Cedar has done a terrific job with two covers here for STORM-DRAGON. Now STORM-DRAGON is written to be a ‘Heinlein’ Juvie. Let me explain this very precisely. The market for books for younger readers is pretty well dominated by OLDER buyers. Until a book gets a HP level following, younger readers do not in general get much say in what books they get. It’s what’s in the library, or what mum, dad, grandparents or Uncle Fred buy for them. Ok, they might browse the YA section in B&N and take the book to the adult browsing elsewhere, but let’s face it: unless they’re a teen female looking for Romantasy with a Boss-girl and with all the correct PC tokens… that’s unlikely. STORM-DRAGON will not be there.
It’s Science Fiction. There is no romance. There’s adventure – a very wild outdoors, and plenty of villains. There are guns. There is a grave shortage of PC tokens and no Boss-girls, just boys being boys, on their way to becoming men. The key, to me anyway, was that I would have loved it as a boy, AND as an adult. If you liked Heinlein’s FARMER IN THE SKY, or TUNNEL IN THE SKY, or James H. Schmitz’s DEMON BREED… these were my role model books for this. To me, anyway, those were books I loved as much at 50 as 13. So: that is who I am trying to sell to — partly on my reputation (which, fair enough, is not enormous, but existent) and, obviously, partly on the cover (which is important to whatever promotion goes into it.) Opinions folks: which one says this. Which are you more likely to buy?
Mad Genius Club 
37 responses to “Opinions -Cover”
I like the second cover better. In the first one, the boy is too far in the background. That may account for why the hand holding the dragon looks out of proportion (too large) in relation to him.
On a “vibe check” level I would be more likely to buy the first one for a target-audience boy. The nasty critters on the edge say “adventure”, and the kid’s expression neatly straddles the line between “what do I do with dragon??” and “I am going to cause SO MUCH TROUBLE with dragon”.
The second one is aesthetically appealing but IMO too cute-anime for 10-and-up boypeople.
On a “vibe check” level I would be more likely to buy the first one for a target-audience boy. The nasty critters on the edge say “adventure”, and the kid’s expression neatly straddles the line between “what do I do with dragon??” and “I am going to cause SO MUCH TROUBLE with dragon”.
The second one is aesthetically appealing but IMO too cute-anime for 10-and-up boypeople.
The first cover portrays challenge and adventure; the second gives a better idea that it’s scifi, given the ship in the background. I didn’t notice the hand proportion issue in the first cover until it was pointed out above. Tough to choose, but overall I’d go with the first.
i like the first cover. It looks more adventurous, it looks like it might have danger. The second book looks more anime and sense of wonder-ish. The first book looks more like we might be getting into trouble with this dragon and it will be exciting to figure out how to get out of trouble.
The first cover for me. Or would be for the 12-year-old me.
I like the second; IMHO, the first mutes the boy and his dragon (channeling Harlan Ellison? Naaah.), while the second features them. ‘Sides, the dragon looks rather more bad-ass in the second. In the first, the dragon looks rather delicate.
I’m 72, but [good!] YA doesn’t turn me off. Grand-nephew is 4; will have to wait a bit to buy for him.
The first cover, hands down.
I like the boy’s expression better in the first, but the storm dragon looks like it’s fragile and in danger from the gold critter on the right of the cover.
Other than that, the first cover gives me a fantasy vibe; the second, a sci-fi vibe.
I like the first, aesthetically – but the second hints more at the science fiction aspect, what with the floating space ship thingy.
My personal opinions:
The boy in the first cover has a very determined expression, whereas the boy in the second cover looks more content. These snapshots seem to give the impression that the boy has a stronger character in the first cover than in the second.
The first cover conveys a sense of brooding danger with the darker background and the surrounding creatures, but I feel confident that the boy will get through it if he can.
The second cover gives a lighter, more pleasant feel, with much less sense that the boy and/or blue dragon will be in any danger during the story.
Personally, in the hypothetical scenario that I was in a book store and I had the option of buying the book in both covers, I’d pick the first cover. It would ultimately come down to the impression of determination in the boy’s face in the first cover, it gives me a better impression of the character of the boy.
