Don’t Make This Common Mistake With Your Book Cover

By: Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

I was talking with one of my writer friends, and she brought up an interesting point when it came to book covers. A lot of authors make the mistake of having book covers that use free stock art. While this can be a money saving shortcut, it could also really hurt your image (not to mention sales).

Let’s look at a quick example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These books are written by two different people with two different titles. Yet, they used the same image.

Not only is this bad for marketing, it’s utterly confusing. Not to mention, you run the risk of losing sales because another author’s book was mistaken for yours and they got the sale instead.

But there is hope!

When working on your cover (hopefully with a professional) you should specify that no free stock art, or any stock art for that matter, is used on your cover. If using a photo, try to have a photo taken only for your book (and book related marketing materials), and not for other purposes. If you are having an artist make something up for you, make sure that it is original, and that you own the rights to the art. Otherwise, that brings up a completely different set of issues you will have to deal with.

Who designed your cover art?