Where to get self-published cover art?

-K2-

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Of late, part of the process for me to really cast myself into the story I'm writing has been the generation of cover art (though in my case it's forum header art, or a large banner if you will). Stick-figures being the extent of my own skills, that finds me instead using my own photographs, cropping them out, overlaying them on other web found content, adding text and so on.

That brings me to my problem...

My Western novel I was able to use a straight up photo of mine, and add some text. The SF/Dystopian novel I've rough written and forum posted, while I pick at it I included in one of those composited images I described above. For the prequel novella to it, I've generated a second piece, both of which are exactly what I want.

That said, with the novel I utilized background art by a discoverable artist. I've sent him numerous emails and tried to contact him through various other means, but have yet to get a response (as further, all of his personal websites fall into disuse)... On the novella, I found a photo that works, and after numerous image searches cross-referencing all the places it is posted, it has become rather clear to me that the photo has been utilized and shared so many times that it's doubtful I'll ever discover the originator. More so, after literally checking every site I could find it, I still can't discover the photographer.

So the question is, what to do?

Personally I'm thinking in the end it doesn't mean anything beyond 'open source or no, simply don't use it for profit.' However I thought it might be nice to see what everyone else thinks.

Thanks for your response!

K2
 
There are some pretty good premade covers out there - you simply select the image, then add your title and author name.

If you search online for "premade book covers" you should be able to find a few interesting sites.

Additionally, some artists provide premade covers as well as custom ones - for example, Tom Edwards has been used a lot by our members for both: http://www.tomedwardsdesign.com/premade-covers
 
Thanks @Brian G Turner ; I'll take a look! I really like the art I've generated, a lot, yet in the end even though I'm simply using a background image, it is not by my hand. So it brings up the issue of 'open-source' or 'abandoned' copyright issues.

K2
 
Is there such a thing as "abandoned" for copyright purposes? In my understanding (and I'm not an expert) it's as you said, either it's stated as open source, or the copyright belongs to someone who could sue for its breach, and I don't think your attempts to discover its owner would make any difference to the result. I'd play it safe.
 
@HareBrain ; Indeed there is such a thing as "copyright abandonment." However, it is my understanding that it requires a 'direct statement to that end by the originator.' IOW, "I K2 relinquish all rights both now and in the future to that photograph of me picking my nose, etc. etc.."

Never the less, in that I don't see that happening all that often (ever ;)), I agree with you. Even for me to give credit to the originator, and state 'unauthorized and not for profit' does nothing to protect me... Or more importantly, give that originator the opportunity to decide how 'they' want to issue licensing.

They may not care... yet not being asked sometimes is enough to make you find issue.

Thanks for the response!

K2
 
Regarding the image you can't find the originator of, have you tried filtering a Google reverse image search by date?
 
Regarding the image you can't find the originator of, have you tried filtering a Google reverse image search by date?

Thanks for the tip... I actually did that soon after posting this thread. The search was successful to a very cool site, one that some here might find of interest. Homepage - The Bohemian Blog

I've been too busy however to contact the individual... and though the image really works, I'll have to make contact to see if he'd like the additional/minimal press anything I do would generate, or more likely he'd lease copyrights. How much is the issue (and in that I can find countless images of old factories, even take some near here, unless he is reasonable I won't use it).

As to the one I do know, I still can't make contact with the guy... So I'll keep trying or change it out (they're both just backgrounds anyhow).

Thanks again!

K2
 
Thanks for the tip... I actually did that soon after posting this thread. The search was successful to a very cool site, one that some here might find of interest. Homepage - The Bohemian Blog

I've been too busy however to contact the individual... and though the image really works, I'll have to make contact to see if he'd like the additional/minimal press anything I do would generate, or more likely he'd lease copyrights. How much is the issue (and in that I can find countless images of old factories, even take some near here, unless he is reasonable I won't use it).

As to the one I do know, I still can't make contact with the guy... So I'll keep trying or change it out (they're both just backgrounds anyhow).

Thanks again!

K2
Ah, small world - I know of that guy. We've actually exchanged e-mails some time ago. If you'd shown the photo I may have known it was him!
 
Ah, small world - I know of that guy. We've actually exchanged e-mails some time ago. If you'd shown the photo I may have known it was him!

Well, I didn't want to post my edit here. In any case, I'll PM you with a link to it.

K2
 

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