Romcom cover revised

[Winifred]

This is the same book that was titled Burglary on the Side. When I changed the title, I felt the woman needed to be on the cover since she's the sometime burglar. You're welcome to comment on the title change too. Just any comments will be appreciated.

[Harald, The Swimmer]

So you took my advice about putting the protag woman on the cover! :)))

Overall, this is a much better-looking (and grabbing) cover design. I might suggest lightening the sheets a bit to increase the text-background contrast.

Now about that new title... the word "sometime" is weak to me; wishy-washy. How about something stronger? "Uncommon"? "Accidental"? "Odd"? "Erratic"? "Unexpected"? "Sometime" means: sometimes she's a burglar, sometimes she's not. Which translates to me into: Maybe I'll read the book, but maybe I won't. Just a suggestion, although I'm sure you thought a great deal about this already.

[Winifred]

I tried to do the man's bare chest, which seems to be the standard for romance covers, but I just couldn't make it work. I do have problems with showing the face of the protagonist though. In fact, I find it hard to believe my protagonist would look like this model. Maybe she could look like this model if someone helped her with her makeup, but the way I've described her, she couldn't do this woman's makeup. I wonder if readers care about that. Are they used to the women, and men, on the covers looking far better than they describe themselves in the book? I'm also worried that this bedroom cover will make readers expect more sex than the book really offers. There are a couple of sex scenes, but it's a comedy. There's a lot of other stuff too. I would love to get a discussion going about that sort of thing.

As to the "sometime," I guess "uncommon" might work, but would that be better? She does sometimes do burglaries, although most of the time she doesn't, but she doesn't do them accidentally. I could call her The Ethical Burglar--there's a great book called The Ethical Assassin--but I don't much care for that title, even on The Ethical Assassin.

[Harald, The Swimmer]

Yeah, I personally find it a problem when there's a clear (model) face on a cover that doesn't match the character's actual description, which is why I frequently say: "Chop off their heads!" Maybe find a different photo?

As to the title, I was suggesting things like "The Accidental Burglar" only to bring out any inherent irony or incongruity in the words. "The Ethical Assassin" works for me (as a title) because it has built-in irony. Maybe you can pull that out of your story. I think "The Uncommon Burglar" is marginally better but not sure how much. This is a tricky one.

[Topher]

Overall, this new cover looks much better! As for the issue of showing the woman's face, perhaps you might try finding a picture where the model's positions are reversed and she is on top of him with her hair then obscuring much her face (and maybe even his as well).

As far as the title goes I like the original, but it is a bit of a mouthful. Maybe chop it to "Burglar on the Side"?

[Winifred]

Thanks for all your comments. I have brightened the background to bring out the title a little more. And in this particular case, I kind of like showing the woman's face because she's looking away from the man as if she has something else on her mind. And she does have a lot on her mind.

Anyway, I've been running this cover by other groups too, and although most people seem to like it, I'm getting some feedback that this woman doesn't look like a graduate student, which she's supposed to be. So I've added some glasses. My character does wear glasses, and I'm getting some pretty positive comments on them. But as you know, Harald, I'm no expert with Photoshop. Do these glasses look more or less believable, or are they obviously added on? Any suggestions?

[Harald, The Swimmer]

Yes! Better. The glasses look very natural to me—good job! And they seem to do something else: they distance the woman from the action and accentuate that she has something else on her mind. An added benefit, me thinks.

One tiny nit... Try to improve the kerning in the title on the "The" (tighten the space between the "T" and the "h." You know I'm a stickler for kerning, don't you? :)

[Winifred]

Thanks again. Here's my latest. I did some kerning on The Sometime but Burglar looked okay to me.

[Harald, The Swimmer]

Winnie-- "Burglar" could also use some kerning help, but if you're happy with it, go with it!

Overall, a big improvement over the original cover in my opinion. Way to hang in there and work hard to get good cover!