Hi all,

These are the front and back covers for the first in a series of children's horror novels I'm writing and self-publishing. I did these in Inkscape, of course. Any feedback?






Thanks for looking,
Matt

The images look great. Only comment is that online should probably be one word or hyphenated.

Thanks, llogg.

As for on line vs. online/on-line:

The online/on-line version is an adjective, as in "browse our online catalog." Here, I'm using the term as a prepositional phrase, so it's two words. "I'll meet you on line" is structurally equivalent to saying "I'll meet you at school."

Thanks again,

Matt

As a former editor I disagree with your grammar. You are using the term as an adverb to describe the "where" of an action. The correct form is "online". If you are, in fact, intending it as a prepositional phrase on what specific line are readers to visit?

Yeah, this is one of those disputes you see sometimes on grammar forums. It would be a waste of time for both of us to rehash it here and I'm not really trying to start an argument, so I'll just make these points in defense of sticking with "on line":

1) "Line" in this context pretty clearly means the internet.

2) Yes, the phrase functions as an adverb. Prepositional phrases often do, as I'm sure you know.

3) In any event, the meaning is clear and if some readers are expecting it to be one word, then I'm okay with that in this case. If nothing else, maybe it'll help them remember what they read.

Thanks again for the input,

Matt

I'll agree to disagree, but I have never come across a single instance of the internet being referred to as "line", "a line", "the line", or any other type of line except "online". I suppose there's a first time for everything.

To get this back on track, your artwork really is top-notch. Only crit I would have is that the ellipsis on the cauldron gets lost among the sparks down there.

Working as a web developer, our industry would always refer to "online" as the Internet, never "on line". "Online" is obviously a misuse of the word, since it is indeed an adjective, but when people say "I'm going online", or ask "is your computer online", most of the time they are talking about the status of your connection to the Internet. So it's "online" that we use in reference to the Internet.

That aside, I think the cover design is great. Love the lighting and colours. The only thing that stood out is the font used for "You can't win...". It's a small thing, but the font type seems out of place.

llogg wrote:I'll agree to disagree, but I have never come across a single instance of the internet being referred to as "line", "a line", "the line", or any other type of line except "online". I suppose there's a first time for everything.
[...]

Yea, if anything it should be "on the tubes".

The illustrations look very nice.

Just a quick post to thank everyone for the feedback. I've ordered some test prints at the local printer to iron out some technical issues. I'll factor in your comments on the next round of tests, probably tomorrow. Heck, after thinking about it from a marketing perspective, I may even relent on my dislike of the adverb form of "online."

I'll come back later with more. Right now, though, I have to be "atwork."

Thanks again,

Matt

Isn't online redundant anyway? Isn't it simpler to write, "Visit me for more scary fun at blahblah.com." It's like saying, "Call me on the telephone at (000) 123-4567." Obviously. You see what I mean?

D'oh! Yeah, you really don't need it. I did rewrite that part and, after making some other changes to deal with bounding box issues I was having with gradients when printed, I've now uploaded the files to Amazon for proofing. The last round of test prints at the local printer looked really nice. If everything works out with the finished product, I'm planning to write a short guide on using Inkscape to produce book covers for the Amazon POD service. That way, maybe some other poor soul won't have to reinvent the wheel.

The images in this thread may disappear soon as I'll be developing the website that'll go with the books. So, for any future Inkscapers who happen on this thread and may be wondering what this was all about, you'll eventually (about 2-3 weeks from now) be able to see the book cover at its Amazon page. Just go there and search for the book's title and know that the cover was made entirely in Inkscape.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

Matt

I got the first proof back from the printer and the cover turned out really nice! This is just a crappy cell phone picture and doesn't do the colors justice, but maybe you can get a sense of how it turned out. The exterior was made 100% in Inkscape - including conversion to pdf. The interior was done with OpenOffice writer, so the whole project was made with open source software.

Thanks once more for the feedback,

Matt

Cool stuff. Congratulations.

That is highly impressive!

I think that my two favorite words are "Open Source." I of course tell everyone I know, but it still seems to me that most of the world out there has no clue. They are still out there buying their overpriced software without any idea how much money they could be saving.

It really takes the pressure off of you on any project that you do to realize that you have nothing but a time investment involved. Time is expensive enough for me!

Once again, great job on the book!

Great job, good luck with the second version (A)

This witch looks like Gruntilda, from Banjo & kazooie :