Sooooo... it seems I've joined a club. It's not very hard to get into this club. You can make yourself a member or somebody else can make you a tag along member (when they join up). I am a tag along. They forced me into it... I swear!
In March of this year - I decided to do a make-over for my series because I thought it needed a more cohesive feel. I searched through stock photo websites looking for images that I would just fall in love with... and I found one particular photographer that I kept coming back to. I'd see a photo (that had a license I could purchase), click on it, and it was almost always from the same person... it was meant to be! I did an internet search to see if the photos were used elsewhere (google has a very cool search feature and it will actually look for similar images), and I found no other books with those images. I decided to go with it... and the new cover for A Chance for Charity came to be. I was so happy with it (I still am)... so I immediately started to work on My Link in Time and then Of Fire and Brimstone.
Over the weekend an author/friend pointed this out to me...
"Is that Charity?" you ask. No... no, it's not. Well, the top one is... but the bottom one is Victoria (I did some investigating). We (Emily and I) both chose this girl to go on the front of our YA Paranormal stories about 17 year old girls... Victoria is 17... Charity is just masquerading as a 17 year old... (so I guess that means I chose a fitting picture - at least I know Emily agrees with my choice... cuz she made it too). I changed the eyes (to match Charity's startlingly pale blue ones). I also chose to keep the photo darker (she lightened it up)... I chose to photoshop the bird poo from the tree above the girl's hand (she kept it there)... I do like Emily's swirly things though... they're kinda cool. I also noticed that another cover on Emily's website is from the same photographer (I haven't used it - I just remember seeing it)... now I've got to keep up with her cover choices (so I don't willingly put myself in the Same Cover - Different Book club - again - but all by myself next time).
So here's to my new club membership! I hope I don't get a bad reputation from being in it... you know like those ones in HS that nobody wanted to join... at least I have some company... there are lots of members.
Lol...there are only so many unique photos unless you take them yourself. What matters is what's between the pages of the cover. I just completed A Chance for Charity and I LOVED it!
ReplyDeleteThank so much you, Dee.
DeleteA Chance for Charity book is soo soo good! Its one of the best books I have ever read. And I have read probably over thousands of books. This book is over the top fantastic! I also loved the part that it has moral values, like, waiting for marriage. I am so impressed, you dont see that much anymore. Love love love your book. So excited to read next one. I read em in kindle, and now tht I loved them so much, I want to actually buy actual book to put them in my favorite books collections! Mara
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, especially since it's a fellow YA/paranormal author. :(
ReplyDeleteThe problem with stock photos is that even if nobody is using them now, somebody might start using it later, and there's no way to stop them.
Maybe you could contact the photographer that took the photo and see if they have any unused poses from the shoot that they'd be willing to license exclusively to you? There might be a pose that they didn't think was one of the best as a stock photo, but might be perfect for your cover.
Anyway, in case it makes you feel better, the club is getting pretty big these days, and there are plenty of best-selling and award-winning authors that are members:
http://www.indiebooklauncher.com/resources-diy/gallery-of-clones.php
So you're in plenty of good company. ;-)