PublishAmerica's stock image covers

Cyia · Feb 19, 2010

It likes they're even repeating the font and "details" - the same dividing line on the top two and the same little detail on the first 2 of the bottom tier. The font of the names on the bottom 3 all seem to be the same.

That's just... wow...

shaldna · Feb 19, 2010

there are lots of books from legit publishers and sucessful well known writers which use stock images.

the one that springs to mind is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. That EXACT cover was used on a german book about five years before. stock photo.

Marian Perera · Feb 19, 2010

shaldna said:
there are lots of books from legit publishers and sucessful well known writers which use stock images.

True, but I'll bet that few if any of them

1. use stock images with no alterations at all except for the title and author's name PhotoShopped on to the picture

2. use identical stock images for covers being released by the same publisher on the same day (that was how I found the brownish-yellow covers in my last post - they were on the same Amazon page when I did a PublishAmerica search)

3. use the same stock photos again and again and again, resulting in four or more books that look identical except for the title and author's name.

There is nothing wrong with using stock images per se, but there is something wrong with using them in a repetitive, apathetic way which may give no indication of the book's content.

Also, one claim made by PA's defenders is that PA has the best cover art or the best cover designers in the industry. This was the most effective way I could think of to counter such assertions.

I think I'll just copy and paste this the next time the issue of legit publishers using stock images comes up.

DaveKuzminski · Feb 19, 2010

Aside from PA and a few other vanity publishers, the only books I've seen with identical covers were those that were intentionally done so because they were part of a series. Even then the publisher tended to at least provide some visual clues such as a different main color so readers would know readily that each was a different book in the same series.

Marian Perera · Feb 26, 2010

What's really jarring is that the title on the second candy-colored cover is "You Look Like You Have A Goiter".

Either there just aren't many stock images of goiters, or the "Cover Art Department" was too overworked to care. Or both.

CatSlave · Feb 26, 2010

The cover art people, all ten* of them, have a quota of covers to produce.
I suspect that's why they keep recycling the same covers with different titles; it's quicker than choosing a new picture every time.

*This is a guess on my part, based on things I've heard from reliable sources.

DeadlyAccurate · Feb 26, 2010

Queen of Swords said:
What's really jarring is that the title on the second candy-colored cover is "You Look Like You Have A Goiter".

What does it say? I can see both goiter and editer [sic].

bhall87 · Feb 26, 2010

It's "Goiter"

http://www.publishamerica.net/product87852.html

merrihiatt · Feb 26, 2010

Um, I think that title should be, "It Looks Like You Have A Goiter." "You Look Like You Have A Goiter" may be accurate; however, it's a bit more abrasive and in-your-face. Maybe that was intentional. It just feels a bit like blaming the person who has the goiter for having one. It isn't their fault!

ChristineR · Feb 26, 2010

The description says that a doctor told her "You look like you have a goiter." Note that this doesn't mean the same thing as "It looks like you have a goiter." The latter implies that the doctor believes she does, in fact have a goiter. The former just implies that her throat looks odd.

I guess that she did have a goiter though, since goiter is one of the primary symptoms of Grave's disease, which she apparently did have.

merrihiatt · Feb 26, 2010

I'm sure the title is how the author meant for it to be, it just sounded odd to me. Then again, a lot of things sound odd to me. Ha!

merrihiatt · Feb 26, 2010

Double post. Not sure how that happened.

Marian Perera · Feb 27, 2010

Cyia · Feb 27, 2010

Good grief. As if the same cover isn't bad enough -- two with ATLANTIS in the title on the same cover. That's inexcusable coming from the same publisher.

DreamWeaver · Feb 27, 2010

I thought it was the sequel until I saw the two Atlantis books have different authors.

And how hard would it have been to do SOMETHING--crop a bit and blow it up, reverse, turn upside-down--just so the water reflections wouldn't be identical?

merrihiatt · Feb 27, 2010

I thought the same thing, DreamWeaver. If the first author's name didn't take up two lines, I doubt I would have done a double check. PA is really slacking (more than usual).

