Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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Which Science Fiction Covers are Best? Win a Free Ebook!
December 27th, 2011
I’m getting ready to get into the ebook thing for real. I mean, I’ve been in it a long time by internet standards, with the release of Star Dragon as a free ebook back in 2005 as a marketing experiment. I’ve gotten many tens of thousands of downloads…maybe more than a hundred thousand. I’d have to check. That didn’t translate into paperback sales (seems like it’s one or the other these days, and increasingly electronic only). Spider Star was late being delivered (thanks to a divorce, among other things like an astronomy career) and was never even released in paperback thanks to the economic crisis in 2008-2009.
In any event, Tor never bought the electronic rights to either book. I’ve watched my friends with backlists in the past year publish ebook versions and have decent sales. I always wanted wider distribution, for Spider Star especially. And I’m writing a new book in 2012 finally (no, really!) and while Tor has the right of first refusal, if the ebook thing steams ahead as it seems to be doing, that’s an increasingly viable option if my publisher passes.
In any event, it all gives me the excuse to experiment and get visually creative and learn some new software. Below I have some mock-ups of three possible new covers for Star Dragon and four for Spider Star. I would love your feedback about which basic designs work best for you and are most enticing. I’d especially love to hear from you if you’ve read one or both books, as you know what’s actually in the stories. After I get feedback, I’ll finalize covers and make some final versions, probably with more detail and a few extras (e.g., blurbs). So please, tell me what you think and feel welcome to be constructive. I’m still learning how to do this (I have a strong art background but not a design background).
Spider Star:
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
Star Dragon:
1. 
2. 
3. 
Please leave comments about which designs you like best and any suggestions for improvements. I don’t think cover art is as important for ebooks as it is for published books sitting on bookstore shelves, and a good ebook cover may differ from a good traditional cover in some ways (e.g. readable text as thumbnails, simpler color schemes and patterns), but it’s not to be neglected.
Ignore the watermarks, and source text. After I make some choices I’ll buy the necessary stock art in high quality.
Please, comment. I’ll send a free ebook of Spider Star to the commenter(s) I find most valuable when creating the final covers.
Thanks! I really appreciate it.
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December 27th, 2011 at 6:46 am
With no modifications I like #1 for Spider Star and #3 for Star Dragon.
If you remove the yellow background from the text on Start Dragon #1 then it would be in the running, along with #3.
December 27th, 2011 at 8:37 am
Having not (yet!) read the books (and with the full realization that in e-books, the cover may matter less) my feeling is that for Spider Star, #1 tells s story. There’s a ship (carrying the characters, I presume) traveling to this star. The others, not so much. I do think #2 is very cool looking, #3 is pretty but it’s hard for me to figure out where to look (though that may be the point), #4 is lovely in its simplicity, but there’s no story (other than an apparent supernova going off?)
For Star Dragon, I love the artwork, but the top title field looks like a 1950′s sci-fi book cover
What if the title were incorporated into the artwork itself? Anyway, it’s telling a story here – something involving a Type Ia supernova and also suggests that this is a story based on astrophysics (my favorite kind)
Star Dragon #2: I like the way the binary system is framed by the title author name. The overlay of the dragon is very cool.
Star Dragon #3: This is just damn cool. I like all of them but this one is my favorite because it tells me there’s going to be some hard SF here but also some cool stuff and adventure. It’s got my vote.
December 27th, 2011 at 8:51 am
OK – here’s my two cents. I like the backgrounds of Spider Star (1) and Star Dragon (3). I find the visuals the most interesting and the darker background allows the title, etc. to pop. I would, however, consider a sans serif type to increase the weight of the type. You mentioned being able to read these at thumbnail size, and the heavier type would help with this.
December 27th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Spider Star – you haven’t alloted this a/w as a choice, but you’ve still shown it on your page all the same. It is on the right side near the top listed under “Projects” – Spider {w/your name in between words} Star. My eyes immediately were drawn to that picture before I even realized that it was not a given choice.
I don’t really care for any of the Star Dragon covers…sorry.
December 27th, 2011 at 10:39 am
The graphics for Spider Star #1 and Star Dragon #3 are best, but your font choices are atrocious the whole way through. May I suggest:
1. Consistency across the ebook covers
2. May I suggest a heavy sans-serif, perhaps something a little futuristic, such as ITC Oficina Sans Extra Bold (http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.htm?productid=320486) or Francker Condensed Bold (http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.htm?productid=901388) ? There are similar fonts available for free, as well.
3. White (or, here, black) space is important. Give your art a little frame to breathe in. For ebooks, the title and author name are already available to the reader in several places — the art should be able to set the mood.
December 27th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Like the abstract for Spider Star. It caught my eye immediately. I think the field potentials (right phrase) gave it a theoretical look that was cool.
December 27th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
I liked the abstract look for Spider Star. It caught my eye immediately. The field potential (right phrase?) gave it a theoretical look.
I think one of your commenters mentioned that the space ship nearing a star introduced a story. My first thought was that it has been done before but there is a reason for it.
I have to agree with the comment about the retro page looking 1950. Maybe ok for art work but may turn off a casual browser.
December 27th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for the feedback so far, and please keep it coming. I know which concepts are out now, and I really appreciate the comments about fonts. I know a lot about visual art, but not fonts.
The retro yellow cover for Star Dragon was intentional, but I guess there’s not as much nostalgia for the golden age as I thought there could be.
Think I’m going to try a version of Star Dragon number three in blue as well and see how that strikes me.
Some private feedback from a couple of other well informed friends (thanks Jer, Ovjind!) was in favor of Spider Star 1, and Star Dragon 3 and 1 (minus the yellow border).
Except for the major software frustrations, it’s been fun so far.
