Help me choose, please! :-)

[Cudedog]

I also like #2 without the boy, but I would like to see a very small house way in the distance--sort of in the open. Maybe riding on the edge of the woods, but with an opening on one side indicating he is leaving a ranch????

Judy, I love your suggestions! I could (I think!) create this kind of image with the photos I already have (I would not need to purchase any additional photos). I could create an opening in the trees as you suggest, use the house photo that is the illustration on the first page of the first chapter in the book, only made very small.

I like this! I'll "rough it out" in PhotoShop and post it later, as soon as I can get to it.

Question: with just the rider in the foreground, and the house in the background, and without the boy - what do you think would be the best way to indicate that this is a children's book at first glance?

On Amazon, one has about three seconds (or less!) to catch the attention of someone searching and browsing thumbnail images of books to purchase. To put in a statement something like "this is a children's book" takes up way too many ad words (book "ads" on Amazon are limited to only about 15 words). So instead of making this statement, I am letting my cover image make the statement instead.

I have looked at hundreds of children's book covers during the course of my research, and the great majority of them include the image of a child. How to leave the boy image out, and still convey that this is a children's book, in seconds of time, is a bit of a conundrum!!

Thanks!

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

I think #3 is a little dark and not as interesting as #2 to me. The boy looks like he is photo bombing the picture of the cowboy. If there was a more subtle way to put him on there and not take away the attention on the cowboy scene might be better. Hope that helps.

[Cudedog]

It's a children's book so am thinking that a child is needed and I like #2 ... is it possible to dream like the winter scene with a new version of the boy? I am totally now sure of how to get across what I am thinking... we all know that rarely do the cover tell you much about the book however when it's way of I always wonder if they even read the book before doing the cover... that said I keep forgetting to get the book..meant to when you came out with it...
sheila

Thanks, Sheila!! If I am understanding you correctly, yes I think it is possible for me to create a "dream scene" indicating that the boy is "dreaming" or "remembering" the rider (this is what I was going for in the original cover, but it seems that I have missed my mark ).

I would ask you this, too (since nearly everyone has also mentioned it) what is it about the boy that you find not "just right"? Is it the boy himself? The way he is dressed (I was trying for a "sweater look") the difference in color value between the boy and the rider? Can you put your finger on it, or is it just intuitive for you?

Also, Sheila - check your PM's.

Thanks again!

Anne

[Cudedog]

I think #3 is a little dark and not as interesting as #2 to me. The boy looks like he is photo bombing the picture of the cowboy. If there was a more subtle way to put him on there and not take away the attention on the cowboy scene might be better. Hope that helps.

Barbie, thank you very much for this comment, and also for your earlier one.

I agree that #3 is too dark. I think you are spot-on on that assessment. I actually tried to lighten it, but changing the contrast also seemed to cause detail loss.

I like your suggestion of a more subtle way to put him there, without taking attention from the cowboy scene. I will need to mull that one over for a while. Is it the size of the boy photo in relation to the cowboy? The difference in color value? The boy himself? Any further suggestions appreciated. Thanks!!

Anne

[Cudedog]

Ok, as promised, here is the photo of a cowboy that would be *perfect* for my book cover, but I can't use it!! Dang, this photo make my heart pound!!



(I have not taken the photo in order to show it here - this is the actual link to the photo to where it "lives" on the web, as part of the website below). Here is the actual URL:

https://getawayimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000f8NgmZ.xNjc

The story is this: I found this image by doing a Google search of "Snow Cowboy". The picture fairly jumped out at me!! I tracked down the photographer - turns out that it is a woman photographer that lives in Australia, and came to the U.S. on a trip to Wyoming several years ago. During this trip a group of photographers booked a winter (paid) trip to a ranch there, the sole purpose being to be able to take photos of winter cowboys!

By dint of careful searching (I am persistent in finding what I want!) I located her email address, and wrote to her asking if she would sell a license to this photo so that I could use it in a book cover. I was very pleased that she took the time to write back - and disappointed that she declined. She stated that she isn't so much into photography any more (did not give specific reasons, and I did not ask) and that she only seels the photo as an "art print". I thanked her, and complimented her on her talent - and now back to the search!

This is really a sweet photo, though, isn't it? Photos as good as this one are extremely hard to find.

Now, off to try a PhotoShop of Judy's suggestions!

Thanks again, everyone! Appreciate all of your input, still hoping for more.

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

He just looked too photo-shopped and didn't fit in with the cowboy pic. Maybe a different boy with more subtle hair color and clothes and not so large in the photo? (actually I thought it was a girl!). Maybe you could try to get a young person's perspective on it. Maybe it would be more OK with the audience you are going for than a picky old lady!

