Judging Fan Fictions by Their Cover(art)s · 4:10pm Nov 14th, 2012
Dear Loyal Watchers, Interested Visitors, and Confused Passersby:
After three full days and a handful of hours To Change a Heart has slipped to the seventh slot on the Featured Bar, and will soon slide off, ending its run.
With 420 upvotes, it's now my second most popular work after Shine, and that's the most any story of mine has had before an appearance on Equestria Daily (assuming that this will be on EqD, which is never a given, even if you already have nineteen stories there).
So, a great little run. I'm very pleased.
...
Was it because of the cover art?
C'mon... D'awww! Just, d'awww!
Just about a year ago I wrote a a blog discussing how the death of Anne McCAffrey, author of The Dragonriders of Pern series had affected me. In that blog I pointed out how the cover art of her book The White Dragon, caught my eye and drew me into her entire series.
My entire self-image, grades 6-7...
The question is, would it have caught my eye if it had just been the title? Sadly, in truth, no.
We all know that "you shouldn't judge a yada, yada, yada..."
But, really, in the cutthroat consumer marketplace that is FIMFiction... doesn't the cover art help?
In the world of real publishing, cover art is seen as critical. Go down the aisle at any bookstore and see how carefully they choose the images that they hope will catch the reader's eye.
See? Note how carefully they imply that reading this guide to public golf courses will get you winged to Heaven by seraphim...
I was remarkably blessed to have Maki allow me to use that image, especially because it matched so closely my vision for the scene. The only appreciable difference is that it's outdoors, while the kiss(es) actually take place in Luna's sitting room in the story.
I've been inspired by many artists, and many have graciously allowed me to use their works as cover art. In the earliest days though EqD simply assigned my stories art. Beyond that I simply assumed that any image that appeared on the Drawfriends was "fair game" for use when submitting a story. It was a horrible dickmove on my part to use cover images from artists without their permission, especially John Joseco. I fully and utterly apologize to all of them, and will apologize in public and in private to any who request an apology. I do try to point out all of the artists and link to them whenever I can.
Beginning with A Sweet Taste of Cake I've always asked to use images. Egophiliac surprised me greatly with her charm and willingness to let me use that story's image, and I thanked her profusely at BronyCon. AnneHairBall supplied me with the cover to The Youth in the Garden, and she's the first to have made art specifically for one of my stories. She is still taking requests, and she's only getting better as she practices her art. She was a joy to work with, and I'd recommend her to anyone.
I can't claim that all of my experiences with artists are positive. After a few good friends who are artists bowed out do to school work/ RL issues, I asked one noted artist in the fandom if they would be interested in making the cover art for Super Amazing Rocket Sled of Awesome. The response I got was, put bluntly, rude. I ended up making my own art...
So... cover art. How do you go about deciding what you're going to use? Do you consider it an integral part of the story?
Also, here's two images I currently have permission from the artists to use on works that are only hypothetical. Do they "work" as cover images?
First: "Redheart" by Pterosaurus Pony... intended for a fic of the same name that I began in April, but spiraled out of control and has been stuck at two chapters of writing pergatory since June (I was actually writing it on my laptop when I met John DeLancie at BronyCon!)...
Oh look! Another story in which T.D. drags a background character through Hell in an effort to create a believable narrative about their lives!
Second: "Sisterhooves" by CutesKitty... intended for the comedy that I'm writing right now, because I can't deal with anymore overly emotional sad, dark, saddening darkly darkness at the moment!
Place your bets on the winners, folks!
What do you think? Do those work as cover art, and why? What makes good cover art?
Oh, and what do you do when you can't find art that directly matches your story idea? Or even implies it?
I've had mixed success with my own art in the past and in other fandoms. But in this fandom, we have many talented vector artists who we can reply upon. Here's another story idea that is distracting me from writing Zenith... which reminds me that I have to start working on Lysok to see if he'd be interested in making cover art for the story, and perhaps even additional illustrations.
That's a secret though, don't tell him yet!
Anywho... this is me working with vectors for the first time. It's a little "alternate reality" thing that's stuck in my head. Does it work?
I'm going to a place in the "alternate universe" that you're probably not used to seeing me go... as it were.
Of course, that's four vectors right there... which means getting permission from four artists. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
So... cover art? How important is it? What makes it a good choice? What makes it a bad choice?
Stay Awesome,
-T.D.
Cover art is critical; when I decided I might just pick up the writing pen again and post PONY Legacy here and maybe try to get on EqD, the first thing I did was create a cover that I happen to think is fucking awesome. That being said, I have absolutely no idea what makes a good one or what would draw people in - I just made one that makes me excited every time I see it.
To me when there is cover art I do judge a story by it. I tend to shy away from stories that us the Pony Creator. And there is the stories that take artwork, without crediting it, and use it for a story that is the opposite meaning to the original (like quite a few Tyrnat!Celestia fics that use some of the best art for her and... *bangs head against table*).
