telophase | (no subject)

Comment from covercritics.com, saving here so I can find it again at need.

https://covercritics.com/?p=2443

You’re falling into the trap that a lot of self-published authors do, which is “I have this great art! I can’t cover it with text!” As a result, you treat your title and byline as unimportant information, when they are very important. It’s coming across as apologetic.

Take a look at other books in the same genre. Many of them have the title smack dab on top of the artwork. Others have it on top or below, but in all cases it’s noticeable. Also note the relative subtlety of text effects: many titles are in a flat color, quite often white, and if there’s a text effect it’s usually an outline or a drop shadow, to make the text stand out.

The ones that have (successful) text effects are pulling something out from the artwork: a grungy dystopian artwork has a grungy text effect on part of the letters (not applied evenly!), or there’s a gentle beveling on the title that takes colors from the sunlight effect behind the hills and whose light and shadow follows the direction of light on the cover.

This dramatic text effect on the title pulls exactly from the artwork and was designed in conjunction with the art: it’s part of a compositional triangle made of the blue aura and tattoo on the male figure, the blue reflection on the female figure’s face, and the title.

For your book, since the artwork is so bright and so stark, I’d do something like this: https://i.imgur.com/urFSPG2.jpg

Simple font that’s taller than it is wide, done in plain white with a bit of a glow and a thin outline to make it stand out against the white bits of the painting. Title BIG, so it’s visible and important. Move the picture up a bit to center it.