This month has been quantifiably competitive! We’re kicking off the Elite 8, and each person in this bracket has a dedicated following! The Sweet 16 had 771 votes (just short of a record), which puts us at 3,046 votes so far.
Let’s go over some numbers:
The Closest Contest:
Michael J. Sullivan just won’t go down. His cover for Age of Myth is the only book to have to rematches. It seems like every match he’s in is a close one. This match with The First City by Joe Hart was no different. Sullivan edged out Hart by 1 vote (51 percent of the 97 votes the match received). The Day the Sky Fell by Adam Dreece also narrowly beat Brimstone by Cherie Priest. (I mean the last vote tipped the tie at 11:54 p.m.).
The Largest Victor:
Neo Edmund’s readers helped the cover for Fate of the Big Bad Wolf earn a decisive 28-vote victory (66 percent of 86 votes) over J.N. Chaney’s Hope Everlasting.
Least Voted On Contest:
We didn’t have quite the same max participation as we did in the last round, but everyone still got plenty of votes. Chaney and Edmund’s match was the low-vote earner this round.
Most Voted On Contest:
The most voted on contest was Gods and Monsters by Janie Marie vs The Bone Tree by T.A. Miles. They both received more than 50 votes, but Marie took the round with 72 out of a total of 123 votes.
Most Votes:
Gods and Monsters has surged to the front of this bracket. Marie’s received the most votes of the round as well as the most votes so far (164). It’s going to take at least 75 votes to beat her.
The Elite Eight lasts until May 10, which is another three days to show your support for the cover you like best!
Head over here and vote!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
M.L.S. Weech 
Done! I voted, though none of the aesthetics I liked seem to be receiving the votes. I wonder if it’s the fan base for the book itself or that I don’t have an eye for the popular covers.
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Well first…the last 8 were still more liked than the 16 others from the last round. They’re all solid covers. They wouldn’t be in the bracket if they weren’t. What I tend to do is see what keeps winning and why? Authors like you can use that to evaluate what you’re doing. Genre bias is another trying to at least be aware of. I’m a fantasy writer talking mostly about fantasy. I’m drawn to fantasy covers. If I were making money on this, I’d have a bracket for every genre and then one that throws the best of the best against each other. I just can’t do that with the time I have. I have to just find a cover I like – sci-fi or fantasy and move on. You’re a sci-fi guy. SF covers are very niche. They don’t change much, and their readers love them. But I don’t know how successful SF covers will be to a broader audience. These are all things you can evaluate and consider for your covers. I think it’s possible for an SF writer to have a cover their readers don’t mind, but to break out to a larger audience, the covers might need different elements. After a while, a guy is just a guy. A ship is just a ship. It doesn’t make the cover bad, but to stand out, you have to be unique.
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Great point about the genre playing a role!
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