Cover design voting results: Big Decisions and Empty Stomachs

Working with Dad then lunching with Mum, all while a letter burns a hole in his pocket…

Gabriel’s at work, an after-school job he never dreamed he’d still be doing a decade later. And he’s still single too, something not likely to change while living in his small hometown. Despite all that, he’s comfortable and content – at least he thinks he is. Then he receives a letter that changes everything. It might just kickstart a career and a life he’s always dreamed of, or stop it dead in its tracks.

Will he get the choice? And if he does, will he go for it?

Surrounded by family, this short story is a snapshot checking in with Gabriel a few months before the start of Slip and Slide. It’s the second in a series of four short stories set before, between, and after the books of the Rise and Shine series (gay romcom novellas), and it’s another great entry point for new readers to the series.

The stories are being released to the wonderful people on my mailing list (for free!), and the first is out now! If you’re not already there, jump on board then keep an eye out for my next email (ETA 25 August 2022) to read the next story right away! But before that, we needed to pick a cover design for it…

The options

I prepared a shortlist of four cover image designs for my new short story, Big Decisions and Empty Stomachs, then asked those on my mailing list, Facebook page and on Twitter what they thought.

Four cover design options for new short story: Big Decisions and Empty Stomachs

Note: Please disregard the image watermarks, they’ll be removed once I’ve purchased the selected winning image.

The results

Option 2 was the clear winner this round! This concept design scooped up just over half of the total votes, and nearly twice as many as the runner up, Option 1. Option 4 picked up one in every six votes, leaving just a handful for Option 3.

Even with Option 2 coming out on top, I got great additional feedback, with some voters having difficulty reading the second half of the title’s text. I want this cover to work well and be easily legible even at a glance, so I’ll be tweaking this concept further to come up with the final design before the story is released in a couple of days.

Bar chart showing results of Big Decisions and Empty Stomachs cover image option voting. Option 1: 23 votes. Option 2: 44.5 votes. Option 3: 5.5 votes. Option 4: 14 votes.

If you have any last minute thoughts, please drop me message – I’d love your input. Otherwise, to be sure to see the end result – and read the actual story! – jump on my mailing list.