Since announcing the new monthly e-book cover design awards last week, we’ve been working behind the scenes to get ready for the first issue, coming sooner than you think.
And it’s a lesson for all you author bloggers, too. It’s not just about cover design.
Running a competition, of course, is a good method for entertaining readers, bringing the excitement of a mini-event to the audience, creating drama and celebrating the winners.
In the process, you may also
- attract links in from other blogs linking to the competition
- get written about if you create a popular contest
- gain subscribers as more people visit during the contest or to see the “winners”
- find more great designers and indie authors
And that’s part of the reason I’m quite excited to get them up on the blog for you.
Scheduling
The monthly schedule includes the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival on the last Sunday of the month. That makes me think that the e-Book Cover Design Awards ought to fall in the middle of the month.
My choices are Sunday or Monday. Do you see an advantage to one over the other?
Submissions and Ratings
Last I checked there were almost 40 covers submitted for the August awards, so we should have a good deal to show.
I’m rethinking my original idea. I first thought that I would pick 1 winner in Fiction and 1 in Nonfiction, and leave all the others without mention.
Now I wonder if it wouldn’t be more helpful to sort the submissions into categories, like
- Top-level, the kind of cover we aspire to
- Good, professional work you can be proud of
- Competent and functional cover design
- Acceptable cover design
- Still needs work
Would you welcome something like that? Or using some of the submitted covers to show what to do, and what not to do?
I’m interested in how I can make this useful to the most number of people without discouraging anyone.
Criteria
Although I have personal preferences in design, I’ve looked at so many books over the years I think I can tell the ones that work from those that don’t.
Rather than preferences, I’ll be looking at:
- Suitability to the selling environment
- How the cover looks at all the sizes likely to be found online
- Typography, the hardest thing for many people
- Impact, or stopping power
- Innovative solutions to e-book covers
Is there something I’m leaving out?
Don’t forget to submit your covers for the September awards, this is going to be fun.
Photo by Shorts and Longs
