Vacant expressions on plastic dolls with impossible outfits really don’t elicit ANY visceral response to a book, other than revulsion. Why don’t these “authors” understand that?
I’m surprised (and disappointed) that Joel published such an article.
Like I said, I’ve clashed with this jerk before, and I’m not surprised at all that he uses such unethical tactics. This sentence says it all:
“Doesn’t just one person get paid? Yep, that’s how it works. You might have dozens of designers working for hours that won’t end up with a penny.”
I agree that the attitude of the article is a rather awful one. The tone is simply insufferable. But I am curious as to what makes the contest itself unethical. I mean, I spent hours writing a story for a contest and didn’t win. Don’t people willingly enter contests knowing that they might not win?
I realize that there is a difference. My story which lost can be submitted to other markets, whereas a book cover can’t really be used anywhere else.
Trust me, I am not taking the article’s side–but don’t companies invest large amounts of money and time in pitches that inevitably fail? Don’t they still recover from that?
Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with the contests, but still think on this:
Say there was a logo design contest announced for Coca-Cola’s new product Squibble! The winner gets their name forever put on Coca-cola’s website, their logo splashed all over coca-cola products, $1,000,000, and a pair of contact lenses that lets you shoot laser beams out of your eyes. The winner will be picked secretly from a panel of Coke’s graphic artists and announced on June 14th!
On the same day Mick and Tom’s Landscaping announces their logo contest for… Mick and Tom’s Landscaping. The winner gets $15 and a hearty handshake from either Mick and Tom (their choice). The ten top candidates will be contacted and come in and compare ideas. All will re-deign their logo according to Mick and Tom. Then the top three will be narrowed down. All will remake the same idea for a logo and Mick will pick the one he likes the best based on the colour green that was used. Winner will be announced June 14th!
What is the difference here?
In this example Coca-Cola would be Stephen King. If he announced a cover contest, that is worthy of a contest. Worthy of being of note. Your name would be on the cover, everyone would know, you’d get laser beam eyes, the whole bit. If you enter and don’t win? Oh well, you tried.
Greg (and others) would be Mick & Tom. If you enter this contest your book cover idea may be hacked apart and used by the eventual winner. If you do win, you get $15. It isn’t a contest, it is a focus group that you don’t buy doughnuts for!
Can I say how much I love you, Waffles? Is that creepy?lol
Because here I am desperately trying to identify what I think is wrong with this whole thing, in a language that is not the language I use daily, and I,m having a hard time finding the right words in English to make my point clearer…
And here you come and say it so beautifully. This is exactly what I think is wrong with those “contests.” Thank you!
It’s not just a matter of big company vs small one or an individual. I’ve seen a lot of contests on online community sites run either by the community itself or an individual member of the community. The difference here was that the goal of the contest was either publicity, or sheer fun, and was backed up with adequate prizes. They were not designed to get cheap or free labor to make work for you that you’d otherwise need to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for. Like others already said, calling something a contest doesn’t make it one.
The purpose of writing contests, for anthologies at least, is to get the best quality stories into the anthology, and there’s honestly no better way to do that than contests. Good writing gets in, other writing was probably not up to standards. It’s not designed to get people to write for you for free.
The most common argument from people that want designers to work for them for free is “but it’s good exposure for you” and “you will have something to put in your portfolio.” The truth is, you get that from paid work as well.
I understand what you say ASwan. A contest is a contest and there’s only just one winner. My problem with this is the callous way with which some people uses them. “hey let me have all these people working their ass off for nothing so I can get one crappy cover for peanuts.”
Because you apply the word “contest” to something doesn’t mean that it is really what it is. I’m sure some people use these contests in an honorable way. But others use it, and gloat about using it, as cheap labor. That’s where I draw the line.
As for the big companies: of course they recover from losing a pitch. Because they are big companies with a structure and many pitches going on all the time to balance their losses. Here we’re talking about individuals and how desperate they are to win 20$.
I realize they willingly participate, you know, that nothing forces them to. But does that make it right? Not in my book.
![cover[1]](https://lousybookcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cover19.jpg)
At least it’s consistent, they didn’t mix real humans in there. And that’s a big plus, at least in my book.
Vacant expressions on plastic dolls with impossible outfits really don’t elicit ANY visceral response to a book, other than revulsion. Why don’t these “authors” understand that?
(And they DID mix with real trees…)
Let me say it again: I hate those 3D renderings. This is the ugliest and creepiest kind of art work out there.
And I just saw the name of the author: I had to deal with this guy in a community I moderate. Karma is a bitch.
Agree agree agree! My skin crawls looking at them.
This is what happens when you start a community dinner theater in Never Never Land.
Everyone wants to be a Warrior Hero and there’s no budget for decent costumes.
You know, if someone could use 3D rendered characters on one of these and make it look good, I’d be genuinely impressed.
