edited background and cropping

I have edited the picture I had chosen for the front cover and I think it still looks a little off the mark.
I think it looks good but it does look like it needs more editing:

This is the original 

This is the new edited one, using the crop tool, I edited the size of the picture to make it a medium close up shot. also I used the rule of thirds, a skill we learnt in class to take a better photo, to make the cover the best as it can be in regard to the image.

Also I used the eraser tool with the paint bucket tool to edit the covers background out so there will be a larger amount of space for text which I will put in.