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‘On The New Silk Road’ Book Cover Options

Help select the cover design for my next book.

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I was a real pain in the ass for my publisher, rejecting multiple covers for my next book. However, my steadfastness seems to have worked to both of our benefits, as they’ve come up with something that I feel is pretty good. Below are five options for the cover of “On the New Silk Road,” which should be out . . . someday. Please indicate in the comments below what one you think we should go with.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

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Filed under: Books, New Silk Road

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 93 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3729 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: Rome, Italy

16 comments… add one

Leave a Comment

  • becida March 10, 2017, 7:49 pm

    #1

    The last one was good but the first one shows the whole Silk Road

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  • jason c March 11, 2017, 12:15 pm

    Is not the answer clearly #2 or #3? (the new little red book!)

    though the last one reflects your personal perspective to it,
    Shouldn’t you be shamelessly bombastic with such a geopolitical event like the silk road, and use a sino-centric map?

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    • VagabondJourney March 12, 2017, 8:31 pm

      I believe you may be right. Those are the two that I’m debating between at this point.

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  • Matt Davis March 12, 2017, 1:47 pm

    #1

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  • CHINA March 13, 2017, 11:15 pm

    #1, though I really like #5 too

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    • VagabondJourney March 14, 2017, 11:38 am

      It’s strange. From posting this on various platforms there seems to be no clear winner. People seem to like different ones in almost equal numbers.

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  • Camphor Press March 15, 2017, 7:06 am

    Number 4!

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  • jrd March 16, 2017, 3:08 am

    #5

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  • William H. March 16, 2017, 3:52 am

    #3 has the best balance of colour (#1 makes China too prominent and #2 makes the rest of the world too prominent), and #3 is the reddest, which is more eye-catching than #1 or #2. #4 is too complicated, and #5 is too plain (i.e. could be showing any road).

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    • jason c March 17, 2017, 3:36 am

      #3 color is too belligerent, and the white title is awkward.

      #2. both the world and china, and the title is prominent.
      red is color of modern china, yellow is color of imperial china. (it’s a win-win situation).

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  • Debrah M Goss March 21, 2017, 5:20 pm

    Go with the gold, I like the first one.

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  • xiao wattermon March 22, 2017, 5:55 pm

    I like #4. China map is well highlighted, the red cover stands out with vibrance, and the white letters make good contrast.

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  • Rendi Bunaidi May 4, 2017, 3:47 am

    I think designs #1-#4 are good, but I’m expecting some blue to be added, just to represent the Europe portion.

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  • Vira Kuznetsova May 10, 2017, 4:32 am

    #1

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  • Oreo May 17, 2017, 3:31 am

    Has to be the first one!

    At first sight, it looks like the most original one. For no clear reason, the others seem more generic or look like they’ve been done before

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  • Malby July 15, 2017, 4:49 pm

    #1 or #3

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