Baby, Oh Baby!

About a month ago, I decided to claim my book price and give BookBaby Publishing a go at producing the print and electronic versions of my novel. I provided my artworks and manuscript, then took the risk to let their designers come up with a new look of the cover. "Surprise me," I said. And boy, was I, indeed...!

After two weeks, BookBaby came back with the new cover design (left). It was anything but what I had expected! Yeah, I bought their idea that "a less complicated cover design can achieve a more visual impact" but the two main characters were nothing close to what the novel depicted. The designers said that's the closest they could manage from their design library stock photos. I was told the following reasons:

When it comes to cover design, it's more important to evoke a certain tone, mood or feeling than it is to replicate an exact character or scene from the novel. It may help to think of your cover not as an extension of the book but as the marketing device it actually is - readers are going to pick up your book because they recognize certain things on the cover that tell them what kind of book it is and what kind of story they can expect, not because the cover is a snapshot of the story.

Really? I'm not too sure if potential readers will pick up my book based on that cover design. I decided it's best to redo the cover design myself and give the novel a makeover, taking into consideration the minimalist approach suggested by the publisher. After a day or two of working, the result is shown on the right. Now that's more to my liking and closer to the narrative which in essence, is a romantic triangle between two young lovebirds and an AI humanoid.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know which design you like best or is more likely to persuade you to pick up the book. Thank you.