A good choice show creativity and willingness to credit the artist. A bad choice is the other way around.
No it's not really that important. Sometimes a stories cover art just lets you know who is in it!!!
And sometimes it gives some of us a chance to work out what it will be about before we even read it!!
Take your latest one, To Change A Heart, we can clearly see that something has happened to AB,
but we will not know what until we read it.
I'd say cover art is insanely important. I've noticed that stories with interesting cover art at the very least get more attention from myself to at least read the synopsis. And stories with good cover art tend to attract more readers. Which is probably why my stories get so little attention; well, that, and I like writing silly things.
Dick move, yeah. I made that mistake with a story once, but fortunately I realized my error and corrected it before any problems came about. Still looking for someone who will do both 'mechs and ponies for my one story, but alas, seems impossible.
As for what works for cover art, it needs to say something, but not everything. A snapshot of an action scene, or a brief moment in a conversation with a grand background, these things show us part of the story, part of what to expect, yet leave us with questions and wanting to know more. That helps get the readers nibbling on the bait, and if the writing is good, they get hooked.
... I'm sorry, I'm sure this was a very interesting and thought provoking blog post, but I just learned that Anne McCaffrey is dead.
I'm going to go lie down.
Well, for me, cover art was vital. Green really blew up because of two things. The new feature system, and the cover art. Now the funny thing about Green's cover is, when I published I could not for the life of me find the artist! No sig and the only clues i had were that it involved Megasweet and Explosivegent. Searches on DA yielded little, checking MS's gallery was no help. After some digging and messages I finally got MS's permission, and found out back when he did that sketch he wasn't signing his work. Later Explosivegent colored it. So now I credit both of them.
I think cover art is extremely important especially where there is alot of books / stories / whatnot that goes through. Here on FimFiction alot of stories goes through every day and its very very hard to read them all if you even can and therefor your cover art is crucial to getting the attention of the intended demographic. If your story is about romance between 2 characters, make sure the characters are both on the cover art (or atleast one of them with a 'look' in their eye?) and have a good title is equaly important.
I know personaly i rarely read fics that doesn't have cover art nowdays though i always read through the titles of them, I just don't seem to find anything that i see interesting unless i get that little visual push.
// Sphex
Oddly, I've actually found myself turned off of stories with really good cover art these days. I'm pretty sure it's the rage-filled rebel author in me, preferring to invest my time on someone who doesn't have access to to great artists or writes a story first, regardless of whether he has appropriate art lined up. It does occur to me in saying that, however, that one of the authors I've just started helping has a really nice piece of cover art for his story, and I actually didn't even notice it until he told me he'd created it himself. Thus, I am starting to think more along the lines that I've just trained myself to ignore it. I check Drawfriend every day for good pics, and I read the blurbs for good fics. I do not appear to cross the two over.
I'll be honest, it irritates the hell out of me when stories get lots of attention for the cover art, and much better stories get ignore for not having it. I suppose I pride myself on making the choice to look past it, whether rightly or wrongly.
-Scott 'Inquisitor' Mence
Considering that I spent almost an hour debating cover art with an author last night I think it is definitely a not insignificant factor in determining a story's popularity. I have seen several stories that I believe reached the featured box solely because of their cover art. What I find more interesting are the stories that are openly based on a drawing or other fan art. I have heard say that a picture is worth a thousand words but never have I seen that adage so aptly demonstrated. I would in fact ask what your opinion on such stories is. I often find myself looking down on such stories as a shallow conceit but what do you think.
I tried my hand at making my own artwork for my newest story, and I don't think it's quite bad enough to turn people aside, so that's good.
For better or worse, your story image will DRASTICALLY affect the perception of your story. Having no image at all can make your story easy to overlook, which is never a good thing when you're only getting about 2 hours on the front page to be seen, but having a BAD image is even worse. God forbid you use an image from the PonyMaker app, because that's just lazy, and with as many badfics as there are around this site, it will reflect VERY POORLY on your story, no matter how good it might be.
Things that make a cover image good are coherency (how well does it relate to the story), cleanliness (simplicity is good), quality (MSPaint usually won't cut it, unless you're writing a trollfic), and originality. There are quite a few amazing stories on FiMFic that can be identified by the cover image alone, and that's mostly down to originality. Being unique draws people's eyes by default, because we're all pretty visual people, when you get down to it.
Bad ideas include rehashing old artwork, doing it yourself when you KNOW you can't draw, using anything from Ponymaker (never do this. ever. at any time.), and stealing artwork from other stories (ESPECIALLY when they're well-known, established stories).
