Family vacation time and novel revisions haven’t left me enough time to finish reading and processing Angelique, so let’s continue on the theme of covers. Did you notice that all the pulp covers I featured previously were drawn by hand? But take a look at the novels on sale these days, and it’s obvious that nary a pencil or paintbrush was involved. These days publishers and indie authors look for a designer rather than an artist to create a romance novel cover. And those designers need romance stock photos.
First, should you design your own book cover?
Prevailing wisdom says NO.
Even if you have a background in graphic design, and even then, it’s definitely something to consider paying for. How long will it take you to make it look like something that came out of a New York house? How much of your next book could you have written during those days? Finding a photo is only half the battle: see Courtney Milan here on How to Suck at Typography.
However, I do think it is perfectly reasonable to spend a bit of time poking at stock photo collections. If you see a photo that you love, you can point your book designer to it.
If you’re writing contemporary romance, it’s easy to find pictures of couples. If you’re writing erotica, it’s not too hard to find stock photos of entwined naked bodies. If you’re writing regency romance, you are in luck because there are stock photo sites out there with your novel in mind. If your book features characters of color, however, or a historical period outside of the Regency… you may have a harder time. Stock photos in general are overwhelmingly white and lacking in representation for people of color — if you happen to be reading this as a stock photographer, please take note!
If you are a stubborn cuss (me) who has worked in graphic design (also me) and has other parts of the publishing process to offload first (if you are a copywriter who does book blurbs, I will throw money at you), maybe you’re still going to make your own covers (yep, me).
Whether you are loading up Adobe Creative Suite or searching for a freelance designer, good luck!
With those caveats, here are the websites for romance stock photos I have been able to track down.
Here’s the labels I’m adding to each, current as of the writing of this post in early September 2018.
- RF = Royalty Free. This means the images cost money, but you are buying a general usage license which you won’t pay royalties on. The price doesn’t change no matter how widely you intend to use it, but may change depend on the size/quality of the image. These images are more likely to be reused by other parties, as there are no restrictions on how many times a creator can sell the image.
- RM = Rights Managed. Under rights management you buy a license to use an image in a specific way, in a specific place, for a specific amount of time. A photo for an e-book cover in North America for 5 years, say. More restrictions increases the exclusivity of the image, but also the bookkeeping.
- Ex = Exclusive. Options available to buy all the rights to an image forever: the creator won’t sell it to anyone else. Depending on creator and price, you may be able to purchase exclusive rights to a single image, and/or all similar images from a particular photoshoot.
- C = Custom. Creator will work with you for a custom photoshoot.
- POC/WOC = People of Color/Women of Color. Stock photos not lily white.
- LGBTQ = Representation of Diverse Sexualities. Stock photos beyond heterosexual pairings.
- + = Plus size representation.
Specialty Romance Stock Photo Sites
Vikka’s Zone (RF, EX, C, POC, +)
Genres: Wide coverage. From historical to scifi, Vikka covers most genres in heterosexual pairings.
Pricing: $35 for a RF high-res image, $125 for exclusive license. More options available.
If you like the idea of Jimmy Thomas on every novel but he’s too Caucasian for you, here’s Vikka: an Indian model and former Bollywood actor now selling his own stock photos.
Hot Damn Stock / The Killion Group (RF, EX, POC, LGBTQ)
Genres: Wide coverage.
Pricing: $30 for a high res image.
The Killion Group is a connected business offering pre-made covers and additional design work with the HDS images. I think there may be an option to purchase exclusive photo rights through The Killion Group design packages, but now I can’t find anything that references that. Contact the site directly if you’re interested.
Period Images (RF, EX, C, POC, LGBTQ, +)
Genres: Wide coverage.
Pricing: $11.95-$75 for a high res image, $135-$250 for exclusive license. More info on PI license options and pricing.
A large site covering many categories, icluding hyperspecific options such as Amish, Firefighters, Holidays, and Menage.
The Illustrated Romance / Studio Smexy / Jenn LeBlanc (RM, POC, LGBTQ)
Genres: Medium coverage. Highlanders. Romantic Suspense. Menage.
Pricing: $45 for medium-hi-res image, $115 for full size image for a single title. Read license info here.
In addition to the stock for sale, the Illustrated Romance cover portfolio page shows the stock paired with the finished cover, which is very educational.
The Reed Files / Tara Reed Photography (RM)
Genres: Narrow coverage. Contemporary romance, including suspense and rock stars.
Pricing: $20-$35 for hi-res image, $400-$1000 for exclusive license. Website confusing says you are buying a “world wide royalty free/rights managed license” for a single title. Read license info here.
A small site, but worth a look for contemporary.
