Same photo, different book
| Since I last talked about book covers and the power they hold to bring buyers, I'd like to keep the book thread in this post. However, now let me talk about something that has bothered me for sometime - the use of free stock photos on book covers. For those of you who don't know what this is, stock photos are available for the consumer. This doesn't mean the photos are free for grabs. You have to pay a small fee to use them. Okay, so the fee isn't that small. *lol* Still they are cheap if you compare them with exclusive photos which can cost a few thousands. And here's the catch. Stock photos are not exclusive. Even if you pay to use them, others will pay to use the same pic you do. Okay, so now you see where I'm going with this, right? Many epublishers are using these stock photos to create book covers. And when that happens, you'll find more than one book cover with exactly the same photo. Check out these. On the left is the cover of Ablaze published by Ellora's Cave, and the one in the right is Five Alarm Neighbor published by Cobblestone Press.   Now erotic romance writer Jordan Summers brought up the similarities between Angela Knight's Master of the Night and Susan Sizemore's Master of Darkness book covers. So I went to check them out...and it's true! Both have the same male model!   Is this an author's worst nightmare or what? The first two are released about the same date too. I don't know about you all, but this whole thing about the book cover sharing the same photo totally freaks me out. It's too whacked. Maybe I'm being silly. But as a customer, seeing something like what I'm showing above would be confusing, you know. I'd see one book, then maybe later on another with basically the same cover, and maybe I'd not buy the second one because I'd think I already have it. So my questions are: As a writer, have you thought about the originality of your book cover and how that might impact sales? Is it important that the artwork in your books stands out? Will it bother you to know that another book has the exact same photo? Inquiring minds want to know... *g* |
posted by Silma at 12:01 AM
Comments on "Same photo, different book"
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Shelli Stevens said ... (2:51 AM) :
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Jodie said ... (6:02 AM) :
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Silma said ... (8:58 PM) :
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Jordan Summers said ... (11:38 PM) :
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Trista Bane said ... (8:59 AM) :
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Anonymous said ... (3:25 AM) :
post a commentWe were just talking about this today! You know, I think they were screwed the minute they wrote about firemen! LOL. Just because the graphic department DOES use stock photos, and there happened to be a totally hot fireman photo. At Cobblestone the author actually gets some input on their cover. So to avoid that kind of thing, I would have told them to focus on the heroine on the cover, or maybe just the fire.
I saw! also poor laura has the same guy on her one foot forward.
I could see where that would be confusing when they have roughly the same release date too.
I don't think you're being silly ;)
Here's another (this one belongs to my friend Lara):
http://www.sirenpub.com/authors-img/ls-tbbt.jpg
Oh geez!
Quite frankly, I'd freak out! I mean, really. What a horrible thing to see.
Originality is key.
I like original stories. And I want there to be original covers to complement that.
ACK!
Grins*
Oh!
*addendum*
Does this guy get paid by the piece? *ahem*
Grins*
Viv - There are many other fireman pics. Check these sexy guys...
http://www.rebecky.com/images/sexyfireman.jpg
I thought the same thing when one of Susan Sizemore's and Angela Knight's covers were almost identical. :O
SILMA ROFLMAO!!!
I agree with Shelli - this is one HOT fireman!!! I think the publishers did a good job of making all the covers look different. I wonder if I would have noticed if they weren't side by side. Or am I just really unobservant?
Shelli - I guess it's the risk that every publishing takes when using stock photos. As it was pointed out to me, it even happens in the NY publishers. Sometimes I miss the days when publishers had specific romance male models, and therefore more control over the photos.
Jodici - Well, well, well... That fireman sure gets around. *wiggles eyebrows*
Bonnie - Even if they weren't release around the same date, I'd still confuse them. You see, I don't usually remember titles and author names, but I never forget a cover. *lol*
Kristen - Yikes! Seems like there's only one sexy pic of a fireman available on stock photos.
Viv - Maybe we should do something about it. I don't know... Go on strike with big signs saying "We want more sexy fireman photos!"
Chryscat - *ROFLMAO* Maybe we can offer him more money to show more. ;)
Jordan - I remembered those two too. They do have the same pic of the guy. It sort of looks different because of the shading thing they did to the photo. And did you notice they have similar titles?
*gasp* I never thought about it. I do purchase a lot of books because of the cover. If I don't like the cover, I don't read the blurb. And, yes, I think this would confuse me as a reader. I wouldn't read the blurb because i'd think I already had the book.
As a writer, there are certain male models I'd love to see on the cover of my books. I've just become fans of theirs! I think maybe other romance readers feel this way as well. So maybe having the same male model is not a bad thing, as long as it's not the same cover.
Trista - I'm just like you. The first thing I notice is the cover. If I don't like the cover, I rarely bother to read the blurb. I might be missing a lot of good stories, but the truth is that we judge books by their covers.
I would definitely freak out but it's like book titles, those can't be copyrighted so you see simliar ones over and over again.....however that fireman is hot ;-)
Cece - You're right about titles! Oh, I just gotta blog about that. *g*
I design book covers for a living for several Publishers and Independant Authors. I can tell you that most Authors do not want Poser figures as per your plastic/rubber comment. Now having said that you have to understand photos with real people are hard to come by and unless you have ALOT of money to spend on models and photographer *Cover Artists dont make that kind of money and Authors are not willing to put up cash for such a thing* you use what is available to you. I do use some stock photos but I try to use them as a basis on which to build the cover from there. Add elements, females, change hair color and so forth. You are bound to see similar covers in this industry of Online Publishing that is a fact. Cover Artist work very hard at what they do to produce a cover the Author can be proud of. But we do have limits to what we can do and what is available to use to do it with. If you want the one of a kind REAL people on the cover stock pix is the only option really. If you want something/someone not on another cover somewhere and not drawn/painted then you have to accept Poser figures. Stock photos are widely used on Torrid/Erotica because there just really is not a large availablity of half naked men/women willing to pose for cover, photographers willing to take said pictures for free or little payment. Capturing the essence of a book in its cover art is a really tough job and I think all Cover Artists are to be applauded for what they do and the effort they put into it. So before we bash the Cover Artists out there, try putting together your own art work once or twice then see how it works from the other side of the fence.
I had him first! LOL
I s'pose it comes with the territory. When I saw the CP cover, I had a chat with my publisher and we decided to keep it because One Foot Forward came out first.
Shelli, authors at Linden Bay get plenty of opportunity for input into their covers as well. It's hard though because you can't go scouting for other covers that *might* use the same stock photo - or maybe you can if time permits.
I can only hope it's the story that draws people in and I know One Foot Forward is unique and not your average romance.