The ‘Cover of the Month’ Contest has been a part of the AllAuthor family ever since its inception. The contest was created to provide authors with the opportunity to promote their book covers and increase their visibility on our platform.
The contest has helped many authors to get their book covers out into the world while also giving them an opportunity to win some awesome prizes — all without spending a single dime.
The contest’s aim was to choose the best book covers that have a high level of artistic quality and reflect an appropriate mood based on the book genre and title. While many authors have greatly benefited from the contest, it’s time for a revamp to adapt to the changing times.
How’s the New Voting System Different?
The old system displayed the list of all the book covers that the voters could pick and vote for. It was a simple system that worked well, but we wanted to take it up a notch.
Our developers have been working relentlessly for a year ideating, planning, developing and testing the new system. The motive for the rebranded interface for the new voting system is one and only — to make the contest voting as impartial as possible and create an equal ground for all the covers to win.
This means that the best-designed covers stand a win irrespective of the social media following or the influence of the authors.
In the new system, the voter will be shown two random covers to choose from. Once they vote for a cover, they’ll be shown another set of two random covers.
Test out the new voting system here
But does this mean the voters can’t see the list of all participating book covers at once?
While the main landing page of the contest will soon become the new system, you can still see a list of all the covers when you click on ‘View Results.’ If you like a cover, you click on the cover to land on its individual book page and vote for it.
The new system isn’t directly replacing the previous system. The new voting system will serve as a primary voting method added to the previous system.
We’re currently conducting a beta test with this new voting system. Authors can test this new system and provide feedback to help us improve it.
Based on the feedback and suggestions we’ve received so far, there have been a few common questions that we’d like to address here:
Can I still invite my readers and followers to vote for my cover?
Of course, you can! You’ll have an individual landing page for your book through which you can invite your social media followers, email subscribers and anyone else you want to.
After they’ve voted for your cover, they can choose to vote for any other covers they like through the new system.
Is there a way to pair the book by genre?
This was one of the common questions we got.
Our team discussed this idea at length during the initial stages of development. But considering that the final winners of the contest are decided inclusive of all genres and that there are some genres where the entries are fewer, we’ve decided to make it general voting.
To understand further, let’s explain how the contest algorithm works.
Every cover participating in the contest will be paired against every other cover an equal number of times. This means that if there are 100 covers in the contest, 100*99/2 = 4950 sets of covers will be displayed.
These covers will be displayed at random to the voters one by one. If all the 4950 sets are completed, the algorithm will start displaying the cover sets from the beginning.
This way, every book will be displayed an equal number of times, and the voters will see an equal combination of the pairings.
Now, coming to the question, if we pair the books within the same genre, there will be less visibility for the books in the specialized genre. For example, if there are only 4 book covers in a genre, there will be fewer combinations for these books and, therefore, less visibility. This defeats the purpose of the new system.
Since the final winners are declared irrespective of the genre, it’s fair to pair the books of all genres together and give the voters the decision to choose the best one. Further, we also include certain guidelines with which voters can decide the best covers based on the relevance to the book theme.
Is there a limit on the number of votes per user?
Yes, we have set a short limit for the number of votes an unregistered voter can cast. While we’re still deciding the limit of the votes, a registered voter can cast 50 votes if the total number of enrolled covers for the month is 100.
Additionally, the voter can see the remaining number of votes they can cast after every vote.
Will there be an option to skip if I don’t like either of the covers?
We’re discussing the possibility of adding a ‘Skip’ button. But one drawback we observe is that the voter may skip all the covers and vote only for their favorite author’s cover. So we’re in the process of weighing the pros and cons and will soon decide on the release.
When Is the New Voting System Open for the Public?
Currently, the new voting system is available for authors to test and provide feedback. Based on the suggestions, we’ll hopefully make improvements and open the system to the public from the beginning of August.
If you have any feedback for us, please fill out this short form.
Note: For the current contest in July, the winners will be decided based on the previous voting system.
