Don't judge a book by...

I have all the respect in the world for cover artists. I honestly do. I do not have the talent or skill to know what looks good together or, more importantly, how to make things that don't work together at first glance blend together into seamless works of art. Kudos to those of you who can do it. I've had the privilege of having some of my ebooks done by extremely talented people.

But "back then", when I had my first few books done, I did not have the guts to stand up for what I really wanted. I was simply so amazed to have a book out in the ether at all that I smiled and nodded and pretty much took what I was given. I did ask for a few changes, but never anything major.

And sometimes that meant that the cover just ... wasn't quite right.

There's a series that I would really like to revise, with some editing and extending and completing book two and three.  The first release did all right. I think it could do better. And part of that is that I don't think the cover sold the story very well.

Note: I am not using this for promotion's sake. The book is currently not for sale anywhere. I am showing the old cover purely for comparison.

This is what I was given at the time:

Serviceable. Doesn't match the tone of the book very well, in my opinion, but it was a fantasy romance sold to a house that I don't think really knew what to do with it at the time.

So if and when I relaunch the book, I'm going to do my best to find a more accurate representation. Something more like this, I think:

Which one would you rather read?