Funny, this author recently wrote a blog about using freelancer contests for ebook covers: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2014/06/using-freelancer-contests-for-your-ebook-covers/
I’d hate to see the runner-ups for this particular cover contest.
I’m surprised (and disappointed) that Joel published such an article.
Like I said, I’ve clashed with this jerk before, and I’m not surprised at all that he uses such unethical tactics. This sentence says it all:
“Doesn’t just one person get paid? Yep, that’s how it works. You might have dozens of designers working for hours that won’t end up with a penny.”
I agree that the attitude of the article is a rather awful one. The tone is simply insufferable. But I am curious as to what makes the contest itself unethical. I mean, I spent hours writing a story for a contest and didn’t win. Don’t people willingly enter contests knowing that they might not win?
I realize that there is a difference. My story which lost can be submitted to other markets, whereas a book cover can’t really be used anywhere else.
Trust me, I am not taking the article’s side–but don’t companies invest large amounts of money and time in pitches that inevitably fail? Don’t they still recover from that?
Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with the contests, but still think on this:
Say there was a logo design contest announced for Coca-Cola’s new product Squibble! The winner gets their name forever put on Coca-cola’s website, their logo splashed all over coca-cola products, $1,000,000, and a pair of contact lenses that lets you shoot laser beams out of your eyes. The winner will be picked secretly from a panel of Coke’s graphic artists and announced on June 14th!
On the same day Mick and Tom’s Landscaping announces their logo contest for… Mick and Tom’s Landscaping. The winner gets $15 and a hearty handshake from either Mick and Tom (their choice). The ten top candidates will be contacted and come in and compare ideas. All will re-deign their logo according to Mick and Tom. Then the top three will be narrowed down. All will remake the same idea for a logo and Mick will pick the one he likes the best based on the colour green that was used. Winner will be announced June 14th!
What is the difference here?
In this example Coca-Cola would be Stephen King. If he announced a cover contest, that is worthy of a contest. Worthy of being of note. Your name would be on the cover, everyone would know, you’d get laser beam eyes, the whole bit. If you enter and don’t win? Oh well, you tried.
Greg (and others) would be Mick & Tom. If you enter this contest your book cover idea may be hacked apart and used by the eventual winner. If you do win, you get $15. It isn’t a contest, it is a focus group that you don’t buy doughnuts for!
Is there a difference? Not really. But…
Can I say how much I love you, Waffles? Is that creepy?lol
Because here I am desperately trying to identify what I think is wrong with this whole thing, in a language that is not the language I use daily, and I,m having a hard time finding the right words in English to make my point clearer…
And here you come and say it so beautifully. This is exactly what I think is wrong with those “contests.” Thank you!
You can profess your love to me, as long as you bring whipped cream and strawberries!
… wait… is that creepy?
Not at all! Not if I can also bring maple syrup!
Thanks for your analogy. That made it much clearer for me.
It’s not just a matter of big company vs small one or an individual. I’ve seen a lot of contests on online community sites run either by the community itself or an individual member of the community. The difference here was that the goal of the contest was either publicity, or sheer fun, and was backed up with adequate prizes. They were not designed to get cheap or free labor to make work for you that you’d otherwise need to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for. Like others already said, calling something a contest doesn’t make it one.
The purpose of writing contests, for anthologies at least, is to get the best quality stories into the anthology, and there’s honestly no better way to do that than contests. Good writing gets in, other writing was probably not up to standards. It’s not designed to get people to write for you for free.
The most common argument from people that want designers to work for them for free is “but it’s good exposure for you” and “you will have something to put in your portfolio.” The truth is, you get that from paid work as well.
I understand what you say ASwan. A contest is a contest and there’s only just one winner. My problem with this is the callous way with which some people uses them. “hey let me have all these people working their ass off for nothing so I can get one crappy cover for peanuts.”
Because you apply the word “contest” to something doesn’t mean that it is really what it is. I’m sure some people use these contests in an honorable way. But others use it, and gloat about using it, as cheap labor. That’s where I draw the line.
As for the big companies: of course they recover from losing a pitch. Because they are big companies with a structure and many pitches going on all the time to balance their losses. Here we’re talking about individuals and how desperate they are to win 20$.
I realize they willingly participate, you know, that nothing forces them to. But does that make it right? Not in my book.
That makes sense. It was the attitude behind the article I disliked the most. Waffles said it very well, as you noted. 🙂
My limitations with English frustates me. I’m really happy she was able to clarify this point of view. 😉
The first picture in that article might explain a lot of LBCs.
Thanks for profiling my cover!
It’s not really a “thanks!” kind of thing, Greg.
Exactly.
The book is #999,053 Paid in Kindle Store – and has one 3-star review. Do ya THINK the cover has anything to do with it?
Not the moment for “Thanks!” – but clearly for professional editing & cover design.
Quick Question: Is this the cover for the book, or the simultaneously released Whitesnake Album cover based on the book?
Whitesnake!
::snort::
Pseudobooks, too.