GETTING AN IMAGE
for your book
Designing a book cover for your new publication is something that most authors and virtually all publishers will leave to the professionals to complete, and there are good reasons as to why, the time, knowledge, skills and expense all contribute as to why they choose a designer to do the work for them. But if you are set on making a DIY cover then here are a few things that you’ll want to take into account when embarking upon the project.
It’s here where the ‘stock-photography’ services come into their own, over the past few years the internet has seen a flood of them launch, the big hitters within the industry stock high quality images which can be bought for use in both print and/or digital designs (with variations of dpi).
These image providing services help both designers and photographers alike, if you’re a budding photographer you can upload your images to the website and you’ll earn a commission each time someone downloads the image. However, the standards required by the top level companies will mean that it’s only the best images which make it onto the website (and ultimately become purchasable to the consumer or business).
It’s here where the ‘stock-photography’ services come into their own, over the past few years the internet has seen a flood of them launch, the big hitters within the industry stock high quality images which can be bought for use in both print and/or digital designs (with variations of dpi).
These image providing services help both designers and photographers alike, if you’re a budding photographer you can upload your images to the website and you’ll earn a commission each time someone downloads the image. However, the standards required by the top level companies will mean that it’s only the best images which make it onto the website (and ultimately become purchasable to the consumer or business).
For the designer these websites are a useful tool in the book cover design kit, the range of images are not just limited to photographic alone, they will also stock vector images and even some video footage too (admittedly, the video is not the number one selection for a book cover – but it can be used for the books advertising via the author’s website or Youtube channel).
Most designers will of course use more than one image within a book cover, the downside of using any stock image is that it is non-exclusive, you can and do see the same models occasionally used on several different covers. However, with the use of Photoshop and several other images you can ensure that any image used within the design becomes as unique as the story and concept it’s representing.
The next thing to consider when using stock is the terms of the licence which the image has been down-load under, some of the cheaper licences will only allow you to use the image within a print run of up to 250,000 copies. Most authors publish their books because they wish to sell more than 250,000 books, so ensuring you obtain the correct licence is very important, the extended licences will cover you for this but can push the price up to $50 or $60 for the image.
Most designers will of course use more than one image within a book cover, the downside of using any stock image is that it is non-exclusive, you can and do see the same models occasionally used on several different covers. However, with the use of Photoshop and several other images you can ensure that any image used within the design becomes as unique as the story and concept it’s representing.
The next thing to consider when using stock is the terms of the licence which the image has been down-load under, some of the cheaper licences will only allow you to use the image within a print run of up to 250,000 copies. Most authors publish their books because they wish to sell more than 250,000 books, so ensuring you obtain the correct licence is very important, the extended licences will cover you for this but can push the price up to $50 or $60 for the image.
The alternative to stock imagery will be to have the image ‘hand-drawn’, painted or to organize a photo-shoot, this can ensure that the image is exclusively yours but can cost anywhere from $100 to $1500 (again, this is down to the size of the project's budget).
Most designers will of course create artwork themselves and we’re no exception to this, being able to create Vector based and digital art work along with photographic images is all part of the designers remit, but as all firms will tell you, stock still has its place within the graphic design world.
Most designers will of course create artwork themselves and we’re no exception to this, being able to create Vector based and digital art work along with photographic images is all part of the designers remit, but as all firms will tell you, stock still has its place within the graphic design world.
