e-publishing book cover photos

[electric1]

Where do authors of e-books go to get their cover photos? When I google "free stock photos," I get sites that still want to charge. Do e-book authors spend good money on their covers? If so, how much on average, and do you alaways make enough back to justify the expenditure?

 

[PennLady]

There are some sites -- I found Wikimedia Commons -- that do have free pictures. However, it may be that those sites will not have the type of pictures that you want, so you'll need to look around. I think what you may want are "royalty-free" pictures, available at various sites. You pay for the picture one time and then you can do what you like with it.

Whatever you do, make sure of the licensing, copyright or whatever conditions.

 

[sr71plt]

Most of them pay for the cover images at such sites as Shutterstock, 123rf, Dreamstime, and depositphotos.com.

And the bad news is that these sources have recently been jacking up their prices--at lot.

I don't pay money for my covers. My publishers do.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

Where do authors of e-books go to get their cover photos? When I google "free stock photos," I get sites that still want to charge. Do e-book authors spend good money on their covers? If so, how much on average, and do you alaways make enough back to justify the expenditure?

I found photos at the required resolution for under $10 from sites like the ones mentioned. A bit of work with a photo-editing program to add title and author and voila!

However Smashwords advise using a professional designer, and suggest around $70 (typically) for their services for a cover. No doubt you could pay a lot more for a once-off piece of art by an artist.

As for getting it back, that's hard to say for sure. Personally I haven't yet but I suspect that a good cover on a site like Amazon or the Apple iBooks store would make the difference between someone looking more closely and moving onto the next book.

If you download Mark Coker's books about marketing eBooks he seems to strongly suggest getting a good cover done.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yes, dreamstime was a great site, but has gotten ridiculous. A photo I paid $5 for late last year is now $12

I have currently been using 123rf and most photos there are in the $3-$4 dollar range.

It only takes 2 sales at $2.99 on Amazon or anywhere else to get $4 back.

I've gone higher, but only for something I feel is a bit "above" most of my regular stuff.

Most sites have a "free" section, but, well, you get what you pay for.

I have also been scoping those sites long enough to know that the publishers designers pick from the same sites.

Difference is some of them will photo shop a couple of them together for a better cover, but otherwise they have the same resources we do.

 

[PennLady]

I found photos at the required resolution for under $10 from sites like the ones mentioned. A bit of work with a photo-editing program to add title and author and voila!

However Smashwords advise using a professional designer, and suggest around $70 (typically) for their services for a cover. No doubt you could pay a lot more for a once-off piece of art by an artist.

As for getting it back, that's hard to say for sure. Personally I haven't yet but I suspect that a good cover on a site like Amazon or the Apple iBooks store would make the difference between someone looking more closely and moving onto the next book.

If you download Mark Coker's books about marketing eBooks he seems to strongly suggest getting a good cover done.

I don't disagree with the importance of a cover, but unfortunately I'm not in a position to pay for it. So I'll have to muddle along for now and hope that I hit with a publisher at some point.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

But, PL, your books on Amazon have got covers. Quite nice ones too. Better than mine.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't disagree with the importance of a cover, but unfortunately I'm not in a position to pay for it. So I'll have to muddle along for now and hope that I hit with a publisher at some point.

For a lot of people I think its more time/patience than the price, I mean $5 or so shouldn't be a detriment for a decent cover.

 

[FallingToFly]

In the past I let the publisher do the covers- and hated both of them. One was just all over the place, the other- had absolutely nothing to do with the story I wrote, and actually hurt sales, as people thought they were getting a hardcore revenge story and got a rather soft, sweet love story about new beginnings instead.

I'm working on compiling my own anthology right now, and chose to buy a usage license directly from a photographer whose work I love and fits my theme perfectly. As I said in another thread- @100 bucks and I got a matted art print for my walls as well. I had to sell some electronics I don't use to pay for it- but I firmly believe that cover art is important.

I know that I buy books based on the cover all the time- if the cover catches my eye, I stop to look, read the back cover or summary, then buy. If I do it, so do other people. I'm willing to spend the money this time to get a cover I love, that is visually striking, and memorable. It will look good online or in print, and it creates a visceral reaction. For me, the expenditure is worthwhile.

 

[electric1]

chose to buy a usage license directly from a photographer whose work I love and fits my theme perfectly.

How did you find the photographer?

 

[sr71plt]

I have contracted approval rights for my covers with the publisher--and usually select the image myself. And $100 a pop for an e-book cover is just all of of proportion in a production budget/projection of profit. Need to try to keep it real.

 

[FallingToFly]

How did you find the photographer?

I worked for several years as a freelance art model. He's someone I have great respect for in the field. I found him on Model Mayhem.

SR- If it was just for the usage license for an online only publication, I'd agree. Basically, Richard gave me a break- I bought a print, he gave me the license as a bonus. The fact that it's a signed image by someone I really like, it's an image of one of my favorite models/people ever, and it's perfect are all just really cool coincidences.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm just saying that folks working at getting e-books up shouldn't be thinking in these terms on expenses that will pay for themselves.

 

[PennLady]

For a lot of people I think its more time/patience than the price, I mean $5 or so shouldn't be a detriment for a decent cover.

No, $5 or $10 or a bit more is fine. I'm talking the $70 or more -- I can't do that right now.

 

[lovecraft68]

No, $5 or $10 or a bit more is fine. I'm talking the $70 or more -- I can't do that right now.

I spent $65 On My "Circle" Novel, but everything else has been pretty cheap and I paid for the cover out of royalties from other books so I just saw it as "reinvesting"

 

[nicecthulhu]

I found one potential cover on one of those websites previously mentioned, but in an area that was not free. I tried to contact the photographer to find out how much the photo would cost to use and his first message to me implied he wasn't going to charge me (he was happy that it would be used). He was going to contact the model to see how she felt about it.
I ended up going with another photo (the photographer did take quite a while to get back to me). My point is that even when the photo's not free, if it doesn't actually state a price then you may still be able to get it for free. The photographer (and model) might be eager for their work to be seen and possibly noticed.

 

[sr71plt]

Tilt. The four photo services I posted broker the photos (and list their prices). You aren't dealing with the photographer or model. You're buying off the shelf from the licensing agency.

 

[R. Richard]

Check out Bigstock.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Can't say I feel bad about paying an artist a decent price for quality work.

 

[lovecraft68]

Tilt. The four photo services I posted broker the photos (and list their prices). You aren't dealing with the photographer or model. You're buying off the shelf from the licensing agency.

That's the way it usually works. I believe the sale is only supposed to cover you royalty free for up to x amount of sales. Then you can spend a few more dollars on an extended package.

I believe the initial number is pretty high though. Unfortunately its an issue many will never have. Plus how do they know how many you sold with the print you bought?

 

[R. Richard]

That's the way it usually works. I believe the sale is only supposed to cover you royalty free for up to x amount of sales. Then you can spend a few more dollars on an extended package.

I believe the initial number is pretty high though. Unfortunately its an issue many will never have. Plus how do they know how many you sold with the print you bought?

At least with Bigstock, there's another concern. When I bought a stock photo for Topless Adentures they told me that, if the photo was for use to describe a main character in the novel, they wanted $99.99 for the photo. I explained that the main character was blonde and the cover girl was brunette.