Why is it such a big deal? Presentation. It's why things like spelling and punctuation matter when you're debating a point online. It's why master chefs go out of their way to wipe stray sauce off the plate before it goes out to the patron. It's why just about every successful small business has a graphic designer on speed-dial if not on staff. How you present something is just as important as the content. Should it be this way? Surprise, the answer is YES.
Assuming you're actually WANTING people to like your story, it's reasonable to think that you've put some major effort into it. Why stop before it's all done? Would you serve fantastic spaghetti to your dinner guests on a tupperware lid? Of course not, because you would look like a douchebag. Everything about your story is inclusive, and it goes even farther than the story itself.
The cover art, the synopsis, the tags—hell, even the comments you make underneath the story are all important to how the story is received and how YOU are viewed by the public. This is a lesson that everyone needs to learn well before they head out into the world, because it only becomes more critical as you get older. Professionalism in one aspect of a task isn't good enough to overcome this age's extreme prejudice and cynicism, you have to strive for excellence. And why wouldn't you? Ask yourself, are you really the kind of person who is okay with "meh"?
Hmmm... I seem to have strayed into "old man rant" territory here. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_unsuresweetie_flip.png Forgive me my indulgence, but my point stands.
TL;DR - If you're gonna do something, you might as well do it right, because that makes you look good.
That Sisterhooves.
Beautiful art, and oh, do I want to latch my eyeballs into that piece of literature.
...why did I give myself that mental image?
Cover art is important, and some stories get their entire starting audience from the art alone.
Art hasn't helped me much, however I make sure I have at least something to use for an image. A combination of stills from the show itself, some fan-made images I found and a little photoshopping have gotten me the ones I use today. Plus, I always make it a point to ask the original artist for permission to use it. So far, all of them have been more than happy to do so as long as I link back to their account. And wouldn't you know, fimfiction.net has a handy-dandy link feature!
I've yet to ask for a commission, as I'm just not good enough to warrant that. I'd feel like a complete tool if I put in one of my synopsis, "Looking for fanart! All submissions welcome!"
I've seen plenty of stories with badass cover art get completely panned.
I think it's a bigger deal on EqD than on FiMFiction.
However, having good cover art is less important than not having bad cover art, IMO. Unless said bad cover art is appropriate.
On another note, The White Dragon is also the first book in the Pern series and the first book by Anne McCaffrey I read. Ah, nostalgia. I still haven't read the continuations her son co-wrote/wrote.
For better or worse, cover art is absolutely important. I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so I went and found good cover art for Moonstone Cup when I submitted it to EqD, and something I've heard over and over again is how much of a draw the picture was. When I posted up Those Who Dwell Under The Hills I tried to create my own cover art with some photoshoppage, but it was frankly awful, so I went and found a better piece and asked permission to use it. The hard truth is that there are a lot of fics on this site, and even more in the fandom as a whole, so you gotta sell your story, and that means good art and good synopses.
Quality cover art is always a good thing. It catches the eye and draws the reader in.
That said, that Sisterhooves pic. Oh my. Dis gun b gud dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
503270
Heh, I know that is what made me read that story (yes, one of the upvotes is mine)!
503274
I too often find myself disappointed with the way the best Tia pics seem to end up on the ones that treat her the worst.
503276
Hmmm... the art is simply an indicator. Interesting thought!
503279
I'll never post another story without having an artist's permission for cover art again, that's certain-sure.
I guess that determining what that "something" is would be the key to everything, huh?
503282
...
Sorry to have to be the one to break it to ya'...
503284
...
Vital indeed, and a lot of work, I see. As I said, nothing worth doing is ever easy...
503285
Indeed, I'd think that with the way we're a marketplace, that it would only help to have good art.
503286
I can certainly see why you pride yourself on wanting to determine the worth of a story on its substance. Then again, the only "access" it has taken me to get permission most times was a politely worded note!
503287
My opinion? Well, a creative individual, no matter their discipline, always draws their inspiration from somewhere. It's two sides to the same coin, I think. I don't condone writing a story based off of a popular image just to get views, but I have no problem with authors being genuinely inspired by a work of art. I'm certainly happy when an artist or a musician is moved to make a song or a image based on my stories, and I see it as the same thing. I hope that explains my POV.
503294
What do you have against my Tupperware(TM)?
You make a lot of valid points, Matt, and I agree with most of them. There's a good reason to polish up your works before putting them before the community.
Far be it from me to keep you from "getting your old man on".
503295
That happena to me constantly!
503300
Yes, the link feature certainly makes it that much easier. I'm very much ashamed of myself for not getting permission earlier.
You are worthy of a commission, so no talk like that! I'm the only one allowed to have a sense of self-doubt and limited worth around here!
503301
"Not having bad cover art"... that's a great point, DP.
Aha! We share literary influences! Her son's stories are... "nice".
503304
I'm glad that you liked the blog post.
Yes, there is always something awkward about the process, but it's usually worth it in the end!
