That Vision Thing

Or Why I didn’t Choose the Cover on the Left

Like all self-published authors, I went through multiple options before finally choosing my cover art. I thought about the public domain, and even tried a couple of public domain images on my first two novels.

When it came to Doc Vandal, that didn’t work. I wanted something better than I could get by slapping some new text over an old painting. You can see my first attempt to commission a cover for Against the Eldest Flame on the top left.

If you look at it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it as an image. A photorealistic Zeppelin is coming out of the clouds; title and author are right there and it’s even identified as a Doc Vandal adventure. It’s also static and boring. It’s a generic cover and basically just sits there.

Perhaps more importantly, nothing about it says “Pulp Adventure!”

Now look at the second cover, the one on the right. What can only be described as a main battle Zeppelin is flying out from an exploding volcano. It has action, it has bright primary colors. Most importantly, it’s done in a retro art style that calls back to the pulps.

There’s nothing photorealistic about it, and that’s deliberate.

I have a vision for my Doc Vandal adventures. You can see it in the covers, and it goes beyond the art style. There’s a consistent trade dress, with a logo and the volume number on every cover. You don’t have to be able to read the words to know a Doc Vandal cover when you see one.

There’s a consistent vision here, and that’s important. It shows potential readers that I know what I’m trying to do; that I have a goal in mind. It’s not enough to make sure your books are where readers can see them; you have to make sure they can recognize them.

You need a vision, and even more importantly you need to articulate that vision.