Good source for cover images/art?

dylancross7 · Mar 22, 2012

What's a good place to find sexy/racy pics for ebook covers? Stuff which is ok for commercial use?

Filigree · Mar 22, 2012

If you're at all artistic, you might try one of the versions of Poser or another artist's model posing program. I use it to get body postures, then sketch from it, but there are stunning artists who work digital all the way.

dpaterso · Mar 23, 2012

Check out the sticky tutorial thread at the top of Self-Pub/POD Covers & Formatting forum, which has links to photo and clip art sites.

-Derek

Katie Elle · Mar 23, 2012

I use canstockphoto and bigstock. One hint on the stock photo sites. Create an account and log in and look around for the adult filter and turn it off. Otherwise, you'll miss a lot of good photos.

veinglory · Mar 23, 2012

Any of the large stock sites like istockphoto, shutterstock etc -- assuming you have a budget for this.

Eriador117 · Mar 25, 2012

There are some premade covers here:
http://www.sexybookcovers.com/pre-made-covers/

Some not too bad, others, bleh

I think fotalia is quite reasonably priced for stock art.

c.m.n. · Mar 25, 2012

I use stock.xchng or another free stock photo site. You would be surprised what you find, you just have to search and search and search and read the usage permissions.

dangerousbill · Mar 25, 2012

There's this site, covering romance from category to romantica:
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/

L.Blake · Mar 26, 2012

Thanks dpaterso for the link [

)]

Brindle Chase · Mar 26, 2012

I use dreamstime.com for mine. Their pricing seems a bit less than shutterstock and similar, although they don't have any hardcore erotic art. You can find sensual and nude that certainly imply erotic though, personally I think that's better any way

Katie Elle · Mar 26, 2012

Amazon won't approve an explicit cover anyway. My memory is no genitals, full butt crack, or nipples.

Brindle Chase · Mar 26, 2012

Katie Elle said:
Amazon won't approve an explicit cover anyway. My memory is no genitals, full butt crack, or nipples.

Yep, that's true. Same for Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and iBook

DiloKeith · Mar 29, 2012

dangerousbill said:
There's this site, covering romance from category to romantica:
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/

Are all the couples heterosexual? I spent only a few minutes checking.

Thanks, Bill, and everyone for all the info.

dangerousbill · Mar 29, 2012

veinglory said:
-- assuming you have a budget for this.

Prices for royalty-free photos vary widely from source to source, even for the same photo. The most I've paid from istockphoto.com is nine dollars. You don't need the highest resolution, even for a 6x9 print cover.

dangerousbill · Mar 29, 2012

c.m.n. said:
... read the usage permissions.

istockphoto says I have to start paying a royalty after 500,000 copies. When that happens, I'll buy them a yacht.

veinglory · Mar 29, 2012

You can find gay, lesbian, ménage etc

brainstorm77 · Mar 29, 2012

http://www.razzdazzstock.com/ This is Amanda Kelsey's site. She designs for several places plus she sells stock images. There is also a premade cover section.

dangerousbill · Mar 30, 2012

Isn't the Internet frakkin wonderful? Fourteen years ago, we paid $2000 to have a custom cover made for the Warrior Queen's local history book.

elindsen · Mar 30, 2012

Brindle Chase said:
I use dreamstime.com for mine. Their pricing seems a bit less than shutterstock and similar, although they don't have any hardcore erotic art. You can find sensual and nude that certainly imply erotic though, personally I think that's better any way

AGree and agree

dangerousbill · Mar 30, 2012

A consolidated list from this thread (so far).

Stock Photo and Book Cover Links

http://www.razzdazzstock.com/
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/
http://www.sexybookcovers.com/pre-made-covers/

Tutorial: design your cover
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=219

canstockphoto
bigstock
fotalia
istockphoto
shutterstock
dreamstime.com

Vukovina · Apr 1, 2012

Another good resource is out-of-copyright artwork or photographs (1910s, 1920s erotic photos). You can use the whole thing. You crop all but a sumptuous detail. You can apply filters, mix and match, re-mix.

Big Kahuna · Apr 16, 2012

I prefer Poser. I generally get the look I want, plus I can use it to help visualize, i.e., height relationships, etc.

Alessandra Kelley · Apr 16, 2012

dangerousbill said:
Isn't the Internet frakkin wonderful? Fourteen years ago, we paid $2000 to have a custom cover made for the Warrior Queen's local history book.

$2000 is a fair price for a professionally done cover. Or rather, it was average twenty to thirty years ago.

Big Kahuna said:
I prefer Poser. I generally get the look I want, plus I can use it to help visualize, i.e., height relationships, etc.

Poser's people are noticeably inhuman, and I would think that's a problem in erotica.

Good source for cover images/art?

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