Your Opinion, Ron Miller? (and others)

Well, yeah, I am afraid that you are right. It is pretty simple. There is nothing wrong with simplicity...after all, I have often preached that "less is more" is a very important thing to remember when designing a cover. But there does come a point when less becomes a bore. A book cover is like a miniature poster...or, perhaps an even better simile, like the label on a can of peas or box of breakfast cereal. It needs to attract attention from among a crowd of similar products and it needs to inform the potential purchaser something significant about the contents. I am not too sure that this design accomplishes these things.

A starkly B&W cover is perfectly OK...but the equally stark symmetry is a little off-putting. Symmetry by its very nature is balanced and safe...and consequently uninvolving and unexciting. Asymmetry suggests something going on, something about to happen: action.

Your cover also needs to convey something meaningful about the book itself: its story, ideas or themes. Other than a vague suggestion of fantasy, that is about all that the present design accomplishes...and that is much too broad. The cover should go beyond suggesting the general genre of the book and say something specific about it: what sets it apart from the thousands of other fantasy novels out there?

Here, for example, is an equally simple, stylized cover (there are only three colors: red. blue and black). An asymmetric design was used, along with strong shapes, to suggest something about the nature of the story, even if not illustrating anything specific that takes place. (In other words, it is symbolic of the book's theme rather than a literal depiction of anything that occurs.)




Something to perhaps experiment with might be making the heart a solid red shape with the dragon and sword reversed out in white---then enlarged and placed off-center, with the title, tagline and your name also staggered above and below. There may be room to make the title a little larger and in two lines...that would add visual interest as well. (And no need to be so shy about your name! You could make that larger, too!) Finally, browse around a little and see if you might find a more suggestive typeface, one that might be more evocative of the nature of your story.

But even with all that said, I am not sure that the shield is informative enough all on its own. I think you either need an additional visual element or a different one entirely, so that the potential reader takes away some idea of what your book is about.

Thank you both for your input!
I'll be revisiting that project for a 2nd edition in the near future and I will take you suggestions to heart!
I'm new at this.