StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So as a prequel to what my book is about... As a kid I came up with a great idea for an MMORPG and I named it Drylor. As I grew up I realized that was a pipe dream, so I decided to use the binders of information and maps I made for the world of Drylor for a book, 9 books in fact. This is the start of a new legacy.

It’s not a short story but an actual novel that I wrote myself. It is about a man that suffers amnesia and struggles to regain his memory throughout the story. As he does, he realizes that his brother has become corrupted and is on team Jacob, which of course he just can’t stand for since he loves Edward. (No, really I’m just kidding)

Back to being serious, Throughout the book, the main character, Von slowly gathers his memory back and makes it his mission in life to end his brother’s heartless massacres and stop him from destroying the world of Drylor.

If I have perked your interests here is what the back of the book says and also a picture of the front cover!



When a man wakes up inside a cage that is being carried through
an underground city, he has no idea where he is or what has
happened to him. As Von, a victim of amnesia, is taken to a jail
cell to await his fate amongst elves, humans, dwarfs, gnomes, and
halflings, he is told he is a member of the Royal Guard of Genisus.
It is not long before he is transported to the palace where he
meets an impatient king who eventually returns him to his jail
cell while deciding his destiny.

As Von’s memory slowly returns, he discovers that he is the only
one who can protect Drylor—a world that abandoned him—
from its greatest evil, his own brother. Through his journey to the
truth, Von meets an unlikely group of friends who are willing
to sacrifice everything to help him stop his brother Scarlet
from annihilating the only world they have ever known.

As Von’s past becomes clear and reveals his future, he soon
realizes the only way he can end his brother’s heartless
massacres is to find him and kill him.

What do you guys think? Does it sound interesting to you, if you picked it up in a store, read the back and seen the cover would you be more prone to buying it or would you just put it back down?

Not a topic for AMP.

I guess you're planning to self-publish? If you have a publisher, or are trying to get one, you don't need to worry about this stuff very much. Publishers usually are in charge of cover design, and they have the right to be: it's their money that's being risked on the book, so they get to tell you to shove off and bring in their own people to handle the cover art, back blurb, and selection of reviews.

Unless you have already written book two and are committed to going to the effort and expense of turning it into a product that people can buy, you probably ought not to put "book one" on your front cover. That way, if the sequel never happens, people won't think you're an idiot for writing "book one" of a series with only one book.

The cover design is okay, but the quality is poor. Antialias that text, and make sure you're working at 300 dpi (the resolution of a good printed picture) and whatever dimensions you're going to be self-publishing the book with.

Pictures are good, although not strictly necessary. You can go a long way with stock images and photoshop (look at the Twilight books you referenced for examples of some truly fantastic cover design with only simple pictures), or find a semi-pro artist in your town or online and commission a simple but attractive image.

The back blurb is bad. For one - it wouldn't fit on the back of a book! I'm guessing that you're planning on going after the pulpy paperback market. You have about three to six sentences to work with. In them you must introduce premise - which includes the setting if you're writing any kind of fantasy novel; the main character; and the hook: "what it's all about". They should come in that order, or close to it. The plot is not needed, except insofar as those three factors define it (which is pretty far). Three sentences makes a catchy, punchy blurb that ; six is rich in information that tries to get the reader invested in the story. The rest of the back-of-book is for recommendations, maybe a catchphrase, the barcode and suggested retail price, and the always-important negative space.