Book cover to appeal to elementary school teachers who don't like poetry

Laura Purdie Salas

I'm a children's writer and poet. My traditionally published books are for kids. My indie published books are geared toward either educators or other writers. This book will be marketed directly to TEACHERS.

I need a book cover a Kindle e-book/CreateSpace paperback. It will be
viewed on Amazon most often. My book is for teachers, and the tone is
professional but fun. I tend to like a clean, contemporary look.

Overall layout:

I like color-blocked covers a lot. On these covers
(http://ultimatebookcoach.com/wp-con…-Image.png)
I like the horizontal banding and the use of a simple graphic element
*behind* the text. And I like how prominent the text is, though I'm
not necessarily wild about those colors or font effects.

On these covers (https://secure.ncte.org/store/books/series/pip), I
like the bands of color, but the text isn't nearly readable enough in
thumbnail view.

I like the horizontal banding here, too
(http://www.amazon.com/Closer-Readin…304450/ref).

Basically, I like the layout and use of graphics on that first example
(http://ultimatebookcoach.com/wp-con…-Image.png)
best. But it's a bit amateur looking, and fonts/colors are not my
favorite.

Images:

Some of the objects in the book include pine cones, tree bark,
baseball, and robin's eggs. So one of those might make a good soft
graphic to use behind the text. I would want it to be posterized or
filtered in a way that it looks more like an illo or a graphic
element
than an actual photo, though. I'd love for this to be a Flickr photo,
if possible, with a Creative Commons Commercial Use Allowed license.
Please provide link to Flickr photo if you use one.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/picsb…4571806793
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacob…/935755463
https://www.flickr.com/photos/loveh…2716309164
https://www.flickr.com/photos/travi…7506000916

One band needs to say "30 Painless Classroom Poems." I would like this
band to incorporate some simple graphic element. I'm happy to buy a
stock illo with a book and commercial use license for less than $50
for this. Or perhaps you'll make the band more interesting simply
through the font and use of lines or shapes.

The title of the book is What's Inside? Poems to Explore the
Park. The subtitle can be smaller than the title.

The author name is Laura Purdie Salas.

If there's a graphic way to work in the below bulleted points, that
would be great. Might be just too much text, though.
* Classroom Poetry Tips
* 30 Poems
* Notes from the Poet
* Classroom Activities

Important points:

* text will be the main element of the covers because there's a lot of
text I need to be readable
* horizontal banding, please
* 30 Painless Classroom Poems and the title and subtitle MUST be
readable in thumbnail view
* needs to look great on iPads or laptops
* must be readable and eye-catching in thumbnail view
* 2820 pixels wide and 4500 pixels high
* layered .psd file so I can change text, etc., later, if necessary
* IF background is white, needs a 3-4 pixel grey border
* illustrations, not photos, and mainly as background (I like
transparent/monotone ones a lot)
* colors--bright, but not garish - I like
http://tinyurl.com/q43zahs and http://tinyurl.com/peq3lxh for
instance. No
primary or muddy colors. (Those are links on paletton.com, but the
real links keep truncating, so I made them into tinyurls.)

Just a reminder that the book cover must appeal to TEACHERS, not to kids. Thanks!