The cover looks like a stuffed toy dragon purchased from mars?

 

[Ren_Silverstar]

All the books under one series is actually more viable, because people who put the book in their reading list won't have to search elsewhere for the the next story, so you will retain more readers (and will accumulate the views of all the books)

No probs ;)

Aaah, my concern was more in regards to changing the cover image multiple times (would it cause readers to miss new chapters if they're looking for an image they recognize), but you make a great point that I hadn't thought about in regards to reader retention! I'll definitely stick to publishing all chapters under one series ?

I'll be very unbiased....

Spoiler: ?

The cover looks like a stuffed toy dragon purchased from mars?

Haha, I agree the cover IS quite red. More red than I'd prefer, tbh. If I can figure out how to tone it down a bit I probably will. My husband thinks the dragon isn't quite forbidding enough and makes the cover look a little too YA. The dragon's eyes really speak to me, though. And I like how the ring is set in the image. Not sure I could get that lucky again, heh.

Thank you for the feedback! ?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Looks a lot like (probably not quite actionably like but similar) to one of the books TSR put out in the 80s or 90s. Blanking on the title but recall seeing one very similar (except without the ring) back then.
You can upload an image as a "chapter" if you want to keep all three books in one "place" (for one example, you can check out Henry Rider: Clown Hunter - Henry Rider and the NuYu Prescrption | Scribble Hub).

 

[Ren_Silverstar]

Looks a lot like (probably not quite actionably like but similar) to one of the books TSR put out in the 80s or 90s. Blanking on the title but recall seeing one very similar (except without the ring) back then.

Yep, the cover definitely has an 80s/90s fantasy feel to me, heh ? Which is appropriate, because the book is very similar, genre wise, to the Dragonlance Chronicles. I went searching for TSR covers after what you said, heh heh. "Under Dragon's Wing," perhaps? If so, I think you're right that mine should be safe. I DID find one (D&D Set 1: Basic Rules) that was VERY similar to another one of my cover ideas/images, though, heh. So that one is probably out as an option.

You can upload an image as a "chapter" if you want to keep all three books in one "place" (for one example, you can check out Henry Rider: Clown Hunter - Henry Rider and the NuYu Prescrption | Scribble Hub).

Thank you so much for directing me to that example!! I noticed that there was an insert image icon in the chapter editor, but when I tried to use it I couldn't figure out how it worked (there didn't seem to be either image upload or external link options). So I'm happy to have confirmation that what I wanted to do is possible. Just have to look up how to do it ?

 

[Clo]

Aaah, my concern was more in regards to changing the cover image multiple times (would it cause readers to miss new chapters if they're looking for an image they recognize), but you make a great point that I hadn't thought about in regards to reader retention! I'll definitely stick to publishing all chapters under one series ?

I have a "Chapter" dedicated to recapping each book, which I name by the title of the next book of my series.

Suggestion 1: Include the Book number of name in every chapter's name. This way people who post reviews or see the update won't see "Chapter 3" when it's "Chapter 3 of book 2 (aka chapter 43)".

Suggestion 2: Put a link to a hosted full-size picture of each book cover in "Chapter 0/recap chapter" of every book, since you don't have a Cover-Per-Book function here unlike RR.

And yes. Keep all the books under the same story.

If you chose to use the name of Book1 or the name of the Series for your "Story" here is up to you. I went with the name of book 1, myself, because I like that name better that the series name.

 

[Ren_Silverstar]

I have a "Chapter" dedicated to recapping each book, which I name by the title of the next book of my series.

Suggestion 1: Include the Book number of name in every chapter's name. This way people who post reviews or see the update won't see "Chapter 3" when it's "Chapter 3 of book 2 (aka chapter 43)".

Suggestion 2: Put a link to a hosted full-size picture of each book cover in "Chapter 0/recap chapter" of every book, since you don't have a Cover-Per-Book function here unlike RR.

And yes. Keep all the books under the same story.

If you chose to use the name of Book1 or the name of the Series for your "Story" here is up to you. I went with the name of book 1, myself, because I like that name better that the series name.

Thank you!

I like the recapping idea. I'll ask my husband if he wants to write something like that for the second and third books. If he doesn't, maybe I'll just write up a quick summary myself. Our personal writing styles are very different, though, so it'll probably feel more aligned with the novels if he does them, heh heh.

And yep, as I upload the chapters I've been labeling them with the format: [Book One] Chapter Number: Chapter Name. So, luckily, I don't have to go back and revise them all

Is there a common place that people on SH use to host images? Haven't done it in years and my old place shut down the free accounts.

 

[Clo]

Is there a common place that people on SH use to host images? Haven't done it in years and my old place shut down the free accounts.

IMGUR isn't bad, but it's best to give the URL to the post, rather than direct link to the images.

I just have an FTP of my own from years ago I use for that, myself.

 

[RoyalTime]

Hi all!

I'm currently editing and uploading my husband's book trilogy to SH for a future release (to start once all of book one is uploaded), and in the meantime am also working on the cover of the first book. I've got a few different ideas, but this is the one I'm the most fond of, and the only one ready for review. What do you all think of it?

I know the lettering leaves a bit to be desired, but I've never done typography before, and hopefully I can find someone to help improve upon it once I've finalized the concept.

Even if this cover IS good, however, it's only relevant to the first book of the trilogy, so I'm not sure that it would work as my SH cover. Would it be better to design a cover appropriate for the series as a whole and release all chapters under the overarching series name, or would it be better to release each book individually, using the individual book covers? Or perhaps still release all three books under the same title, but change covers once I begin releasing chapters of the next book...

Where did u publish this trilogy before or u just wrote it down to three books and waited to publish together?

 

[Ren_Silverstar]

Where did u publish this trilogy before or u just wrote it down to three books and waited to publish together?

It hasn't been published before, save for a few chapters that we recorded in audio and posted on YouTube. My husband wrote the entire trilogy in the Notes app of his phone ? He finished the final book a year or two ago and asked me to publish it as his Christmas gift last year, heh heh. I'm working on editing it, in order to post here and, eventually, self-publish so he can have a physical copy.