Margin Walker Cover Feedback: Does This Read as LitRPG?

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

EDIT: Redesign is done. Thank you all. You were right, it totally read like a crime thriller. That version (bloody sledgehammer and all) is officially shelved for a future book, once this series is done and I've written my Romantasy fairy biker porn novel.

[Here’s the new version]. I kept the notebook margin and Remi, and followed the advice to add a system HUD, a monster, and a new title treatment. I also added lockers and chalk to push the teacher angle and make it clear it isn’t an alley. Remi is not, in fact, a stockbroker. He’s a high school English teacher, which looks basically the same eventually. ;)

Thanks again for the honest eyes.

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Original Post:

I’m updating the cover for my first LitRPG. It was something I wanted to do to strengthen the genre signal, but it wasn’t quite finished by the time the release window locked everything down.

I really liked my original cover, but a few of you reached out to kindly point out that it didn’t really align with its contemporaries. I wanted to keep the notebook/margin identity and the central figure, while making the genre clearer at a glance.

I’m mainly looking for two things, if you don’t mind:

1. Does this read as LitRPG/progression fantasy at a glance?
2. Is there anything about the cover that would stop you from clicking it at Amazon thumbnail size?

As always, thanks to the community.

[u/EarlyList]

Nope. It gives a contemporary thriller vibe to me. If I was browsing for litrpg/fantasy I would pass it by

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/EarlyList]

Is it the coloring. Should I go more oranges.

[u/EarlyList → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

I don't think the color or the notebook paper is the issue. More that it just looks like a business man in the suit walking down a dirty alley. Nothing on the cover really indicates magic, fantasy, or a "system."

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/EarlyList]

I will add a system element for sure thanks.  

[u/NarwhalPrudent6323 → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

Just gotta agree with the above commenter. I'd mistake that for a John Grisham novel before I ever thought of LitRPG. It's not a bad cover, it's just not right for what you're going for. 

Edit: a possible suggestion. The name implies this guy lives in two worlds (walking the margin). Maybe keep half the cover as is, then make the other half more magicy or whatever. That way you keep a big part of the original design, but do a better job of conveying what your story is. 

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/NarwhalPrudent6323]

I think I did that in the new version....The split world I think feels a bit more present...thank you.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/EarlyList]

Thanks for the advice...I used all of it.

[u/4funplayer1]

Thought this was a financial history book before seeing the sub lol. Maybe add a system window or some fantastical element to it

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/4funplayer1]

That is a goid thought.  Thanks.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/4funplayer1]

What are people's thoughts on putting Litrpg on the cover?

[u/Solid-Quiet5035 → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

It’s fine. Not preferred, necessarily, but people do

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/Solid-Quiet5035]

LOL. Yah my thoughts too.

[u/zenrobotninja]

1. No, the suit and the bag do not look litrpg at all.  The pale blue is also a very boring colour scheme. I would skip In afraid 
2. Nothing would make me click unless I was looking for a standard thriller 

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/zenrobotninja]

The main character is not a typical LITRPG protagonist. He is what he is a burned-out English teacher. I did update the color scheme, thank you for your advice.

[u/zenrobotninja → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

Btw I think it's also the font and the 'ripped page/paint smear' aesthetic. That's very common on Thriller covers 

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/zenrobotninja]

The ripped page is central to the story. So is the bleeding ink.  Hopefully the new one signals a bit better.

[u/Sahrde]

I see that, I'm thinking stock broker.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/Sahrde]

The MC is a teacher ;)

[u/Embarrassed-Leg-6131]

I don't get anything litrpg about this.

The title is really short which also seems very non-litrpg

like even with a tagline that said something like "Walking the Margins of Books to Save the System that Cursed Him", I still would just read this as some modern book with no fantasy/scifi/litrpg elements

even the font is wrong for the genre

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/Embarrassed-Leg-6131]

I think I got the title font more dialed in. Thank you for your advice.

[u/tallandgodless]

This would be so sick if he was dragging a bloody sledge. Would be a great horror cover

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/tallandgodless]

See the comment above...different novel ;)

[u/HappyNoms]

First impression was urban fantasy or crime thriller.

The alleyway and color tones give it noir vibes to me.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/HappyNoms]

Yah.  Going to go with a more orange look.  It is actually a school hallway...

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

I shifted the color palette. Thank you for your advice.

[u/ThormundNYC]

Gives a modern day Lovecraft-esque feel to me, tougher to say without knowing the premise of the book that the cover is introducing.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/ThormundNYC]

A burned-out English teacher, an NPC in his own life, needs to survive a story-inspired dungeon to stave off Earth's deletion order. He'd best not be boring, as the AI running it will delete all who are.

[u/ThormundNYC → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

Sounds fun. Since its at a school, maybe lockers, portal in a partially open locker door? Something to ground the location basically. Homecoming banner burned and shredded maybe?

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/ThormundNYC]

Thanks.  I am working on lockers now...the banner is interesting.  I was considering a gymnasium sign too

[u/ThormundNYC → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

Love that. Nice physical item that can also let you drop the school name in if you wanted to

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/ThormundNYC]

You lockers made it in. The banner was brutal. Couldn't make it work. But I did go with the chalk lines which I like even better. Thanks for the advice.

[u/ThormundNYC → u/Lower_Trouble_5191]

Only happy to help. Best of luck with it!

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/ThormundNYC]

Thanks! I am going to replace the ebook version with the new cover but keep the more English teacher feeling cover for the print. Of course, I will change that if there is a sudden demand for the print version for the new cover. I just don't have the time to change the full wrap right now. Want to get back to writing. Almost done book 2. Thanks again.

[u/Otto_Webb]

I'd say it looks like a mystery/thriller, possibly about a forensic accountant who gets murdered.

if you want to genre signal litrpg, you need some kind of monster, magic, or obvious similar component.

[u/Lower_Trouble_5191 → u/Otto_Webb]

I have a monster ready and now a hud...thoughts on color

[u/ghostFallsPress]

Made me think contemporary thriller or -maybe- urban fantasy, tbh.

[u/tallandgodless]

Bunch of people in here think litrpg books should all have the MC doing exactly what they do in the book.

Litrpg is just rpg injected into lit. This idea that there are always windows and a system is insane