Welcome to the Cover Club! With the beginning of this groundbreaking group, we need to do a lot of stuff.

Our orders of Business are as follows:

You can't start a group without members. I see that The Cover Club already has a few, but it'll need a lot more to get off of the ground. But it isn't just members for the sake of having members. We need:
A. Writers who need covers. Duh. Those who need covers come here, get covers and we're all happy!
B. Artists to supply covers. Also duh. Artists would have less reason to join the group than the clients, but it would still be a good idea for them to keep them connected to the exchange. Some might be looking to make money via commissions, but a good enough story might have fans looking to assist free of charge.

Now that quality control thing I put in the description? To hell with that. Any stories will be excepted from now on... but they will be divided.

Tier 1: Any stories eligible
Tier 2: At least 25 likes.
Tier 3: At least 50 likes, Likes>Dislikes.
Tier 4: At least 100 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 3-2
Tier 5: At least 150 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 2-1
Tier 6: At least 150 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 5-2
Tier 7: At least 200 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 3-1
Tier 8: At least 200 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 5-1
Tier 9: At least 250 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 7-1
Tier 10: At least 300 likes, Likes>Dislikes by 9-1

By dividing the stories by quality, we ensure that fics that people like are presented clearly for recognization. The less enjoyed fics will still stick around, and they'll get their own soon enough.

I came up with these "Tiers" on the fly while sleep-deprived, so I strongly suggest counter suggestions or additions. Just keep in mind as I did while coming up with these to keep the balance between the amount of likes and the ratios. Fics with 100 likes or a 100% like ratio sound good until you realize they're 100-1000 and 2-0, respectively. But the 100-1000 fic is still popular nonetheless! And the 2-0 fic still has a ways to go! It's not going to be simple.

How are we to organize the clients and the artists for maximum efficiency and user-friendliness?
The clients have the quality-based tiers, but what about other ways they may differentiate? Some might be looking for a single character, plain background, with a title, while others are looking for epic covers the likes of LOTR posters. We could organize them based on what they want, or organize artists based on what they're offering, or both. Then there will be dividing the work-for-hire artists from the fic-fan artists. The key to organizing everything is the folders for the stories, and the forums for the users.
Now how are we to bring all of this into action?

I've given my input, now I'm all ears.

Any suggestions?

3026214 As for tiers, you could do a simple equation:
Likes * (Likes / dislikes)
and order the stories in tiers based on how much points this equation gives them.

As for 'authors - artis' exchange I would suggest the following:
Each story (published or unpublished) gets a thread (you could make it obligatory to put the tier of the story in the title of the thread if you want).

Authors would post their art in the threads. Some art is already created and just need to find a home (a story). Artist would therefore be motivated to join this group and check new threads regularly, so that they could stick their existing art in them.

As for choosing the art I would suggest the following modes:
a) Art choice by public vote
When author chooses this, he is obliged to use the cover art that gets the most thumbs up. Artists would take that as competition and would be motivated to do their best. The cover art the author is already using is also a part of this competition. That would ensure that the cover art the author gets is better than the one he had before. If the picture he had before wins it means that author will not be changing his cover art. Competitions are fun for everypony. In the end, author would get a cover art that got the most thumbs up and is presumably the best choice for him.

b) By author's choice
If author chooses this, then it's a bit of a biased competition. Artist would put in mostly stuff that they have already made and only some would actually make something new. The previous cover art would also apply in this competition. Author would then be able to choose anything he liked from the posted pictures. If he chose to he could stick with his previous cover art.

c) By request
Author choosing this is looking for an artist for hire. Artist will apply on the thread and post his references. Author will chose whether he will work with him or not. If he decides to work with the artist, no other artist may apply on the thread. The artist of author's choice will draw a picture and author will use it for the story.

I believe that this system would attract many authors and many artists.
- Authors because they would get a good cover art without the need for searching for an artist / cover art.
- Artists because they could promote their work (even if they don't get to be chosen) and they could compete with other artists, which is something they can't do anywhere else.

3027527

One thread per story seems like a lot, doesn't it? A lot of stories could go unnoticed. I would think that the folders would fill the need of having every story be available. The forums could still be a secondary option, but we should ensure every story is noticed by grouping them together somehow. We should also have threads for artists, in the likely case there are writers with more initiative than artists. In the case where there are artists and writers that shack up in the forums and just wait, there has to be a way to connect them by taking initiative ourselves.

We also need to make sure that artists get credit, and that covers aren't just copypasted endlessly (Eg. All Twilight Sad stories reuse a cover with Twilight looking sad without giving credit to the artist). I think most if not all covers should have their titles, and that would unfortunately mean artists can't put up a bunch of artwork and have the writers select and choose. Of course, if we wanted, we could have things a lot less orderly, but I don't think that's the way to go that will most benefit the writers and the artists.

Your Tier idea sounds good, and seems like a more precise version of my system. However, it might require a bit more explanation than my system. Do we go with one that's sort of precise and sort of complicated or one that's very precise and more complicated?

3029567 Your group, your rules.

With threads I mostly wanted to solve the need of authors that are looking for the first cover before publishing. Those authors can't put their story in the folders.

3029639

They maybe be my rules, but I totally need others' input to make sure I don't screw things up.

The rest of the comment confuses me. Could you elaborate?

3029691 Authors that have a published fic already have cover art. Those authors are the only ones that can put their stories into your folders. The rest are just stuck.

If you made a thread for all the authors with unpublished fics nobody would check that thread since it would grow out of proportions.

One author one thread seems reasonable to me. You only get as many threads as there are members in this group. It should be manageable and orderly.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/173774/beyond-her-garden
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98845/short-shorts

The first two example I found on the main page. The second one seems to be in groups. Are they just unable to be put in folders?

3026214 Let's say you just want to publish a fic. Finding an artist takes time and artist needs time to do the magic.

Would having a thread for temporary art request be a good idea? Some artists can draw something up in 5 minutes. It's still better than no cover art and the artist wouldn't mind if his/her art was replaced later on.

3131369

Are users able to close threads they started?

3132177 I think they are. If not, you can always delete them as group's administrator.