My book, a science fiction novel, is being published. I need a design for the cover, and have decided to have a competition for the cover design.

Here are some simple facts about this competition, so please read them carefully before you decide to enter.

1. I am a graphic designer myself, and perfectly capable of designing the cover and creating the cover art. So this competition is being done to give people in this community the opportunity to design a cover, and if they win, to have this cover displayed all over the world, and on the internet, in any place this book is being sold. On the cover they can add their name as the cover designer, and their website.

2. I am not paying for the cover design, or the artwork. If I had to pay for this, I would just do it myself, as I am far too poor to afford to pay for it. I will however, come to any arrangement with the winner as far as free models, promotion, etc, go.

3. The prizes in this competition are:

a) You get to put your name on the cover, and your website if you have one.
b) You get a free copy of the book.
c) You get to add this to your CV, and have the right to list this as commercial work you have done.
d) You will be allowed to choose any ten models I have created and download these for free. You can look at the type of work I have done here: http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/memberpage.asp?memberid=36
e) You will retain the copyright on the artwork and design, with certain restrictions, such as not being able to sell this to a publisher or reseller that will prevent it's use on the book. This means you can still display the artwork on your website and online galleries, and may still personally sell copies of this image. This right you normally lose when your artwork is chosen for a book cover.

4. This competition is meant as an opportunity for the users and members of this community to do something more than just add images to a gallery, but to get their name and design released to a wider audience. This competition is not being done to take advantage of home designers, to steal your artwork, to get the cover done cheap, or any other alterior motive. If you do not like the terms of the competition, or think that it is unfair that I am not paying for the design, then do not enter.

So, if you are happy with the above conditions, then this is what you have to do to enter.

Go to the website: www.helgarddebarros.com

Under the downloads section, you can download the first chapter of the book (the entire book is 22 chapters).

This will give you an idea of the style of the book, and will introduce the heroine of the story.

Then under downloads you can download:

• a photoshop template with all the printers guides, text and sizes.
• an instruction list, which will explain the template, sizes, formats, submission guidelines, etc, and also contains all the legal requiremants and conditions.
• the back cover text as a word document.

On the website you will also be able to download a few short stories for free, look at how your cover design will be used on the website, and maybe find a bit more useful information.

On the website is also a section for fan art. For entries which do not win, but which we like, we will ask permission from the artists to include those images on the fan art section.

PS The deadline is the 31st of August, so if you want to go for it, there is no time to waste.

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