[Bethers]

The boy's look is unisex. The hair color looks totally fake. The makeup, or appearance of makeup, made me wonder why a girl was on the cover when the story is about a boy I overall dislike almost everything about the "boys" picture.I also feel his image is too big for the rest. That I might get around if it was a different image. Nothing about that boy made me think of farmer or ranch.

Hope that helps. Just my two cents.

[Bethers]

I know this is a copywrited image, but it's more fitting to me (with just a quick look at images).

[JudyJB]

How about a very small boy, so small you cannot see features, way back by the house??

Another option: I like the boy leaning on the fence. Could you find a similar drawing or have someone drawing a boy hanging on a fence? Don't think you really need snow if the cowboy is dressed so warmly. What about a house in the background, with a boy looking in the distance leaning on a fence, dressed up very warmly?? Maybe a couple of trees without leaves on a plains scene to indicate winter but without snow?? You really don't need the cowboy and horse at all, do you? After all, did he exist or not???

One thing that would do is make people wonder if the boy was Christmas Jones or who he was.

I also think the boy looks fake because of the hair color and facial features.

Wish I were an artist so I could draw this for you, but I am terribly un-artistic!!

[BarbaraRose]

I know this is a copywrited image, but it's more fitting to me (with just a quick look at images).

Beth, I agree and also pm'd her some similar photos.

I hope all this is taken as constructive criticism, Anne!

[BirdbyBird]

I like the option of using a drawing maybe rather than a photo. But I love the suggestiveness that drawings and water color illustrations can imply but also understand unless you have a connection to talent that suggestion is so helpful. As others have mentioned and you probably already suspect from the question you keep asking. Yes the contrast between the color used in the photo just created something "jaring" to my eyes and was translated as not quite right. The child's face just doesn't seem enough like a young boys to me. The hair color and style didn't help.

If I remember right the cowboy was gone before the boy knew it but a picture of a child watching a cowboy riding off in the distance might still work. The story tells how the boy watched everything he did.......

**On a some what related note, the Wyoming dude ranch I visited several years ago (Cowgirl Up) week had similar activities for photographers. One afternoon the local photographer's club came out with their big honk'in cameras and set them up in the middle of the large grassy pasture. The cowboys and cowgirls, dressed out in the kerchiefs and chaps spent a chunk of the afternoon running a herd of horses past the photographers.... Several of us enjoyed watching the show from the side lines and came away with our own pictures.

Taking pictures of good looking cowboys (and horses) is a real thing!







Maybe you can take the cost of the trip to the dude ranch off our taxes as a work expense? The cowboys were all suitable eye candy/hunks but I appreciated that the head rangler was a young woman in her mid twenties....

[Shirlv]

Anne, maybe Bronc would be interested in modeling for your cover. He sure is handsome enough.

[Cudedog]

Thanks Beth and Barbie for your help.

Beth, where did you find that photo? Was it on one of the stock image places (that sell images), or was it a photo randomly on the web? I tried looking for it, couldn't find it.

There are a great many stock image places where one can purchase images on the web. The problem being is that on many - if not most - of them, the images are quite expensive. How expensive? From about $100.00 - $350.00 per image - for a single image. These images also often also have a limited-time license that the image can be used - often around 2 - 3 years, then one needs to purchase the image license again.

These kinds of prices are kind of out of my league with what I am trying to do.

Also, many of these places do not state on their website where they are located (what country), nor to they state what kind of license is being granted, and if a model release is on file. It's just pretty much "click here and pay" without any guarantees that one is purchasing is a legal image. Many of these online stock image companies are located in China (and you can't tell this by looking at their websites), and they get their images just by surfing around the web and grabbing them where ever they might find them.

Shutterstock is a well-known image company, with a good reputation. They are located in New York city, and their prices are affordable, although their images are somewhat limited. Also they have a clearly-stated policy about things like model releases on file and etc. So they are an economical and "safe" place to purchase images from.

Tina and Judy, I like the thought of using a drawing as well, but since I am not a graphic artist, the problems are the same trying to find a royalty-free drawing as with trying to find a royalty-free photo.

Well, off again to the hunt. If anyone would like to make further comments, I am all ears!

Just for fun, here is the original image of the boy from Shutterstock (sorry the image is large, I am just linking to it, I am not posting it):

(and, no, I didn't try for any "make-up effect").



Thanks, everyone!!

Anne

[Cudedog]

After all, did he exist or not???

LOL. I actually get asked that question quite a bit.

Anne

[Cudedog]

Anne, maybe Bronc would be interested in modeling for your cover. He sure is handsome enough.

Sounds awesome, Shirl. How old is Bronc now? Thanks!

Anne