503307
Well said, Cy. The truth remains that we have to "sell" our stories just as much as Barnes & Noble has to sell theirs.
503319
I certainly hope so!
Cover art can be a really integral part to a story. A good picture can captivate a person's interest just as much as a bad one can push a reader away. I've been reading fanfiction for a long time, and I've always preferred it when a site does not have the ability to put cover art on a story. If a reader has to judge a story on the title and summary alone, they will tend to read it and process the idea. I feel with cover art, more people (and I've sadly caught myself doing this a few times) tend to just read the title and look at the picture. Is it a bit interesting? Read the description. Is it boring to look at or just looks genera? Skip and move onto the next piece. That's not everyone, but it is an easy trap to fall into.
Next, the pictures themselves. Is it better to ask an artist to use their work? Absolutely. Artists should always be credited when possible (which reminds me to edit my bio. *chuckle*). The problem I see is that all the fan pictures, the fan art, the fan stories are just that. Fan made. Unofficial parts of Hasbro's giant IP. Permission should be sought if you can, but shouldn't that mean that we should ask Hasbro first then? Or the artists to ask Hasbro first for the use of their characters? I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the system is delicate and it primarily hinges on everyone realizing it and working with each other to peacefully promote and continue to make ponified awesome. Those who act rude, such as the artist Descendant mentioned about the Rocket Sled story artwork, annoy me to no end. There is no need to be rude. Considering the leeway Hasbro gives to fans, things could go sideways if they up and decided to reverse their policy. (God I'm glad the Disney buying Hasbro rumor was false.) Bah, I dunno. /endrant
For my own tastes, artwork works best when it represents a part of the story that's a major part or theme of the story itself. It must be a representation of what the story wishes to convey. Else-wise it feels false and out of place.
503335
I certainly agree with your feelings about how we are independent and reliant on one another in the fandom. In a manner of speaking, we are all thieves. Most of us are thieves with good intentions (the creation of materials that celebrate a popular work)... but at the end of the day we are all using the mental property of another. If we don't honor each other, then we are honor-less. That is what upsets me when I see websites selling shirts made from fan art without the artists permission, or when I see an artist mass-producing something for the sole purpose of profit.
Thanks for replying!
503332
Nice to know that I am not the only one, I nearly tore into a writer for using part of Ego's "Celesita through the ages" for the cover for a Tyrant fic. To be honest I think the mods should add a rule that cover art should be cited or permission needed to use it (which I know will not happen).
As for cover art in real the world, I've never read Dragon Rider of Pern but i do have an example of excellent cover art for my favorite sci-fi series, David Weber's Honorverse. Course it's the European covers but still: Genkkis
Technically it shouldn't influence the reader's decision to give it a go, but I think good cover art does actually help. Indeed, a visual reference to what's in store is actually can actually add to the words in the blurb. Of course, it's not as important as as the actual story itself, but it's still important. Think about it, would Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' have been such a successful album without it's art? I say it would've already been an excellent album to begin with, but the art just sealed the deal for the audience.
If only I had the necessary skills to draw or craft good images otherwise. Unfortunately, I don't. Fortunately, my only fic so far did not need a fancy-shmancy cover picture, 'cause it's not good enough, so my skills proved to be sufficient.
(no idea when exactly it's upcoming, the way its writing is going... 
). For future stories, I'll be trying to commission a suitable picture, because I don't want to tack on an existing one that simply doesn't fit.
Thankfully, a kind artist gave me their permission to use one of their images for an upcoming story
Yes, I do agree that cover art matters quite a bit. It shouldn't, but it exists largely for the purpose of attention-grabbing, and so the ones with the better stuff tend to get more attention, respectively. It can't save a Celestia-awful fic, but it can certainly bring readers to take a look at it. That's the power of the cover art. It has no relation to the quality of the story, and thus is somewhat unfair, but sadly we can't do much about it.
I agree, cover art is critical. Generally, I don't read stories that have vectors as cover art. I'm an artist, and I work with vectors; but vectors are sloppy, and in many ways not as eye appealing as raster art. Unless done well, that 'clean cut look' a vector is supposed to give can work against the artist. I will read stories with cover art from good screenshots from the show, or just really good quality vectors, but there are many ways a vector cover art can go wrong. Raster art on the other hand, show effort [generally], even when whoever made it isn't that 'artistically inclined'. There is just something about the mechanics of a raster digital painting that implies to me "This has quality. I worked hard on this story. Read me and you will be more than pleased". Of course, in the end, Sturgeon's Law still plays.
Why do you think I'm scrambling to find good cover art for my ebook projects? Well, that and finishing them..
I've noticed that my most popular works are all ones with decent cover images.
Cover art is... I'm not sure if important is the best word; perhaps valuable is more correct.
