If you want to submit a cover to be critiqued by this site’s visitors, here’s what you have to do:
1) Be involved in the production of said cover. If you’re not the artist/designer, or the author or small publisher who commissioned the cover — in other words, if you’re not in a position to implement any of the suggestions the cover would receive on this site — then why are you wasting our time?
2) Submit a JPG of the cover as it is. Big enough for us to see it — at least 500px. And let us know if this is just a quick concept demo; that way we’ll know to worry about things like artifacting, overly crisp edges, stock image watermarks, etc.
3) Include a paragraph about the book. Give us the elevator pitch, but not the sales pitch: Tell us where and when it’s set, what the genre is, who the target audience is (including what authors’ readers it would appeal to).
4) Like us on Facebook. Okay, this isn’t actually “necessary” as such, but it’s appreciated.
5) Shut up. No, really, shut up. Remember that you won’t be standing next to every potential reader as they browse Amazon and make a snap judgment about your book based on your cover; the work has to stand for itself, without you defending your design choices. The only exception is if you phrase it in the form of a question: “You said the cover was boring; can you be more specific?” or “I was trying to go for a certain vibe; can you suggest some way to accomplish that?”
Ready to submit? Use this form (and please include your email address*):
[Note: While resubmissions of previously critiqued covers are welcome, we privilege “fresh” submissions over revisions or sequels. Just so you know.]
*FYI, there have been several documented instances of covers submitted through this form with yahoo.com email addresses attached disappearing into the ether. You might want to use another email address if you can.
Addendum: There have been a handful of instances in which authors have been grateful for the help they have received here — but then they discover that Google searches for their titles include CoverCritics prominently, ahead of their official sites, and they therefore ask me to take down all references to their cover.
In a word, Nope.