PublishAmerica's stock image covers

Greetings ,

Something's bugging me and I was hoping you folks could help me out.

This cover http://www.publishamerica.net/product89940.html looks extremely familiar to me. I know I haven't seen it on that book, because it's PA and also just came out (not even on Amazon yet). But I've been perusing the new titles in five different libraries a couple of times a month for many years and have the strong feeling that I've seen that cover illustration before.

Has anybody else seen it and know what it's from? Or am I crazy? Have we seen PA hijacking cover art from legitimately published books before?

Thanks

Cyia 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.

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And here's almost the same cover (with a few color alterations or maybe they only used part of the original image) again in last week's new releases:
http://www.publishamerica.net/product90183.html

quixote100104 said:

...have the strong feeling that I've seen that cover illustration before.

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Me, too. I can't recall which author, but I think it was a mystery/suspense story.

quixote100104 said:

Has anybody else seen it and know what it's from? Or am I crazy? Have we seen PA hijacking cover art from legitimately published books before?

Thanks

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Wasn't there a flap about an Orlando Bloom picture that was photoshopped for a PA book cover? Some vampire story maybe.

quixote100104 said:

Has anybody else seen it and know what it's from? Or am I crazy? Have we seen PA hijacking cover art from legitimately published books before?

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It's entirely possible that PA used a stock image that another publisher also used. As long as publishers pay for the use, more than one can use the same image.

The difference between PA and legitimate publishers is that PA does little or (most often) no manipulation of the image, whereas legit publishers tend to use an image as the base, and modify it from there. The image in my covers (one of which is my avatar) starts with a stock image the rights to which rights were purchased, and then an artist morphed it into something greater than the original.

CatSlave said:

Wasn't there a flap about an Orlando Bloom picture that was photoshopped for a PA book cover? Some vampire story maybe.

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Night Travels of the Elven Vampire, IIRC, complete with lollipop fangs. However, that was a bit different--evidently, the author put together a rough mock-up of what she'd like her cover to be, and PA used her mock-up as-is. I don't think she was at all happy about it.

I wonder if they ever sell enough copies to owe extended license fees on the art--not necessarily from one book but all the books using the same art?

for sale at the PA Bookstore WFT?

Framed Royalty Check

If no one is buying your books, you can have your $1 royalty check framed and buy that instead.

It makes being A Published Author seem so real, doesn't it?

ETA: ACK. I meant WTF. Damn dyslexia.

Among the five of this week's new releases, this 30-page $24.95 book is supposed to be children's book about a child's exploration of time. IMHO the cover doesn't convey that impression.

Did the PA graphics department person read the book? (That is a rhetorical question. I'm pretty sure I already know the answer.)

veinglory said:

I wonder if they ever sell enough copies to owe extended license fees on the art--not necessarily from one book but all the books using the same art?

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Both Jupiter Images and Getty Images use a subscription service called Thinkstock. The subscriptions PA would purchase allows only one person to use the user ID and password and are limited to 25 images per day (suddenly, it's becoming a bit more clear). This runs at $2508 per year, according to the $209/month rate quoted on their homepage. From what I understand about the license information, PA needs to pay additional fees and obtain permission before they can use the images "...in any posters (printed on paper, canvas or any other media) or other items for resale, license or other distribution for profit". So I'm just guessing they're paying a decent chunk of change for their cover art.

I followed the link you posted PVish and PA left the r off the author's last name. I wanted to Google her name and see if I could find her website to read some of the book or view some of the artwork as it sounds interesting. I typed it into the search engine and it said, "Did you mean XXXXX?" Um... I sure did. Oops! A mistake on PA's website? Nonsense!

ETA: I couldn't find the book on Amazon and the author doesn't appear to have a website. I really wanted to look inside and see the artwork/photos/graphics and read the story.

It is such a disservice that PA doesn't allow the Look Inside feature automatically for all its books. I know why (no editing), but still, there are some books I would really like to read a few paragraphs to get a feel for the author's voice.

BenPanced said:

Both Jupiter Images and Getty Images use a subscription service called Thinkstock. The subscriptions PA would purchase allows only one person to use the user ID and password and are limited to 25 images per day (suddenly, it's becoming a bit more clear). This runs at $2508 per year, according to the $209/month rate quoted on their homepage. From what I understand about the license information, PA needs to pay additional fees and obtain permission before they can use the images "...in any posters (printed on paper, canvas or any other media) or other items for resale, license or other distribution for profit". So I'm just guessing they're paying a decent chunk of change for their cover art.

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Wonder whether PA is holding off paying them because of the lawsuit? Betcha PA is not withholding payment because they're not authors and they probably have a very good lawyer.

The "prismatic cover" strikes again in this week's 5 new releases.

PVish said:

The "prismatic cover" strikes again in this week's 5 new releases.

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The price for that book freaks me out more then the cover

A blue Monarch butterfly? : /

How about someone write a book satirizing an unscrupulous publisher, and then get PA to publish it and sell it on their website?

Queen of Swords said:

Another prismatic cover this week (it's the last one in the line).

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Ugh. And to make it worse, there's a "Just Kelly" and one written by a "Kelly".

EmpoweredOKC said:

How about someone write a book satirizing an unscrupulous publisher, and then get PA to publish it and sell it on their website?

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Wouldn't make it past their search and destroy list of searchable words.

PA spot-checks submissions for "sting" manuscripts with stories like that by doing a word search.
They have already printed several sting manuscripts, much to their embarrassment.