It's said that you can't, and shouldn't, judge a book by its covers, and I agree. But it's that cover that will catch your eye, and give you your first impression of the story in question. And the old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words remains as true as ever.
As for those two pics, the Sisterhooves one is sure to get everyone's attention; I had it as my wallpaper for a long time. The Redheart one... I think it will also work well, at least if it's a sadder or grimmer story. I'm interested in seeing both of them. And... an AU fic coming from TD? Unheard of but interesting!
cover art, good ideas, and bad ideas
good idea: use your own picture if you have decent skills drawing
bad idea: use a pony maker picture. (people thinks that it's going to be a mary sue, and inmediatly thumb down)
good idea: a picture with characters in the attitude you're describing in your story
bad idea:a picture without ponies at all (many people take a fav desition based in the picture)
I think cover art does make a difference. We have to judge a story on something before we read it, whether it's the title, the likes, feature box, or the cover image. Leaving out one just because you don't think it will be judged for the cover is silly. I am vain, I have to be with so many fanfics coming out everyday, one has to thin them out some how. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Luna_apple.png
Okay, I'm back. To my mind, coverart is an advertisement, nothing more or less. On its own, it may have artistic merit, but when stuck in front of a story, it falls into one of three categories: 1) Intriguing 2) Boring 3) Repulsive.
Repulsive (as in repelling, not as in disgusting) is bad. Its your pony-vreator [ics, your lazy text-overs, your pics stolen from better, well known fics. This stuff is to be avoided, as it will almost always make a reader not even bother with the description. They'll pass you by on the merit of the art alone, which as a writer, is just not fair. No one should use these.
Boring is stuff that doesn't immediately attract or repel an audience. This stuff is often too generic or too crowded (keep in mind how small the "preview" window is; don't throw in a dozen characters with crazy effects). This won't turn anyone away, but it won't draw them in, either.
Intriguing pics don't have to be good. They're ads, not artworks to be judged on their own merit. All they have to do, is draw the eye and make the reader curious. I'm partial to simple designs, with high contrast and bright visuals. But in truth, anything distinctive works well.
The two pics you have up there for future stories provide good examples. Shrinking them down to about 2.5'' to a side, I find the Redheart one very striking; I would definitely at least take a look at the story it was attached to. On the other hand, the Social one is very crowded; I'd as likely pass over it as bother to read the description. So, while I like the second pic better (it is really, really cool), I think the first makes better coverart.
Just my opinion, and my opinions on such things often don't mesh well with others'. (And I realize I kinda stole my avatar pic. I have no idea who owns it, though)
I'm lucky enough to have an awesome wife who is also a ridiculously amazing artist. She's done the cover art for both of my stories, and I'm fairly confident her fantastic work has drawn readers to them.
Its the title and summary which matters to me.
Through admittedly, the first story art you showed put me off reading it.
My question isn't so much what but how. Do you pay money for pictures? If you don't, how do you get them? I've never really been able to get art made for me and wouldn't know where to start if I could.
I've mostly used pictures that were either inadvertently made for my story after the fact, made kindly for me from one person I know, or taken (with links given to the source) from pre-existing pictures. Because I have no other choice.
Do pictures make the story? Well, a well-known artist having made you a title picture will make other people praise your story ("oh, person X made a picture for this, therefore the writing is good!") whether warranted or not, there is absolutely no denying it, and a story without an image will fair much worse than one with even an only tangentially related one (i.e. "this picture evokes roughly the theme of my story, I shall use it") because we're used to item A having associated item B with it, so lack of item B is seen as an issue with item A, rather than one of availability from some dark netherplace of talent from nowhere.
tl;dr people are often shallow and fickle without even meaning to be, and fanfictions without title images fair the worst on average, those with shitty ponymaker art fair worse or at least only slightly better, those with randomly-used images fair pretty well, those with specific images fair better, and those with famous artist's work fair the best, irrespective of talent within.
I really need fics to have some kind of cover art, even if it's just a screencap. My OCD just can't handle seeing fics without it – they're like seeing that grey pony face where an avatar should be, or having question mark album art in my music library. I'll still give a fic a chance without cover art, but it just gives off a really bland, amateurish impression. As such, I always at least find a show screencap to use as art for my own fics. My recommendation to everyone: try a screencap, but if that doesn't fit, search Bronibooru or Derpibooru and just ask the artist for permission. I'm 2/2 for doing that so far.
Pony Creator art is worse though – especially if it uses one of those stock backgrounds, or just has a pony standing in the bottom right corner of whitespace. Better no art at all than that ugly, overused look. That said, I've seen a few places where people have customised PC art further after exporting it that have really worked.
I kind of have a thing against art where the title of the fic is on the picture. It may be that my sensibilities are stuck in ye olden days when Seth chose coverart for fics on EQD, but I just think that a textless picture almost always looks a whole lot better. It could also be the same reason I don't like fics that are formatted with indents instead of empty lines (usually have to download the HTML files and tinker with their formatting or copy-paste to MS Word before I read) – we're writing for a digital medium, and attempts to closely imitate the style of books – while they may appeal to some – come off as a little odd to me.
