2. 99DESIGNS ($300-$600+): 99Designs (and similar sites like Crowdspring) can work some- times, at least to get decent designs. On 99Designs, you post a detailed brief with all the technical parameters and visual examples you pulled, and then their design- ers read this information and post their work. Dozens of designers take your brief, design a cover, and post it for your approval. You then have the option to choose the winning designer to take the cover from, or, if you don’t like any of the designs, get a full refund with no hassle. 99Designs is great as a first option to test if a great cover would be worth the money to you. That way you can see the designs, get some ideas, and hopefully find a great cover. But, if not, no harm, and you can go back to the drawing board with the other options. We’d recommend doing the Silver contest (which costs $499). The lower end contests really repel the better designers on the site, and the higher end ones don’t seem to garner much higher quality (and actually tend to get fewer submissions). 3. UPWORK ($50-$500+): The next step up the quality ladder would be a freelance network like Upwork. The overall quality on Upwork is not high, but there are some quality designers hidden on there. Expect to take your time to find the right person on one of these sites, but you will be able to find them. Job ads typically get dozens if not hundreds of responses, and designers typically link a portfolio of past work. Screen out anyone with more than a few negative reviews, and then focus 100 percent of your screening time on judging their portfolios. Do a side by side comparison of the covers you liked when you did your research on Amazon. Do they appear to be of similar quality? If you can’t tell, ask a friend who understands the basics of design. hOW TO gET A grEAT BOOk COvEr · 285