So I’m considering changing the title and cover for WHISKEY.
Truth be told, I like the cover and the title as it is… but I’m concerned it isn’t “connected” enough to HOOD so that the casual observer who sees it will recognize that it’s the sequel.
Maybe I’m overthinking things. But I’ve been toying around with covers to satisfy my meandering mind. Arguably, I’m not a digital design artist so my skills are pretty damn limited…
But I need some input from you, the reader/casual observer. Please let me know your thoughts on this matter…
Here’s the original cover:
And here’s the new one I’ve been playing with:
So, what do you think? Do you prefer the old one or the new one? Perhaps a mix of both? What do you think of the potential title change? Or the change of coloration to be more like HOOD?
Truth be told, things like title, cover art… these are just marketing tools. And I want BOOK 2 to feel as much like a spiritual successor to HOOD as possible.
Thanks peeps,
Evan Pickering
Evan Pickering - Author 
Sorry, neither. The original cover is weak because blue is a quiet, unforceful color, and the scenic is blah. The second is worse in two ways. The pistol doesn’t fit the story. The new title — whoever read Hood knows who Whiskey is, but “Legend” is just a meaningless word that doesn’t convey anything. If you weren’t committed to numbering the books, I’d use “The Legend Continues”, which links it to Hood. Or “Book Two, The Legend Continues”
Incidentally, your website is screwed up. I’m commenting from the WP Reader page, because the comment box doesn’t respond. Also, your menu at the top right isn’t working, and the “Subscribe” banner hangs over the middle of the page. I’m on a Mac, which might have something to do with it. Sometimes site changes don’t work well with Macs.
I rather like the blue cover. One of the reasons I think you should keep it blue is that if this is a planned trilogy, using the primary colors for each cover would be a cool thing. Next one could be red for example.
I like the title “Whiskey” as it gives it commonality with the the title of the first book. I’d like to see the titles of following books to be character’s names.\
I like the font size of “Stay Awake Stay Alive” in the original. I think it’s too small in the second one.
The firearm on Hood is laying on the ground. That makes sense. It doesn’t really make sense having one on the water as the first thing I think is “guns don’t float”.
Maybe a firearm laying on a broken piece of floating lumber? Maybe a whiskey bottle? I dunno, but if there was a way to get that image on there without it looking like it’s just sitting in the water.
So, I guess my opinion is that I really like the original cover. It would be cool to have the firearm, but I’m just not sure how that would be done.
New title with previous color palette.
Looks like someone is stealing you book cover ideas . . . or does water/mountains play a roll in post-apoc novels?
See this image
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Thanks for your feedback everybody… I’m playing around with it, trying to find some sort of happy balance while making the two books feel more connected