Okay! So people I heard from didn’t like the original Italian Assassins cover. I did, but what bugged me was that no one thought the character looked Asian, even with her face in shadow.
And writer Mark Shaimblum found pictures of Asian women with guns.
Gauntlet thrown and accepted.
Now the question is, naked or not naked?
My peeps have weighed in about the Notorious D.O.C. cover. One line stood out to me. “The grey is more serious and the red is more sexy.” (Unrelated photo below, demonstrating serious +/- sexy.)
Grey
Pro
Better angle
One shoe on, one off makes it clear that she’s hit “instead of tinkering under the car”
Some like the tire tread and blood
Works as a thumbnail
Red draws attention to the title
Con
“I don’t like her body.”
“I don’t like her butt. It should be more toned. Is she someone who works out?”
“What’s with the panty line?”
“I don’t like the dress colour.”
“Yeah, the grey on grey.”
“I can’t tell at a glance if she’s face-up or face-down.”
“I don’t like the reflection in the car—it took me a minute to figure out what it was.”
“Why is she wearing flip flops? Why is she wearing a dress?”
Tire tread not realistic-looking
Paw print on the book spine (Olo Books logo)—unclear what this is
Red
Pro
Red top draws the eye
Red is the colour of blood (and is sexier!)
Model has Asian background, like the Lisa Lee character in the book (very important to me, as I hate whitewashed covers)
Shot in the rain, also like the book
Rollerblades in the background (part of the book—Lisa Lee was blading in the wee hours of the morning)
Model wearing work-out clothes
Con
Body angle not as eye-catching
Car wheel distracting
“Looks like it was shot in a garage with a reflective floor”
Not clear what the Rollerblades are in the background
No tire tread
Both shoes on
My take?
Both covers have strengths and weaknesses. But, in the end, my two covers are not so much competing against each other as competing against every other cover in the world.
The people who really disliked the grey cover were the ones who saw it in person. So it’s entirely possible that the grey works better online and the red works better face to face.
Which is a tricky question, since most people will buy this book online. It will be available to order in bookstores, but most people will see it on Amazon or as an e-book first—the opposite of the days of yore.
Which makes me wonder if I could have a different cover for e-book or print—or if I just have to choose the one that looks better as a thumbnail rather than in real life, which is an interesting reversal of fortunes.
First I have to get a copy of the red in print. Then I’ll decide. However, my decision will not be set in stone. And this is not a democracy. (Even if it were, only 22 people have voted so far, with the vote 13 to 9 in favour of the grey, which is not a stunning sample size.) Ultimately, I will choose the cover, and I may be crazy enough to do it differently for e-book and print book, or make one cover special order. Through the miracle of technology, I can also change my decision later. Hooray for indie publishing, and thanks for taking the time to vote!
I showed off my new print book covers to my book club. Everyone liked Code Blues. High School Hit List‘s overlays confused one person, but the real drama came with Notorious D.O.C.. To my surprise, they told me to Photoshop the body, the colour, the clothes….I mulled this over, but since a) my Photoshop skills aren’t up to all that, and b) I’ve always objected to manipulating magazine shots to make women look like sexy robots (did you see the no-knees Lady Gaga cover?), where do I draw the line on my own designs?
Ergo, I made an entirely new cover. I’m not going to say which one is the original and which one is new. I don’t want to bias you any more. But if you could take a second to click and vote on your opinion and/or comment (politely), I’d love that. Thanks!