Richard Jenkins Photography (RM)
Genres: Narrow coverage. Historical, divided by era from the Romans to the 1950s.
Pricing: Contact for pricing. Read license info here.
A wide variety of costuming for those of you seeking a very specific era rather than simply “a fancy dress”.
Neo-Stock (RF, POC)
Genres: Medium coverage. Urban fantasy, Horror & Post-Apocalyptic, Historical & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Cyberpunk, Action & Suspense, YA & Middle Grade
Pricing: $25 for standard license, bulk discounts available. Read license info here.
This site bills itself as “Cinematic Stock Photography (TM) for Digital Artists” and has some couple shots as well as single figures for genre covers.
General Stock Photo Sites
Blend (RF, RM, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing : $225 hi-res image. More pricing info here.
March 2019 update: Blend seems to have been rolled into Tetra Images and pricing for a 5″x7″ image is now $225, up $100 from last time I checked.
Blend claims to be celebrating diversity. I searched for “romance” and got to page 8 of results before I started seeing African American, interracial, and gay couples. But it looks like they are there, and not just African American, but also South Asian and Middle Eastern faces. I also see romantic couples who have passed their thirties, which is another category that can be hard to find. Look at this happy couple rekindling their romance with a European getaway.
Stocksy (RF, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: $75 for hi-res image. $1250 for 6 months exclusivity. More pricing info here.
I don’t see any historical images here, but there are POC, LGBTQ and even some POC LGBTQ couples that came up in my cursory search for “romance.”
Getty Images (RF, RM, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: $499 for single-download of hi-res image. More pricing info here.
Maybe you’ve heard of Getty? They do have a lot of photos and you may find something you like in their “creative” images. Before you fork over the big money, though, check on one of the less prestigious sites! Here is the same exact photo sold at high resolution for $499 on Getty and $33 on iStock. (I don’t know how the royalties accrue back to the creators from each site, though one hopes that an image sold on Getty Images nets the photographer 10x what they get from an iStock sale.)
iStock (RF, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: $33 for hi-res image. Bulk pricing and subscriptions available. More pricing info here.
Everything is a conglomerate, and iStock is part of Getty Images! As mentioned above, however, the prices are different by an order of magnitude.
Dreamstime (RF, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: $14.99 for up to 11 hi-res images. Bulk pricing and subscriptions available. More pricing info here.
Another clearinghouse of images provided by thousands of creators. Much searching will be required to find what you want out of the vast selection.
Arcangel (RM, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: Not available without a login.
This site is super artsy. They have “book publishing theme” galleries, including one for “Forbidden Passions.” They mostly have rights-managed photos, which are less likely to show up on someone else’s cover. (Here’s an explanation of “rights managed” versus “royalty free” images.)
Trevillion (RM, POC, LGBTQ)
Pricing: Contact for a quote.
Similar to Arcangel. All of their photos are rights managed, and the website warns that they are for professional buyers only. So let your professional designer deal with that. A lot of the photos in their romance category look appropriate for sweeter romances, particularly with a WWII setting.
Art Renewal Center (RM)
Want to use a historic painting on the cover of your historic romance? Just because it’s old doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to use it. This website/online museum will sell you high resolution photos of art in the realist style.
There are obviously dozens more general stock photo sites of varying quality out there. Pick one of the larger ones with good pricing and don’t waste too much time searching on multiple sites–most creators will have accounts on half a dozen sites and you will see the same pictures everywhere.
Defunct Stock Sites
Novel Expression
Razzle Dazzle Stock (RF)
Genres: Wide coverage. Unusual categories in Nerds and Noir.
Pricing: $12.50 for hi-res image.
March 2019 Update: Razzle Dazzle’s separate website has disappeared.
A German based stock site. I’ve also noticed their images available on Dreamstime.
Oh yeah, there’s also
RomanceNovelCovers.com (RF, EX, C, WOC)
Genres: Wide coverage. Every heterosexual combination you can think of, as long as it involves Jimmy Thomas.
Pricing: $15 for RF print/web high-res image, $49 for exclusive license.
Jan 2019 update: Jimmy Thomas has drawn attention on social media with an ugly, now deleted Facebook post full of fat-shaming. Not a sexy look, dude. You go to the bottom of my list and lose your live link.
A no brainer of a business name, and if you look at the photos you may find the featured gentleman rather familiar. Jimmy Thomas has been modeling since 1998 and started his own business in 2008. There are a few featuring alternative male models. You can read a bit more about him and about the cover modeling business in this NY Times piece from 2016, or in this interview with author Jeannie Ruesch.
Header image uses images from free stock photo site Unsplash. Free photo sites are also an option, but will take a greater time commitment for sifting and searching.