It's hard to tell, honestly. For me, the cover of any of your stories doesn't decide if I'm going to read it or not, because you're on my personal watch list and I decided to read all of your stories some weeks ago. And I'm on it, as you well know.
While reading the story, I was honestly waiting for this cute scene depicted in the cover art and was wondering how you would execute it. 
And boy, did you deliver! 
Having said that, while the cover for To Change a Heart didn't reveal much about the story, it certainly set some expectations.
Then again, the way I choose stories to read is pretty weird. Though I can't say if it's usual or not, because I have no idea how others do it.
Basically, when I'm not set on one particular writer and their stores (
: that look is currently thrown at you, T.D. 
) I let others do the searching and filtering. So yeah, call me lazy, but I usually swallow up something that pops up on EqD, in DPV's recommendations, in RBDash's interviews, or Wanderer's group-reviews. Because I trust those guys and value their taste and know that I won't regret reading through a story they chose to recommend. 
A while back, I would also frequently read the stories that managed to work their way up the feature box here. But, unfortunately, I have dropped that particular idea because of the gunk that clutters the box frequently. 
I'm sure you're aware that I don't mean your story, of course, but all the clop or silly Pony verbs a noun shorties that oh-so-frequently populate the box. 
Of course, I still browse through the box occasionally, because there are some gems that manage to pop up now and then (like your story or The Keepers of Discord recently).
So yeah, the cover doesn't mean much to me personally as the reader, but I would think that good cover plus captivating description can get a few more readers to at least become interested in the story enough to start reading it. If not, then I guess my few pitiful attempts at writing would get exactly 0 views. And, for the reasons I can't comprehend, some people actually bothered to look at them. The poor bastards.
I blame the covers for that. 
503549
Just ask. I know it sounds intimidating at first glance, but it really is a partnership. Very few artists would be snobby about it, and it's almost always the ones who have large and established fanbases already who take that position. Most artists are just like you: looking for people to see their work and give it a chance, and by letting you use their artwork, they're getting more people to see what they can do. If you properly credit them, and maybe even throw a link in the author's notes at the end, then maybe they even pick up a few faves on DA as well, which works for both of you.
Honestly, the worst anyone could do is say no, and there's a LOT of artwork out there to choose from. There's even quite a few people who are willing to do custom commissions for little to no money, simply because they like drawing. I got lucky, in that I've actually met one in person, and he's been doing art for me for a while now, but he's pretty much just looking for ideas to fill his spare time. So, yeah, just go start asking people. You might be surprised how easy it can be.
There's no doubt cover art is important to getting your story out there, while I read fics without it all the time, there is something indescribable about how much good cover art can add to the story. It's funny though, because you don't even see it while you are reading it. There are a number of reasons I can think of that would make this the case... (damn straight I'm gonna describe the indescribable, cuz I'm a boss).
First, any picture will help to make the fic stand out in the reader's memory, even a bad one. Give me the title of something that I read long ago, and I'll probably remember what it was about... but show me the cover art it used, and I virtually guarantee it.
Second, I think that, in all honesty, it can be even more important than the description in terms of conveying a first impression, even a simple picture can help me to gauge some of the emotions that the author is trying to convey in their story, whether it be a silly comedy with filly Luna tangled in ribbons, or a fic that tugs at your heartstrings featuring Twilight with a single tear running down her cheek.
Fourth, it shows that the author cares about the presentation of their work, and by extension their work in general. If the author is willing to spend hours putting pen to paper making a fic, they should be able to spend a couple of minutes tracking down a picture for it, if they aren't willing to do that, then that shows me there is a chance they don't actually care about how it turned out.
Last.... have you ever seen anything get featured without cover-art? That's good enough reason right there to put it in.
As for the one's you have in progress, I don't know how much I like the Redheart one (sorry but she kind of looks like froggish.... if you know what I mean) but it definitely grabs the attention and shows the emotion you're going for, the Sisterhooves pic actually made me laugh out loud, certainly looking forward to reading that, and the last one looks pretty good too, looking forward to another fic with Spike at the helm.
There's a very long discussion here and I admit I don't have time to read it all, so I'm just going to toss my formed opinion that might already be pre-crushed by existing arguments.
1) The most important goal for a cover art is setting expectations. If you have Pinkie Pie in the cover, people who like Pinkie Pie will be interested and you better damn have lots of Pinkie Pie in it. If she's just an introductory plot point to be tossed into irrelevance by the 20th percent of the story, that's BAD. (Yes, I'm venting.)
