Authors are often faced with the problem of covers and illustrations for their books. You can't be a tough specialist in all areas at once. Likewise, writers are often far from design and illustration.
There are, of course, exceptions, but they exist to prove the rule!
And we decided to conduct an experiment: put ourselves in the shoes of the author who wrote the book and wants to get a cover for it as cheaply and quickly as possible!
We decided to find an artist who is ready to make a cover for us for 250 rubles
First tried to place an order for a well-known site for finding freelancers: fl.ru .
The experiment failed as soon as it started: the system demanded a competition for the project, and the cost of the competition was 5,000 rubles. This option is not suitable because the cost of the competition is 20 times more than the amount we want to spend. No, this option is not available.
We go to 5bucks.ru . There, too, everything is complicated, all orders go through the exchange, and the minimum order value is 5 USD (375 rubles). In principle, we could increase our budget, but we are for the purity of the experiment and for saving money. Therefore, we will not give up, we will search further.
Another exchange for freelance designers is kwork.ru . But even there there is a restriction on the minimum order amount: 500 rubles. No, we are not ready to spend such crazy money on the cover.
And the last remaining option is Yandex.Services . The site works as follows: we describe the essence of the task, indicate an approximate price range and deadline, and wait for a response.
The ad looked something like this
“Draw a cover for a book with one of the titles below. Maximum creativity is welcome!
Book titles:
- I pressed something and everything disappeared (user manual)
- IT through the eyes of clients (standards and techniques for working with clients)
- Your call is very important to us (about technical support)
- SEO website promotion order services online for free cost (SEO)
- In the event of a cyber attack, smash with a hammer (information security)
- Try turning it off and then on (tech support)
- A: \> format c: or how to start life anew (software installation)
Payment immediately for any layout to the card, Yandex.Money, webmoney or paypal. Layouts and where to pay to send by mail: *****@*******.** - The cost of the layout is 3USD (250 rubles) payment immediately.
We threw an ad, and began to wait ...
During the day, our ad was viewed by 284 people. Someone probably giggled and forgot, but 12 people responded.
Many designers who offered their services simply ignored the indicated order value and offered their own. The range of prices was from 250 rubles declared by us to two thousand. But in response, we ignored everyone who did not read the announcement to the end, and immediately agreed to work with everyone who accepted our payment terms.
An interesting fact: most of the girls-designers chose the theme “I pressed something and everything disappeared!” Maybe the name liked it, or maybe the theme is just very close to them.
The results are in front of you.
1. Simple, funny, and with panic in the eyes of the unfortunate cat who passed the keyboard.
2. The red button, as it were, hints at a similar one in the nuclear briefcase. Indeed, I pressed it and everything disappeared.
3. From IT there is only a laptop, so we put a bold minus for compliance with a given topic. But the abundance of magic books and the presence of a magic hat hint that information technology for this performer is still shamanism or witchcraft.
4. But this designer is strong not only in his field. What a gorgeous slogan he came up with: "The most exciting thing a man has invented!"
5. The same magic and shamanism, but the sky-rocketing graphics hint that this book will really help SEO-specialists in promotion.
6. Red is the color of danger. We would buy such a book.
7. It is not entirely clear why the knife? Maybe for the admin?
8. Some kind of esotericism and psychedelic has gone again, but the topic is revealed.
9. Simple and on topic. And also with recursion and ON and OFF infinitely alternating from above, making it clear that a restart will not help the business.
10. Again, a typical user looking out from behind his MacBook. What should I do? Everything has disappeared! We accept it unconditionally.
11. Closed eyes on the monitor leave no doubt as to exactly how IT looks from the point of view of customers. NO!
12. And here the eye can be interpreted as the “all-seeing eye”.
13. The literal perception of the title is a guarantee of a successful cover design.
14. But this version of the cover is more suitable for a fantasy novel in the cyberpunk genre.
15. Again, a simple and literal perception of the title. The on / off button is present, Space Invaders is also, indicating the IT focus of the book, which means all conditions are met.
16. Climbing the steps to the pedestal, but ... What is there after the highest step? The black figure that came out of her? The picture is clearly taken from some free clip art, but it will do.
17. Looks like the theme “I clicked something and everything disappeared” is really the easiest one to create a cover. You just need to take a surprised and frightened girl from the catalog with free pictures, and the topic is revealed.
What are the results of the experiment?
Even with a minimal budget, roughly equal to the cost of a glass of good coffee, you can get a good book cover with a simple, lightweight title that everyone understands. True, if your book is a work of fiction, then the design of the cover will be much more difficult, and therefore more expensive.