Lookking for honest opinions (book cover)

[BOMB]

i

So in celebration of Pride Month, I'm releasing a new book, and I just wanted to know what people thought of the cover. If you saw this, would you or would you not want to read it, and why?

I'm aware that its silly and ...."childishly adult," but that's sort of what I was going for since the stories it'll feature will be adult but kinda vulgar, silly, and childish at times. If you like it, let me know why. Or if you don't like it, let me know why. Any suggestions on things to add or change are also welcome.

[sorible]

My honest opinion? Personally it doesn't really speak to me. Maybe it's the color combination or the wiggly lines, but I think you should try making multiple covers and experiment with the placement of the icons, balance is really important in art. The thicker lines in the hot dog is a bit heavy compared to the rest and there's a lot of yellow at the bottom half, so maybe play around with colors too. The banana with the dark lines also weirdly bothers me. But I like the title, I just think the coloring is reminding me of Netflix.

Overall? I like the concept + minimalistic design, I wouldn't usually read anything vulgar or 18+ but I enjoy reading anthologies so this would be a maybe ◡̈⃝

[BOMB]

Thanks, and I see what you mean about it reminding you of Netflix. I actually had a version with a lot more stripes that probably would have been even closer to Netflix too lol, but you have some good points that I can look into.

[CamelusDromedarius]

I think the props should either be behind the title or hanging from the letters, and you might want to change the background color. Other then that, it looks good!

[marbl]

There are quite a few issues I see here, none of them are critical mistakes but just make this cover less appealing compared others.

Every block of text has a different font/scheme: the author is all caps, the title is all caps w/ a different font, and the bottom "volume" text is in mixed case. I would shrink/abbreviate the "volume 1" text to "VOL. 1" and place it into the corner while making the font much smaller. I also suggest outright replacing the secondary (author/volume) font, as it seems like a generic/default font. I like the contrast between the two fonts, and I would keep it that way.

I'm not a big fan of the waves, but I'm not really sure what I would replace them with. I tend not to split my covers into sections, and keep everything onto one "section" of sorts.

The background also feels a bit empty, despite the good mix of negative and positive space. I would fill the background with something other than just plain white. You could make a grid of the small drawings w/ a light opacity and fill the background that way.

I don't really understand the two yellow circles and would consider removing/replacing them.

I would also stay away from pure white/black, and instead replace it with a lighter color/darker color. I would also consider creating a color palette/limiting colors.

TLDR: Keep text consistent, change the volume/author text to something less generic, fill the background, create and stick to a color palette, stay away from using pure white/black, and remove the two yellow circles.

The overall layout/idea is solid and I enjoy it, but it could have been done better.

[BOMB]

I can see what you mean with a few things. But there was actually a color scheme of red cyan and yellow, admittedly it is a bit one sided with more red than the other two colors but it was there. And the two yellow circles are actually tennis balls lol.

But ive actually already made significant changes to things. I went with

Its even up on Amazon now
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0975QP3X8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1623573298&refinements=p_27%3ADeLawrence+Washington+Jr.&s=books&sr=1-1&text=DeLawrence+Washington+Jr.

In a way I think I did a few things you suggested but I also went in an almost completely different direction lol.

[marbl]

It looks much better! The only issue I see here is that the "love stories" part from the original cover is shrunk, and from far away, makes it look like the title is just saying "stupid gay."

[Fafnir]

this cover reads as STUPID GAY.
seems to be the opposite message of the actual book.

[samiluu]

for me it's a bit difficult to read books, but I would totally read it if I got the time and concentration (or on a day I was ill or something) it looks fun and fresh too.
About the desingn the only thing I see kind of strange is the name of the author, it's a buit too big, I'd do it a bit smaller; but I wouldn't change anything else

[samiluu]

oh lol, I personally liked the original quite better and yes, the title can lead to missinterpretations but it's my personal opinion only

[BOMB]

Yeah I went ahead and changed the title from "Stupid Gay Love Stories," to just "Stupid Gay" and added a little sub text that explained it contains love stories.

[BOMB]

Yeah I changed the title from "Stupid Gay Love Stories," to "Stupid Gay" and added a little sub text that explained it contains love stories. I feel the shorter name is better because its more abrasive, and the stories themselves are kinda abrasive at points. But also if the name is enough to get you to stop and look at the cover I'm betting it wont take much for a person to notice the little note that explains it contains sometimes immature stories.

[BOMB]

I'll admit the name change is a bit of a gamble, but I think it's worth it. Plus I was using it like how people say "that's stupid cool" or "that's stupid crazy" . Here stupid just means a lot, crazy, fun, or zany. So its "A Lot of Gay= Stupid Gay" or "Crazy Gay = Stupid Gay". Explaining the joke/slang kinda takes the funny out a little, but I still have faith in it. I've asked a few of my gay friends if they liked it and they said they did, and I myself am bisexual, so I'm trusting that other people will get it. Or if someone doesn't get it, they'll read the sub text I wrote and it'll make things more clear.

That being said, I did sorta like my original more too, but after getting feedback, I felt while it was good to be abrasive in some places, I could stand to dial it back in others.

[marbl]

The sub text is awfully small, so it might turn off potential readers who have seen a small thumbnail of the cover that is too small for them to read the text.

[BOMB]

Hmmmm, it might be small compared to the main title, but its actually 12pt which is standard size for most text.

Still, I do get what you're trying to say. It's a gamble to hope that people will get the slang/joke and if they don't get it I'm then hoping that they'll read long enough to get the big picture. But I see it like this, I can play it safe and have a title that leaves nothing to chance or go with something that's abrasive and impactful. Even if no one likes this version of the name, or it throws a few people off, I doubt anyone who sees it will forget it as easily as the previous version. In fact I'm willing to bet people who have an immediate bad reaction will want to know more about it which could in turn help me out even more.

It's all a gamble.

But would you read it I wonder?

[samiluu]

oh, I didn't know! maybe because english is not my native language
Wish you luck!