Seeking advice

Umgowa

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As background, I want to state that my cover art must be illustrated as dictated by my genre. I know the cardinal rule of cover design is to give your cover a look that is consistent with other successful books in your genre. Having said that, I have come up with two concept ideas. My illustrator is poised to take those concepts to the first level (bare bones). She volunteered that she could also do a new design based on her own creativity. That would bring the total concepts to three @ $150 each. . . at the bare bones level.

I am tempted to let her loose with her creativity and include her own creation. One never knows where creative inspiration might come from. I would then go and test all three against one another . . . a simple preference test . . perhaps on this site or another and with personal contacts. I'd like to know from the more experienced self-published authors if the above plan sounds reasonable. Let me know your thoughts.
 

Polenth

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I wouldn't recommend doing this as a poll or the like. You want to know why people like a particular concept. It doesn't matter for toffee if someone likes a cover because it looks like the romances they read when you've written a gritty thriller. I've seen plenty of responses to covers where people don't like it because it's not what they read.

Comments on things like genre-appropriateness and composition are a lot more useful. You might also find that people like an element of one cover and an element of another, so the final design will be a mixture. That's why it's better just to show the pictures and ask for feedback, rather than simply asking which people like best.
 

WeaselFire

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If your designer is experienced in book covers, listen to them. If not, listen to them anyway. :)

Jeff