# Don't judge a book by it's cover.



## Aßbiscuits (Oct 8, 2009)

I'm publishing my book (woo!) the only problem is the details annoy me.

I don't know how I'm going to publish it. I put a lot of work into it so I don't want to throw it away to Kindle as an ebook but I want to self publish it without stupid rip off publishers. 

Well, my indecisiveness has left me focusing on other details, such as the book cover. I don't want to hire someone for that too! But I'm not sure if this is professional or even sufficientl:










*What do you think?* 

Ps. If you're interested in the symbolism behind the image that's going to be on the front cover, it's supposed to be a drop of water but it can also be seen as the earth with water pouring down on it. The place it's pouring down on is supposed to be the top of the world where the city is set - Aumland, a walled metropolis, isolated from the rest of the world where a legend says if they find the Medicine person they can be set free from the walls. They base their Religion on this since the Emperor centuries ago said that if the Medicine person is found they'll open the doors of Aumland and every tyrant Emperor since has said the same. That's where the symbolism of the water comes in, the Medicine person turns water into a medicine. The water is pouring onto the whole world to show their outrageous ideologies of this person, the water is pouring all over the world, Aumland first, as if to "cure" the whole world. The sun is close to the earth as it makes its way round to show why the people are inside the walls and dome of Aumland. 

If you're interested in the overall title, briefly, the current Emperor knows where the Medicine person is because of his sister and brother-in-law's interaction with a girl who he thought was the Medicine woman. This woman escaped with her child and he found out that she "hid her in the slums of Aumland". Because of this vague information he gave out to the public fourteen-years-ago for fourteen years rebels have killed every girl they could find of that age. These particular rebels believe that there is no medicine girl and they should stay safely in Aumland because the world is dangerous outside. Well anyway, that's why it's called the Medicine Girl, they know they're looking for a female Medicine person you know?

If you're interested in the name of this part of the book "The Price of Freedom" it's because the Medicine girl is the price of freedom, it's pretty obvious .


----------



## Skum (Jun 27, 2010)

Damn, how long have you been working on this? And how long is it?

To be honest, the cover looks like it would be a nonfiction book on water usage in the modern era. I can't quite pinpoint what's giving that effect. I'm thinking probably the thin, yellow lettering of the title. Reminds me of textbooks from the 70s or something. Play around with the sizing and thickness and, if it doesn't bother you to change it, the font. 
Overall, I think it's a good design. I especially like the dust flecks (?) near the bottom. Fleshes it out and definitely visually appealing.


----------



## Rez (Nov 6, 2009)

This is quite an original cover


thanks for sharing


----------



## OrangeAppled (Jun 26, 2009)

Congrats on finishing it!

From a design standpoint, I am not crazy about the font (any reason why "freedom" is not capitalized?) & the sun spot is a little too yellow (I didn't know it was a sun until I read the description either). The image is interesting overall though. 

A few questions: First - Did you photograph the original image(s) or do you have the rights to use it/them? Copyright is a real issue; if they have been manipulated enough to be unrecognizable, it may not be an issue, but using stock photos or your own photos is the best route, ethically speaking. Second - what is the quality of the image? Print is a minimum of 300 DPI, plus you need room for bleed & trim. I don't know your knowledge of print design, but these are basic mistakes of non-professionals.


----------



## heartturnedtoporcelain (Apr 9, 2010)

The only thing I would say about it is that the font looks too narrow. Other than that - nice cover and good luck!!


----------



## Aßbiscuits (Oct 8, 2009)

Skum said:


> Damn, how long have you been working on this? And how long is it?
> 
> To be honest, the cover looks like it would be a nonfiction book on water usage in the modern era. I can't quite pinpoint what's giving that effect. I'm thinking probably the thin, yellow lettering of the title. Reminds me of textbooks from the 70s or something. Play around with the sizing and thickness and, if it doesn't bother you to change it, the font.
> Overall, I think it's a good design. I especially like the dust flecks (?) near the bottom. Fleshes it out and definitely visually appealing.


Lol. Water usage in the modern era xD. 

I think it's 75 - 80 thousand words, about 520 pages? It's long but the story only spans over three days. 



OrangeAppled said:


> Congrats on finishing it!
> 
> From a design standpoint, I am not crazy about the font (any reason why "freedom" is not capitalized?) & the sun spot is a little too yellow (I didn't know it was a sun until I read the description either). The image is interesting overall though.
> 
> A few questions: First - Did you photograph the original image(s) or do you have the rights to use it/them? Copyright is a real issue; if they have been manipulated enough to be unrecognizable, it may not be an issue, but using stock photos or your own photos is the best route, ethically speaking. Second - what is the quality of the image? Print is a minimum of 300 DPI, plus you need room for bleed & trim. I don't know your knowledge of print design, but these are basic mistakes of non-professionals.


Thank you for pointing that out! I completely missed it. 

Photo manipulation to the max.

Yeah, I was wondering about the sun myself and the font lol. I have no idea what to choose for the font though. 

.....whut?


----------



## perennialurker (Oct 1, 2009)

I agree with Skum about it looking like a nonfiction cover, but still aesthetically pleasing. This is really impressive, how old are you? Hopefully not too young otherwise I've got work to do:tongue:


----------



## Aßbiscuits (Oct 8, 2009)

perennialurker said:


> I agree with Skum about it looking like a nonfiction cover, but still aesthetically pleasing. This is really impressive, how old are you? Hopefully not too young otherwise I've got work to do:tongue:


I'm seventeen, eighteen in February. 

And then nineteen the February after that etc.


----------

