Why Crowdsourcing Book Cover Design is a Bad Idea

I came across a blog post today from an author who plans to release several titles through Amazon’s CreateSpace.  Here’s an excerpt from his post:

• Evidently CreateSpace has reached an agreement of sorts with a company called crowdSPRING. crowdSPRING is a brokering service for creative people, matching people who need creative work done with people who make their living being creative.

• crowdSPRING describes the process as simple. The author names a price for a cover design and provides information about the book. Designers who belong to the crowdSPRING network submit sample covers. The author picks the design that best suits the book.

• I like the idea of competition. Paying for one company to provide you with something is not going to produce a lot of choices. Putting the cover design up to bid in an open contest environment will generate a wide selection of choices.

All of the above statements are true. The problem is, they’re based on an erroneous assumption: that a book cover is a product that is being purchased. It’s not. A successful book cover is a strategy, in physical form. It’s the result of a careful collaboration between the author and the designer.

Experienced book designers usually engage in multiple conversations with the author, before design begins, to learn about the book and the target audience. Why? Because no book will be loved by everyone. A book cover design must be targeted to the specific slice of the market most likely to appreciate it. Working together, author and designer must identify who these folks are before we can design a cover that will appeal to them.

Put another way, if you and your creative partner don’t work together to identify the goal of the book cover design first, then any images, fonts, and cover styles chosen will be nothing more than wild guesses.

After spending months or years researching and writing your book, does it make sense to have the cover designed by someone who doesn’t understand this?  I don’t think so, but I welcome your comments.

Postscript: Crowdsourcing is a toxic work model with ramifications beyond cover design. The author says, “I like the idea of competition,” but crowdsourcing isn’t competition, it’s a contest. What if it catches on and becomes the norm in other lines of work? How will any of us make a living? Amazon is wrong to promote it.

What do you want to know? What topics should we explore together? How can we help you along your publishing journey? Everyone here at 1106 Design wants to help. Post your comment here or email us at office@1106design.com