Sources for cover art

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In a nutshell: Are there good, inexpensive (or, ideally, royalty-free) sources of art that one can use for "cover art" for e-book publishing?

I've got a few short stories I've worked on. A few of them, I think, are good enough to publish, or close to it. I've mostly been putting my efforts these last months into my novel (and, well, a few challenges ;-)) but I'm thinking about the idea of posting a few short stories on Amazon, just to start having a presence in the marketplace and (at least a little) to get some practice publishing through KDP and learning the ropes there.

To that end, it makes sense that even a short story sold on Amazon for $0.99 should still have cover art; this I decided when I went and checked out Kevin McLaughlin's offerings on Amazon, and noticed that "The Font of Forgiveness" had some nice cover art, even for a $0.99 short story. I assumed (forgive me if this is incorrect, Mr. McLaughlin) that he found existing art and designed his own art.

[Telcontar]

Been doing the Googling for this for awhile, and basically this blog post has everything you need to get started. Links to other discussion threads, as well as links to free image repositories. Best of luck!

Myself, I keep trying to hand-draw something in GIMP that's acceptable. Might have to fall back on using stock imagery type stuff, cuz... I'm just not up to my own standards.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Been doing the Googling for this for awhile, and basically this blog post has everything you need to get started. Links to other discussion threads, as well as links to free image repositories. Best of luck!

Myself, I keep trying to hand-draw something in GIMP that's acceptable. Might have to fall back on using stock imagery type stuff, cuz... I'm just not up to my own standards.

Thanks! Definitely looks like a good place to start.

[MichaelSullivan]

Keep in mind that somethimes simple is better than complicated. My the Viscount and the Witch cover is basially "just text" (there is a dagger in there but not that important.

Some expample covers that are "simple".

http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperors-E...=AG56TWVU5XWC2
http://www.amazon.com/Viscount-Witch...5952151&sr=8-1
Amazon.com: Brother Thief (Song of the Aura, Book One) eBook: Gregory J. Downs: Kindle Store

[Devor]

Keep in mind that somethimes simple is better than complicated. My the Viscount and the Witch cover is basially "just text" (there is a dagger in there but not that important.

Some expample covers that are "simple".

Amazon.com: The Emperor's Edge eBook: Lindsay Buroker: Kindle Store
http://www.amazon.com/Viscount-Witch...5952151&sr=8-1
Amazon.com: Brother Thief (Song of the Aura, Book One) eBook: Gregory J. Downs: Kindle Store

All three of those may have taken only a few hours of graphic manipulation and a little bit of back-and-forth with the artist, but they all show rather a lot of skill. You also need rights on the dagger. Can I ask, how much would something like that cost?

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Yeah, I wouldn't have one percent of the skill needed to create covers that look that good. I think for the nonce, I'm going to stick with the stock photo + GIMP manipulation + basic text approach. Especially since it's for short stories, where the ancillary production values aren't expected to be quite as high. For my novel, I'm going to commission actual cover art, of course.

[Telcontar]

My problem is I'm in love with hand-drawn art, and that's how all my visions for covers appear in my head. I might need to fall back on photo manipulation for the beginning efforts.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Another possibility that occurs to me is to find something on e.g. Deviantart and ask the artist if you can license it. If you find something that works well for a story, it could be a good way to get good, non-photographic art for relatively cheap.

[Joanna]

My problem is I'm in love with hand-drawn art, and that's how all my visions for covers appear in my head. I might need to fall back on photo manipulation for the beginning efforts.

My sister's building up her portfolio and was thinking of doing some covers for others (she's done some for her own books), she'd love to do hand drawn as that's her speciality as an illustrator. She would be looking for £50-100 depending on complexity. If anyone is interested you can find her portfolio here: katrinaconquista.com

Hope it's OK to post these details

Personally I've had a cover from 99designs for my non-fiction book - that was about $350. I was happy with the price as I'll re-use most of the cover for the next volumes in the series.

From what I've seen around $300+ gets you into the slightly more professional market, but you can still find individual artists for less if you look around. Also if you like someone's style on deviantart it's not just licencing you can approach them about - you can ask if they take commissions, and they could do a custom cover in their style for you. But then you'd have to negotiate the price yourself

[mythique890]

I was also going to suggest looking for artists on Deviantart, even though I'm not sure if they'd want royalties or not. It probably depends on the artist.

I have an acquaintance who is a freelance illustrator with a style I like. When the time comes I'll probably approach her. If she doesn't want to do it, she'll be able to recommend someone at least.