My Survey of Readers’ Opinions on Styles for Book Covers

 

Earlier this month, I asked my newsletter subscribers to vote about their preferences for book covers for epic fantasy stories. Most epic fantasies have people/characters on the covers. Some stories have landscapes or scenes without people. Other books like Game of Thrones have more abstract images.

I offered three options for books covers and gave the examples shown in the header image.

 

Survey Question:

What type of book cover do you prefer?

A.            A picture with one or more characters in the story.

B.            A landscape, castle or cityscape from the story.

C.            An abstract symbol such as the ring in Lord of the Rings.

 

Survey results:

176 people voted on the question about style of book cover.

35.2% voted for a picture of one or more characters.

49.4% voted for landscapes, castles or citiscapes from the story.

15.3% voted for an abstract design.

The landscape style of cover image had the most votes (almost half of all votes). The abstract symbolic design had the fewest votes.

The results of this survey suggest that I should change the cover on my new epic fantasy to a landscape or setting from the story and omit pictures of the characters. The current cover is shown below.

 

Bridget Bramble and the Wandering Elf

Fantasy romance. A young witch flees the destruction of her home to seek the fabled land where elves and humans live in peace.

In a land threatened by cruel invaders from the east, Bridget Bramble barters medicinal herbs and buttons for a living. When marauders target her village and murder her family, she flees into the woods. Armed with her Granny’s advice and a bag of magic buttons, she sets out on the perilous journey to Oakenwald, the fabled land where elves and men live in harmony. On her travels, she encounters malicious creatures from the worst kind of folktale.

Lost in the foothills of the mountains, Bridget meets the elf, Windswift the Wanderer. He offers to guide her across the mountain range. But what is the elf doing in human lands? Can an ordinary, or almost ordinary, human girl trust a cold hearted elf to lead her to safety? 

99c at Amazon   iBooks   B&N   Kobo  GooglePlay   Other