I've recently started working through a course about advertising. I know I took a class like this in high school or college, but not only is my memory extremely short, trends change. Sometimes monthly!
And this course is designed particularly for authors and publishers, defining ways to get books noticed. A couple of weeks ago, we had a class on covers. The book that I'm using for training has a great cover - or so I thought. Here are the original (left and brighter) and the re-design (right and foggier) that I had done last year.
When I shared my cover within the class, however, I learned a few things:
I think the biggest takeaway is what I already said, "Trends change."
While putting the male main character on the cover - usually with his shirt hanging open - is a definitely plus nowadays, having the girl on the cover is not. I was urged to remove the girl. But I'm not one to jump into things just because they are trends. After all, my story is about the girl - Cat.
The other comment was to lose the crosshairs. Again, I had a little angst. The crosshairs make this book a suspense instead of a romance. There's romance in it, but the suspense and mystery are the story. And the overview of all of the Heath's Point Suspense books is that there is a target on the main character - as in this case. But I wanted to have an open mind about all the suggestions.
After looking through the most popular books of my Christian suspense genre, I realized that I needed to make a change. And so was born this new cover. I downplayed the crosshairs, but kept them. My focus is on the woman because she's the central character of the story. I did allow the environment, which is what I noticed on so many of the book covers in my genre to take more of a center stage. Particularly the season. The season is important in all four of the books of this series.
It looks cold which was my hope, but it is pretty devoid of color. Most of the books in my genre have darker covers, but flashes of bright colors, mostly red and blue, throughout. When I shared this cover, the lack of color was the biggest comment, though several in the group who happen to read Christian suspense, really liked this cover.
So I had another adjustment made, bringing more color into the cover. I have to tell you, I really like the newer version of this cover. It isn't quite as cold as the first, but the hair is more true to the character in the book.
One of the Christian suspense readers mentioned that she liked the cover with less color because the character look small town, comfortable, and innocent. The crosshairs jarred her, in a good way, because she realized that "a sweet, small-town girl was in trouble."
She nailed it! That is exactly how I see it, and the new cover delights me. In fact, I liked it so much that I went ahead and had it changed from the upgrade that I did last year. 
And this is what brings me to you today. I have readers who prefer last year's cover. And I have readers that like both the darker one and the more colorful version of my new cover.
Then I have a kink that was thrown into the works. One of the experts - she really knows her stuff and leads the classes that I'm in from time to time - advised me to remove the model completely. Apparently, the new and coming trend is to have people-less covers. Or if there are people, they're in action at a distance.
I think this new trend has been influenced by the mainstream blockbuster Where the Crawdads Sing. The cover is a dimly lit marsh with pink water and sky and a little kayak in the center of the marsh that is barely noticed behind the large letters of the title.
So I had yet another new cover made with this idea in mind. It still has the elements of a mystery suspense, but the main character has been removed. The crosshairs that a few people didn't like has also been removed along with the season. The main setting is superimposed on the cover along with one of the weapons used, but those two details are the only thing unique to the book itself. 
While I think this cover aligns with the current trend, I wonder if I've gone too far, removing the elements of the story and making the cover less unique.
Here's where you come in:
1. As a Christian suspense reader, which of the five books would you be more apt to pick up? Why?
2. Which cover or covers wouldn't capture your interest if you happened to see it while browsing on Amazon?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!