(I don't have a mock-up yet, but expect it soon!)

Don't hold out on us, man!

The second is the question I want to look at right now.  I'm at sea! I don't know at all what should go back there! I guess some text about what the game's about and why you should buy it? Maybe just a picture of me giving a thumbs up and looking trustworthy?

Just like the front cover, find an example that you feel works really well. And consider this:

There's a process that people seem to go through when they first notice a book. These are my own observations, so consider these a hypothesis rather than a theory.

1. They see broad, geometric shapes and points of high-contrast on the front or spine.
2. They turn to face it and, if the cover contains imagery that's attractive to them, they'll pick it up.
3. They'll turn it over to the back to confirm that it's about what they think it's about.
4. They'll thumb through it to strengthen that confirmation.

You're talking about phase 3 right now. (Phase 4 has to do with your layout and internal illos, which you're also dealing with now.)

This has to do with bookshelves. Online, your book will probably be represented by a few hundred pixels to a side, so make sure it's bold and distinctive. The market requirements for Jongor, Thongor, and Krongor were different than they are for On Mighty Thews. Nonetheless, the main thing that has changed is that people will hear the name long before they see the cover, since they'll most likely hear about it through Facebook, RPGnet, Twitter, Quizmer, Pok!, Bobble, or whatever the kids are into these days.

If you're ready to share it, I'd love to see your text block, too.

I have practically zero idea what the back cover should say.

Here's a blind stab in the dark:

"A game of sorcery, sword fighting, sweat, and guts, On Mighty Thews will take you and a few friends on a journey through a blood-soaked and fantastical world of your own creation. This sword-and-sorcery roleplaying game can be played in a couple of hours, and requires no preparation or lengthy setup.  Adventure awaits!"

Corny?

You could even go all the way:

Sorcery. Sword fighting. Sweat. Guts.

Take your friends on a blood-soaked and fantastical journey.

On Mighty Thews — adventure awaits!

A lizard canoe!

Nah, if you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't've thought that.

I don't know whether it matters if you say "a game" on your cover. I tend to say it on mine, in some form or other.

Post edited 11:49 pm – April 17, 2010 by Simon C

The book's about 50 pages, so there's not much of a spine.  I'm not sure what I can do with it at that size.

So, saying it's a game.  Should I do that on the front of the back?

On the front I could add “a game by” to my name down the bottom, or else I could change the text at the top.

On the back I could easily add it in somewhere.  It does seem to steal some of the punch though.

(I have zero cover-design experience, and not much experience with the genre either, so my comments may be completely off-base)

I've got a bit of cognitive dissonance going on with your cover image and your title. I don't dislike the art, but the woman doesn't scream "mighty thews" to me. I would probably end up saying to myself, "I don't get it, is the lizard supposed to be the one with the mighty thews?"

I'm having trouble with the punctuation of the text above the title, too. That hyphen/dash between "savagery" and "and" is very confusing to me. I can't figure out if you want me to pause there or what. The line break is causing trouble for me, too — I want to end the phrase with "mortal peril", but then I get to the next line and it looks like I'm supposed to continue the thought. It's like I'm mentally stumbling over my words.

Those are my nit-picky observations of what I would think upon seeing your cover.

One of the hardest things in book cover design is integrating the title and other text with the cover image and making it look like they go together. I think that you could improve the cohesiveness of your cover a bit. Try out some different fonts, the font should not only be appropriate for the title of the game (the words should look good in the font you choose) but it should mirror the style of the illustration. You could also improve the relationship between the text and the image. Try making the image a bit smaller to give your title some breathing room.

Did you try some different options for layout: bigger text, smaller text, different fonts, stacking the title, changing the text color, off-centering the title, using a border around the image, etc.? Playing around with it might give you a solution that you like that you didn't expect.

I think the Pathfinder book does a pretty good job at achieving a balance between image and text (and it's not too dissimilar from your cover). The title uses angular text that mirrors the angles in of the dragon. And even though the text uses a border that keeps it visually separate from the image the placement of the text frames the image nicely and the text color is derived from the image making it look more cohesive.

Regarding the picture, that's pretty set in stone now.  I had a LONG back and forth with the artist trying to get a dynamic pose and a powerful-looking figure. What you see is the last in a long line of radically different figures.  I take your point, but I think I'm happy with where it's ended up.

The challenge with reorganising text on the front cover is that there's not a lot of space to fit text around the image. I'll try a few different things and show you what I've got.

The back cover feels like a huge blank sheet to me.  There's nothing constraining it so I feel really lost. I'd love to have some examples of back covers from the genre I'm emulating.

Cool. Can do. How do you feel about the blotchy blurry background-thing I made?

I'm really liking your first option. The type looks so much better. It looks like it belongs where you've placed it and the way you've fit the title words together makes it feel like a cohesive unit. I still think the title (and your name) is pushed a bit too close to the edge, but creating more image area (as you mentioned) is a pain.

You will probably want to create some extra image area anyway because when a printer crops a page (or cover) there can be as much as 1/8 inch (3 mm) drift from where you intend the edge to be (in either direction). So you will want extra image area so that you don't end up with a white edge. That's also the reason that you don't want text to get too close to the bottom, top or fore-edge of the book, since you could potentially lose some of that space and end up with the text dangling awkwardly off an edge.

I definitely like the saturated colors better too, but you did push it a bit too far. If you toned it down a little I think it would be perfect.

Over-all it's a big improvement. Well done.

Just a random thought, you might want to look into adding a light texture to the cover, it would be a good way to tie the back and front together and may add some visual interest. Maybe not, but it wouldn't hurt to try a few out.