2) The second most important goal of cover art is being visually appealing. If it looks unpolished, it'll send the message that the story might be just as unpolished. That's not telling, of course, but life is busy, and bad hints are better than no hint at all.
For the longest time (until about 3 years ago), any book I saw with a lion or tiger looking regal and awesome on the cover got attention from me. Lions and tigers are very much an obsession for me (I've even met a couple dozen of each personally over my life. I'm patient, persistent, and imaginative in getting my desires fulfilled. Now to turn my attention to world domination...
)
But now, I'm much more interested in the story summaries and descriptions. I've learned to 'read into them' to some degree, and with a very high accuracy I can tell if I'll like a story or not. After reading several thousand stories of all different types over the years, I have some innate sense of how the story will be told and generally what its structure will be, as well as the major plot points. I can then guage broadly if I might like it, or will absolutely hate it.
Certain plot ideas generally are easier to work into enjoyable tales for me than others. And there are some that, the instant it's hinted that they're a major part of the book, I know at once I will despise it because those who manage to do something clever with those ideas are all but non-existent.
For instance: if the vampires sparkle... SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH HATE!!!
I'm more willing to give comedies a chance (unless they contain too much gore, sex, and swearing which in my opinion cheapen and ruin comedy unless the writer is a brilliant satirist and uses them with cleverness) because the point of a comedy is to make me laugh, not be a brilliantly profound philosophical journey into the meaning of life (Though, "The Meaning of Life" was rather clever. Of course, the Python crew fall into the group of brilliant satirists)
Cover art is one of the things that first grabs your eye while browsing. Good cover art can cause someone to stop and read the summary, while poorly done art can cause the story to be skipped. I know it seems very superficial, but with the plethora of stories out there, something has to grab the attention of the reader before they pass it by.
Personally, I read the summaries and tags for stories before I toss them into the read or avoid piles. Good cover art is a nice touch, especially if it has a scene or idea from within the story.
503345
Sounds like something I'll have to look into reading!
503346
I agree with you in that we shouldn't let it be the deciding factor, but in reality it is that item that "seals the deal" in many ways.
503355
I hope you're able to find artists who are able to help you define your vision!
503363
Hmmm... and interesting observation! I hadn't thought about the way that vectors can be interpreted that way.
*Eyes his own bit of vector play.*
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
503365
Heh, I remember that comment... and I'm very glad that you looked deeper.
503373
Best of luck with your eBooks, Dag!
503390
Thanks for the feedback about the pictures, Lurk!
503398
Your reply reminds me of the mime from Animaniacs!
503415
...
Indeed, there has to be a thinning process of some kind...
503479
I'm going to certainly keep intriguing, boring, and repulsive in mind when I think about cover art from now on.
503509
I was unaware that you had such a talented other! Doe she have a DA page or the like?
503532
Oh... but, just so you know, just as I told the artist, blood on the face of a healer means something entirely different than blood in any other context.
503549
I have found that the simplest way to get almost anything in life is by asking politely, Middy!
503562
I'm hearing a lot of agreement with your sentiment that PonyCreator should be avoided like the plague!
503585
I should now very much like to write a story entitled Pony Verbs a Noun!
503826
I think that the idea that we're attempting to convey some emotion certainly is worth reflecting upon, May.
503856
Appealing and setting expectations! Right! I think I can do that!
503872
I swear to you, Al... there will never be a sparkly vampire in any of my stories. That is my word!
504217
Yeah, summaries are probably more important... but the art just adds so much!
504547
Thanks mate. They might actually get done if I don't jump off a bridge first.
504547
The Honorverse is worth the read and if you don't want to go out and buy the first book, you can get them for free as an eBook from the publisher.
504547
No, she's been extremely busy lately the only art she's really done lately has been the cover art. Sometimes she'll do Rites-related sketches too and I'll post them on my FimFic blog though. Also for dA, well, she's also very shy and hasn't wanted to put her work on there yet.
I've learned not to judge a fic by its coverart, but if I see a cover of Spike kissing a draconic Apple Bloom, then I'm gonna read that story immediately. While we're on the subject of coverart, I happened upon this little gem while scrolling to the bottom of the page. Remove the text, and it would be a pretty good piece of coverart. And I'd love to see the story behind this.
pagead2.googlesyndication.com/simgad/11091415625109078356
The fact that cover-art attracts people to stories is just part of "the nature of the beast" I think. To me, the most important thing in determining whether or not I read a story is the description. If it reads like this does or this, then you can bet I'm going to dive right in without a second thought. Descriptions have grabbed me a number of times. Unfortunately, the best descriptions tend to be attached to gimmicky stories, for which an attention-grabbing and intriguing description come easy. Likewise, some of my favorite stories ever
Still, this method of story-discovery has had a much more reliable hit-rate than judging solely by art. More importantly, cover art doesn't quite grab me as much anyways. I can only think of three times that I've ever looked at a cover-picture and immediately threw my hands up and said "I'm gonna read the sh*t outta this story!" This was the first one, this was the second one, and the third time was when I saw that "sisterhooves" picture you posted. To be clear, I would not have had the same reaction if I didn't know that the word "sisterhooves" was attached to the picture, but once I had that context I just couldn't stop smiling.