Christine N. · Feb 27, 2010

DaveKuzminski said:
Aside from PA and a few other vanity publishers, the only books I've seen with identical covers were those that were intentionally done so because they were part of a series. Even then the publisher tended to at least provide some visual clues such as a different main color so readers would know readily that each was a different book in the same series.

Yes. James Owen's IMAGINARIUM GEOGRAPHICA series springs to mind. They might not be identical, but have very simliar dragons on the cover and each is a different color.

But James hand drew each and every one (and they are gorgeous), so they are nowhere near stock.

CatSlave · Feb 27, 2010

merrihiatt said:
I thought the same thing, DreamWeaver. If the first author's name didn't take up two lines, I doubt I would have done a double check. PA is really slacking (more than usual).

The cover department could have at least changed the font of each title.
But again, in their defense (horrors!), they have a quota to meet.
It's faster to do the setup for one cover, then just change the text of the titles.

After all, the books are not destined to end up in book stores, so the duplication in all likelihood will not be noticed.

Except by the eagle eyes at AW...

Cyia · Mar 3, 2010

Queen of Swords said:

Here's another one with the prismatic cover. At least this time they photoshopped a clown into the background:

Reality's going to hit this one hard. She's got a HUGE header on her site declaring that PA "chose" her book for Oprah's Book Club.

scully931 · Mar 4, 2010

Cyia said:
Reality's going to hit this one hard. She's got a HUGE header on her site declaring that PA "chose" her book for Oprah's Book Club.

Oh, my.

Well, the title is actually pretty cool. If a publisher had gotten hold of it (providing the book is good) I'm sure they could have come up with an intriguing cover.

PVish · Mar 4, 2010

The 432-page book ($29.95) sounds something like a romance. The cover isn't what you'd typically find on a romance, though.

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 8, 2010

This link seems relevant to this thread.
http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/08/blameless-or-how-to-design-a-cover-in-155-seconds/

It's a fast-forwarded look at creating a book cover at a real publishing house. Notice the extensive use of stock pictures, and yet, look at all the extra work that went into making the image unique for that particular book?

the link said:
Over 6 hours of my onscreen compositing, retouching, color correction, type obsessing, all condensed down to a slim sexy one minute 55 seconds of cover design. Trust me, no one wants to watch it in real-time…and even then I left out the not-as-riveting-onscreen stages of my cover design process, such as reading the manuscript, sifting through Alexia photoshoot outtakes, background photo research, etc. And since this is a series look that has already been established for Soulless and Changeless, there weren’t the usual batches and rounds of versions of different designs that happen with standalone or first-in-a-new-series covers. That would be a weeklong video!

Sarashay · Mar 8, 2010

DeadlyAccurate said:
This link seems relevant to this thread.
http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/08/blameless-or-how-to-design-a-cover-in-155-seconds/

It's a fast-forwarded look at creating a book cover at a real publishing house. Notice the extensive use of stock pictures, and yet, look at all the extra work that went into making the image unique for that particular book?

WOW! That was really nifty! And, yeah, I suspect the average PA cover takes quite a bit less work than that . . .

scully931 · Mar 8, 2010

Oh, that was interesting. I love videos like that. Reminds me of the one Dove or someone similar put out. It was on the making of a billboard ad. (How the model goes from plain to print ready.) Thanks for posting.

Marian Perera · Mar 10, 2010

Thanks for posting that! I enjoyed watching it, and it's a perfect example of the difference between "using stock images in covers" and "reusing stock images without any additional input or differentiating touches".

PublishAmerica's stock image covers

Rewriting My Destiny

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

starting over

Preditors & Editors

starting over

Mah tale iz draggin.

Absolutely Fazed

Four Score and Seven

Writing! Writing! Writing!

What happened?

Writing! Writing! Writing!

Writing! Writing! Writing!

starting over

Rewriting My Destiny

Shakespearean Fool

Writing! Writing! Writing!

haz a shiny new book cover

Mah tale iz draggin.

Rewriting My Destiny

So you're suggesting what? Bigfoot?

Cat hair collector

Absolutely Fazed

Shut Up and Write

So you're suggesting what? Bigfoot?

starting over