The first one. The chiaroscuro makes it seem more dramatic
I’d go for the first, both as current me and as teenage me, ’cause that kid is Up To Something.
At least to me, the first cover reads more fantasy (or at most science fantasy along the line of the Pern books), while the second is clearly science fiction and the spaceship in the background suggests a visitor to an alien planet rather than (maybe) the descendant of settlers who may have forgotten their Terran origins. However, the boy in the second one looks like he’s in first or second grade, while the one in the first cover looks mid-grades.
Most kids like to read about protagonists a few years older than themselves. I’m concerned that having the boy on the cover look too young would signal to the intended readers that it’s going to be too young for them, and thus a turn-off. OTOH, given that adults are usually the ones buying the books, you don’t want the protagonist to look too old for the intended audience
A very hard balance to strike.
The first cover made me think instantly towards horror.
The second is more sci-fi. I liked the boy’s expression better in the first cover.
Perhaps you could move boy from cover two into cover one.
The creatures/tentacles in the first cover do have a horror vibe. I think the overall darkness of the cover, and the number of creatures/appendages plays a role.
The one that pulls away from the boy and shows more of the boy and the dragon reads more like adventure, reads older boy. That’s your target audience.
But aren’t they both just great?
The bottom one makes it clear that this is SF. The top one looks like a fantasy cover.
I agree.
Definitely prefer the first cover, Dave. It focuses our attention on the boy and the dragon. For me, the second cover simply puts the boy and dragon in the foreground, but there’s a lot of other things going on. I’d probably buy either one, as a Heinlein and Schmidt fan, but I think the first one hits harder.
The covers are stunning, I like them both. I’m in between on which to choose. I like the first cover, but the boy looks to me to be almost too knowing, kinda creepy even. To me it doesn’t say “fun and adventure of boys learning to be men”. Which I would buy, by the way. To me it says “boy on the right path gets subverted into Slytherin”.
The second looks too innocent/childlike to me.
Is there an in-between? If not, I’d probably go with the first one.
They both have hand proportion issues, the first one being more pronounced. My oldest nephews are out of the target demographic, but if I were buying this for one of the younger nephews, I might go with the second cover just because their parents tend to tolerate scifi better than fantasy. First one does look more exciting though and makes a better backdrop for the text treatment.
In both of them, there’s forced perspective to bring the dragon closer to the viewer and proportionally larger by doing so. The hand thrust into the plane of the viewpoint makes it look larger.
The first signals fantasy/Horror, the second SF. The first is definitely more dramatic, but is it false advertising?
Also, is the apparently age of the kid correct?
12
The first one says “dark fantasy” to me. That I should be expecting fire breathing dragons, monsters, and probably sorcery.
The second one says “juvenile SF” with alien worlds and space ships. I’d probably go with this one, but maybe mute the colors just a tiny bit.
I think more bright/dark contrast would help
ah okay.
The background of the first objectively says fantasy while the background of the second says SF, but the boy in the first says Ender’s Game while the boy in the second says Miazaki innocence.
Even if there is genre vagueness in the first cover, I think it does a much better job of speaking to your target audience. I would be much more likely to buy the first cover, if I was in the mood for the kinds of story you describe.
The first one looks like “there is a dark secret, probably one of the kids dies, likely for no good reason but I don’t see an award stamp maybe not.”
The second one looks like “boy with cool pet, adventures will be had.”
🙂 I have the award stamp. NO kid dies.
Family feedback from myself and my two older teenagers (>5 years older than the target):
My son and I find the first cover more enticing.
My daughter strongly prefers the first cover.
I will buy either one but I prefer the second with the space ship in the background.
The first cover is for a sci-fi horror novel involving children.
The second is for a “Boy and his dragon” sci-fantasy story.
I’m fonder of the first one, but I’m also that person who always chooses “Dark Mode” on websites that give me the choice.
Returning because I figured out the difference: Boy #1 looks *aspirational*; target-age boys will want to be him. Boy #2 looks sweet; the boys’ moms will want their son to be HIM. 🙂
Sorry to be late chiming in.
I think the boy should be looking at the dragon, not through the fourth wall.Then his expression could be delight, or confusion, or consternation.
As it is, he’s looking at ME. I don’t know this kid’s situation, I’m not going have good advice.