December 27th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
#1, #3. If you could have worked a dragon into the red start in #1 for Star Dragon that’d be cool as well.
Good luck!
December 27th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Mike,
For Spider Star, #1 wins hands down. The art work is engaging and give you a better basis for seeing the story in your head as you read it. The other too are too plain and amateurish looking for your work.
For Star dragon, I would go with #1, but also, like someone said before, lose the yellow. Yech. Looks too much like what I used to find in diapers!
Good luck with the e-booking!
December 28th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
I like the first one in Spider Star, and none of Star Dragon.
Actually, I like the first of Star Dragon, but I despise that yellowish stripe in the top, where the title is.
Btw, I hope you next book doesnt have the word STAR in it
December 28th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
nor any animal.
December 28th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
btw, cool thing you like Settlers of Catan. I just bought the boad game (released here in Brazil only now by local board games publisher GROW)
before that, I had played it a lot on my cell phone.
December 29th, 2011 at 3:41 am
Aces (Rogerio), no, the next novel title does NOT include the word “star” or any animal name. It seemed like a good idea at the time…
Yeah, Settlers is fun, but also sometimes frustrating given the randomness of the cards/dice.
December 29th, 2011 at 9:42 am
haha, I was kidding about the “star+animal name” thing.
how difficult is to decide the title of a book, compared to writing it? It seems to me the title is more about marketing than writing.
December 29th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
I have only read star dragon so I will only comment on its cover.
I don’t think that any of the covers do it justice.
I would like to see a graphic that shows the dragon in situ – in the accretion disk rather than as a tacked on layer. Harder to do visually of course, but ‘if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly’
December 29th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
I have not yet read either of your works, although I am eager to read both of them. I have just downloaded Star Dragon, it sounds really great. Thanks so much for sharing it with a new group of readers for free!
I like the first cover of Spider Star and the first (and maybe third) cover of Star Dragon. Again, this comes from the point of view of not yet having read either book. #1 for Spider Star just plain makes me think “hard sci-fi” when I see it, while the other three do not. Same with #1 of Star Dragon; #2 and #3 put me more in mind of fantasy works (which I also love, but which don’t seem to go with your whole “hard sci-fi” theme!). It’s tough with #3 because I agree with someone else that it’s a super cool image! The dragon made of fire is just awesome. But again… doesn’t seem to quite match the description of the book, for me at least.
FWIW, I also completely agree with others who have commented about font – I would strongly advise you use sans serif, as the serif fonts are just heavy and old-fashioned and, dare I say it…academic!
To be honest, I read a lot of e-books, and have downloaded a zillion free ones (so I’ve looked at a LOT of covers), and when I see a serif font it makes me cringe and, rightly or wrongly, sometimes even discount the book. Also agree with others who have stated that #1 of Star Dragon would look better without the yellowish stripe at the top. Maybe make your font that same color so it stands out against the dark background? Lastly, I agree with the note that consistency across the two books (and the third, when you’re finished) could really help you in selling the e-books. Like with any work product, having a “branded” look makes it that much easier for a reader to pick your book cover out of so many thumbnail images! (For one example that I just noted yesterday, go to Amazon.com and search for “True Detective” by Max Allan Collins; once you’re on the book page, scroll down to the section “Customers who bought this book also bought…” and you’ll see a group of five or so other of his novels, each of which is evocative of the other and thus becomes clearly identifiable as one of the books he’s been writing for 30 years or so. In my opinion this works even were this not a related series about one character.)
Oh, and here’s the final point I’ll make – while cover art may be *somewhat* less important for e-books, I know that I still rely heavily on those thumbnail images on Amazon in determining in that split second whether or not I will even click on a book! And if you go look up some obviously self-published e-books there, and read some of the reviews that have been left, you’ll hear a fair amount of times something like, “I originally looked into the book because of the cover” or “the beauty of the cover art just really drew me to (or led me to download) the book.” You’ll also hear from other reviewers who comment that they thought the story was great “despite” the atrocious cover art, or that they almost didn’t even read the book because of the amateurish cover, etc. So I’d just recommend keeping that in mind!
Thanks again, and I’m looking forward to reading Star Dragon soon!
December 30th, 2011 at 12:17 am
Thanks for all the additional comments. It gives me a pretty clear idea of what directions to go in. I don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to invest in the art, and I want to learn to do it myself. I have a strong background in drawing and painting, and eventually I’d like to try some cover art for myself, although I don’t want to put it out if it isn’t high enough quality. The fonts…yeah, I need to learn about this. Going to try some special effects with them and see if I can get something better integrated.
Frank — I’d love to see that cover, too, and think I might be able to paint that. Wish I had the time.
January 2nd, 2012 at 2:52 am
For Spider Star I like Number 4′s simplicity. It’ll be better with the edition of the ship from #1. It gives a feeling about characters.
For Star Dragon hands down #3. It fits the story and dragon’s nature. The star falling into the other star may require a little bit tweaking to make it not to look like a balloon.
As for ebook covers, I think the simpler is better. I have a Nook touch so no color screen. Then the images need to attract me on computer screen to buy the book but should be visible in grey scale that I can make out the shapes on e-ink screen.
January 6th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Well, I’m going to agree with everyone about Spider Star #1, and the typography comments in general (no need to re-hash).
For Star Dragon, I really like the cover design of option #2. I like the stylized dragon. I do wish 2 things in this design:
I wish the dragon & outline was more ‘transparent’; in that the ‘background’ stars were more visible.
The background seems a little faded/not very eye-catching–probably a deliberate choice. If there was an easy way to see, say, #1′s cover artwork as the background with #2′s dragon outline superimposed as a transparency (making it both an overlay diagram and something more of the background) I think you’d have a cover I’d really like.
Leave it to you and others if it would be a cover that would be truly effective.
Respectfully,
Steve