Using stock images for ebook covers

ElisabethF · Mar 31, 2011

I'm doing some research on creating ebooks, and I'm wondering if anybody here can give me a good beginner's overview of using stock images for ebook covers. I've been reading the licensing agreements on a few stock photo sites and trying to make sense of them. For instance, the terms here. It says the images may be used for book covers...and further down, it says if the image is used for printed materials it may only be used on up to 500,000 copies. Now, I'm not saying I expect anything of mine to sell 500,000 copies right off...but we want to be prepared for any contingency, right?

Does 'printed materials' mean a physical, hold-in-your-hand printed product, or does it apply to ebooks as well? I don't see how you could have control over how many copies you sell.

Anything else you could tell me about this whole concept would be helpful. I'm very much a beginner and I don't want to make any embarassing mistakes.

jnfr · Mar 31, 2011

I don't know that such a clause would worry me. If you ever sell 500,000 copies, you could surely afford a new cover in there somewhere

You might take a look at CanStock Photos. They have nice work and don't put any limit on usage. Or try a free site like MorgueFiles.

veinglory · Mar 31, 2011

Indeed if you top that level of copies you can probably afford to get an extended license for the picture.

ElisabethF · Apr 1, 2011

I've got a bad habit of asking questions on forums and then finding the answer out for myself.

I contacted the website linked above, and they said that using an image in an ebook is considered electronic use, which doesn't have limits on the number of copies.

euclid · Apr 29, 2011

I took a look at that site, downloaded 3 free images, but they are all tiny. Is there some way of making them bigger?

BenPanced · Apr 29, 2011

Buying a license or a set number of downloads. Many stock photo services offer free spec downloads but they're going to be lower resolution and/or much smaller than the available products.

thothguard51 · Apr 29, 2011

euclid said:
I took a look at that site, downloaded 3 free images, but they are all tiny. Is there some way of making them bigger?

You get what you pay for...

abctriplets · Apr 29, 2011

euclid said:
I took a look at that site, downloaded 3 free images, but they are all tiny. Is there some way of making them bigger?

Well, I'm not sure what type of images you got, or what exactly the resolution is on an e-reader - but have you tried making the image bigger via photoshop or something?

BenPanced · Apr 29, 2011

Not really. If you make them larger, you'll lose resolution and the pictures will become blurry.

jnfr · Apr 29, 2011

If you want larger or higher resolution images, you will have to pay at least a few dollars for them. You can buy inexpensive stock photos at lots of sites. Turning them into a decent cover is another issue.

BenPanced · Apr 29, 2011

Some information on subscribing to three of the bigger stock photo services.

Capital · Apr 30, 2011

I don't quite understand the way these stock image sites work. What if 2 or more users request the same image? Would the site sell it to them both?

brainstorm77 · Apr 30, 2011

Capital said:
I don't quite understand the way these stock image sites work. What if 2 or more users request the same image? Would the site sell it to them both?

Yes.

Capital · Apr 30, 2011

brainstorm77 said:
Yes.

Ugly. Make your own covers, people

efkelley · Apr 30, 2011

The graphic artist working on my covers had me cruise through http://www.istockphoto.com/ for photos to use as a basis for the illustrations.

I ended up buying three, a male model, female model, and a sword. Total cost was about $40. There are no royalties to worry about, no fine print, nothing. Just cash for images, and done.

deana · May 2, 2011

I use Gimp to resize my photos. It's a free software. Maybe it could help resize your image for you. It's pretty good with resizing and keeping the images still looking like the original. I'm not quite sure how "big" it can make for a "tiny" picture. How "tiny" is "tiny"?

I'm going to use stock photo's for my Novel Trailer, and it has to be the 800x600 size. But using an entire photo for a book cover, you will have to pay for a bigger size for most sites.

veinglory · May 2, 2011

You can make very different covers based on the same stock. As a small press author I understand why my publishers do not pay $500 and up for unique images.

Come to think of it, neither do many of the major publishers.

CheG · May 2, 2011

The mistake most people make is only buying ONE photo for the cover then just slapping text over it. I can spot stock art a mile away on Amazon. If you have the Photoshop chops buy multiple pieces and combine/crop/color correct.

That said, I ADORE stock art! A lot of it very nice and varied! There are a ton of possibilities. Fork over for the flourishes

frames and borders and such.

euclid · May 3, 2011

deana said:
I use Gimp to resize my photos. It's a free software. Maybe it could help resize your image for you. It's pretty good with resizing and keeping the images still looking like the original. I'm not quite sure how "big" it can make for a "tiny" picture. How "tiny" is "tiny"?

Hi deana. I'm now the proud owner of Gimp 2. I've spent a couple of hours reading the user manual, but can't make heads or tails of it. It seems to have a whole language all of its own: layers, channels, dialogs, docks, tabs, etc., etc. I'm hoping my son might know someone who's used it.

shaldna · May 3, 2011

the thing with stock images are that they can result in several books having pretty much identical covers:

veinglory · May 3, 2011

They can, and a designer would be wise not to use the stock as it is sold. As mentioned most designers know how to crop, combine and manipulate the shots enough to ensure there won't be any near duplicate covers.

s.m.s · May 3, 2011

euclid said:
Hi deana. I'm now the proud owner of Gimp 2. I've spent a couple of hours reading the user manual, but can't make heads or tails of it. It seems to have a whole language all of its own: layers, channels, dialogs, docks, tabs, etc., etc. I'm hoping my son might know someone who's used it.

Have you tried Paint.Net instead of Gimp? I've tried both and find Paint.Net to be much more user friendly, although its possible that Gimp is the more powerful program. Still, if you're new to photo editing you might want to start with Paint.Net anyway.

jnfr · May 3, 2011

I finally went with PhotoPlus after my old version of Paint Shop Pro kept crapping out in Windows 7. I loved that program and still mourn it.

Deleted member 42 · May 3, 2011

Capital said:
Ugly. Make your own covers, people

The thing is, with most stock photo licenses (check to be sure) you can use the images to create new images; you might, for instance, only actually use part of the image.

A graphic artist can do amazing things. Truly, a good one is performing magic. I've seen covers--for print products as well as digital--that I couldn't actually tell how it was done.

abctriplets · May 3, 2011

shaldna said:
the thing with stock images are that they can result in several books having pretty much identical covers:

Seriously?? She made the publisher how much $ with the Twilight saga, and they couldn't fork over the money for a unique design for her next book??

Using stock images for ebook covers

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