Cover Design, CreateSpace and crowdSpring

I have several manuscripts that are nearing the completion stage. It will be a couple of months before each is ready to be uploaded in its final form to CreateSpace for publication and sale via Amazon. It is time to start thinking about cover design for each book a well as the specific title.

It is much more important to me for the cover design for these projects to be significantly better than the cover design of most of my books. Many of my books are not intended to be sold to the public at large via Amazon. These books are given away at clinics and presentations and are part of the price of tuition to attend. They are for sale on Amazon simply because a few extra sales here and there never hurts.

Having said that, these next projects need to have excellent cover designs because they are specifically intended to be sold on Amazon. When it comes to visual creativity and design, I have no hint of talent.

Planning ahead is always a positive activity, especially if it involves money. A quick search of the CreateSpace website to re-read the information about the cover design services offered by CreateSpace as well as the prices led me to discover a new service offered by CreateSpace, if you want to call it a new service.

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 makes the following claims on its website:

• 110 entries per project, on average
• 100% satisfaction guaranteed on every single project
• 96% of buyers would recommend crowdSPRING
• 80,882 designers and writers ready to create for your project
• 97% of customer questions are answered within an hour

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.

Further investigation of this company is warranted and I plan to look into using their services for at least one of my upcoming books. As I learn more I will be sure to share what I learn with the readers of this blog.