But let's look at this genre. Robert Heinlein, a famous author, put out stuff like this:

(WARNING NOT SAFE FOR WORK)



... update - I couldn't take it in its raw form on our site. I had to edit it. But the original cover did NOT have any censorship.

This is slightly better - but still ...

Oh and Poul Anderson .

Hi Lisa,

I was thinking more Stargate, but I liked that show. You'll discover your perfect cover. It'll come to you.

Lisa,

Word format is just fine. Send it over and I'll read it. What type of review would you like? An overall?

Keep writing,

I've read probably a thousand sci fi books, and near-naked people are not on the covers of almost any of them. In fact, even the Heinlein stuff evolved. Those are some really old covers you referenced.

Take a look of the beauty in the The Integral Trees, The Smoke Ring, Ringworld, The Legacy of Heorot, and Destiny's Road, all books by Niven, for example.

Robert Silverberg's stuff is really gorgeous - his Majipoor book covers are wonderful. Lord Valentine's Castle, Tales of Majipoor, Valentine Pontifex, the Mountains of Majipoor, River of Stars.

Orson Scott Card has some lovely covers.

Some of John Varley's covers are amazing.

For women sci-fi authors, Marrion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McAfferey have some really nice art, but less abstract, which is what I think you are going for.

Ignore the art from the 60s and 70s - that nude stuff was a long time ago.

Seeking reviews for my cozy romance murder mystery Aspen Allegations. The ebook currently has 3 reviews and I need 11 to do a promotion . Please help! I can get you a free copy if you don't have one yet. Please share with any review-writing friends.

Lisa, you help us all the time, and I'd be delighted to have the chance to help you. In fact I've been trying to make the time to get in this forum and/or send you an email to thank you for the info you've sent us on the Kindle Unlimited and the bar code thing and how to promote our books via Twitter, etc. This is great information and a lot of us need it but we haven't yet started the research process. You're saving us a lot of time.

Unfortunately, I can't help with Amazon reviews because I recently reached the last straw with Amazon (many reasons, including their strong-arm tactics with the Hachette Book Group) and I made them delete my account. But I could review your book on the romance site here (Romantic Suspense) and mention that you need 11 reviews on Amazon so that others will know to review it. I have a copy of the book already, and I will move it to the top of the TBR list.

As for covers, I agree with Jilly on your science fiction cover. Unfortunately, to me, it looks self-published with all the stigma still attached to that, if unfairly. I do like the more streamlined font that you changed it to. But the abstract design of exploding light doesn't engage me. One of the reasons I think readers avoid science fiction is because they think it will be all ideas with no real character depth or development. If you could work in some people, even if it was just tiny figures in a landscape like the old Frank Herbert DUNE covers, then I'd be more intrigued as a reader.

(If you still need beta readers for your science fiction novel, I could do it. Word document or PDF is fine if you want to email me an attachment.)

Weren't those Heinlein covers awful? Poor devil might not have had control over his cover art, though, and had to take what he was given, especially on the early stuff.

One cover that I thought was just gorgeous was Iain Banks' cover for MATTER. The colors were so rich, the design simple and elegant, and the figure so mysterious.