To be perfectly frank, I think DPV111 hit the nail on the head. Poor cover art is indicative of a bad package. Good cover art is not indicative of a good package, but it's not indicative of a bad one, either, so it's a good start.
My experience here is limited, but I'd think of the cover image as I would a story-starting-song-quote. Some people start a story with a song quote (example) because they've found something that fits the teme of their story or evokes the same emotions that they're trying to work with. The problem is that these songs are pretty out-of-universe (they weren't written by ponies) and this practice often only serves to distract from the story at hand. But you know what doesn't feel out-of-universe and distracting? A picture of ponies.
The cover image is one of the first communications that the story makes with it's reader. Like it or not, that image will be part of the first-impression, and first-impressions count for quite a bit. Don't fret over whether an image will get you more readers or not. You're not a marketing executive. Instead, remember that this cover image is just like anything else associated with your story: it's a part of the story. A story is an experience, and an experience cannot be separated from it's context (that context is part of the experience). The cover image, the description, even the first few comments below each chapter, are going to color the expectations and perceptions of your readers, and you would be remiss not to consider taking control of these context-creators in service of giving your readers the experience you'd like for them to have. It's a tool. You can use it.
504547
'First story art'. As in, ' To Change a Heart 's story art.
I am terrible with remembering fics by name... I can hardly remember anyone's name if I haven't repeated it or seen them many times.
A picture, as far as fics go, really helps it to stand out amonst the crowd of "READ ME! READ ME!" and with leisure time burning ever faster as the days go by, it really does help to have that attention grabber pic, to go with a well thought out title.
There are Pros and Cons to this, particularly more so on FimFic where EVERYONE usually tries to grab the latest or 'coolest' art in a DrawFriend and paste it into their works. This can be a good thing, but what happens when 10 other fic writers are using the exact same picture? I've seen two so far that use the same picture of a near dead Chrysalis after her fall from near perfect victory, March of the Scaffold, and while that picture DID get me to pause and stare at it for awhile, it was the Title and the Description that made me open the page to read on.
Your story, I am sorry to say, I have not read. I have seen it on the feature box. I did think the picture cute. But, I was not interested in another Spike Bloom romance. As cute as it may seem. I will say, I do wish you'd do more of that Red Heart story. I love the artist's work, and thought your story was doing well to match it.
A picture will help you stand out in peoples' mind, it will be easier for them to recall what they once saw if it was good enough and what they read was enjoyable to them. This is why I hate it when people tend to just up and change a fic's cover art out of the blue who rarely updates. If you aren't reading that fic every week or few days, and update the cover art with the new chapter you're releasing about 2+ months later.... Well, damn you may have lost people if they weren't strictly following you closely. Happened to me with a few fics. It's ANNOYING.
In closing, when choosing a picture for a story. It is important, especially if it's not an original piece being made solely for your story, to have a good connection with the chosen piece of art you're stapling to the story. Not all artists will be pleased to see their work attached to some clop or poorly thought out wall of text. A picture is a powerful tool that can inspire many stories, and can get many interpretations. Some are simpler than others. The point being, keep it simple, make it fit your work and not a "Oh look SpikeBloom! That is soo d'aww- Wait, why is Scootaloo suddenly fighting ninjas and Rarity mowing down Camels in some fit to save her fashion store? Where is Spike and Apple Bloom?!" nonesense where a picture barely has anything to do with the characters and events in your story.
I'll have to give your Spike Bloom piece a go some time this weekend. It is a cute cover.
505427
Heh, now that would be a challenge!
505480
I'm going to agree with the way that you agree with DPV.
I find the song-quote thing a little odd as well, butI understand the emotion in it. Thanks for replying!
506551
Agreed entirely that an author should choose an image and stick with it, and that the image should match the story. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Okay, before I comment, I will explain how I got here.
I was looking through the people I'm following, and I found one that I could not remember. I went to his profile to see what stories he had written that made me follow him. When I got there, I saw a wall comment from 'The Descendant' thanking him for a fave. I said 'Well, let's check him out.' So I came and I found this blog.
So here I am.
Anyways, I was saying how I was basically doomed to forever be an outcast due to my lack of Cover Art; so, I have a question.
Where do you get yours?
517413
Heh, I always do my best to thanks my Favers, Commentators, and Watchers, so that's what you saw there.
As for obtaining cover art, I always find you can accomplish an amazing number of things by asking politely! I usually just do an image search on Deviant Art of even Google images. You can usually kick up all sorts of great stuff!
519255
Thanks.