So when you join Adobe Stock, and I did for one free month, you can download photos to use for book covers, PowerPoint presentations, and just whatever you want to. You can post them online just because you feel like it. I will get the names of all the designers and/or artists so I can give credit, but what I did was download the maximum I am allowed to use for the free month and then I'll cancel the order and have free photos to use for my books.
Before anyone gets upset with me for doing this, it is not only acceptable, it's normal. I am going to give the artist credit in my books, but I don't have to. They were paid by Adobe or someone, or they may have just donated their work so it would be out there; but I will in fact give proper credit. I think that's the right and best practice. I would want someone to be courteous to me as well.
I have a total of six books that I'm planning to do this year or soon after. I have the two I've already written and the upcoming four more. Three books are in the Highland Romance series, and three are in the Nick Posh Detective series. After I finish the Highland series, I'll likely only write the Posh books. I like the genre, and I like hanging out in the 1930s with really good-looking men in Fedoras. It's my thing. Well, I say that, I really like hanging out with my naked bearded Celtic man as well, but I don't think I could write too much more about that; not without blushing.
There are other services like Adobe that give you free subscriptions for a week or a month, and you can download their images. DreamTimes is one, Getty Images, but I'm not sure how they work really. I just know that with Adobe you sign up, you are given 10 credits, so you can download 10 images, and you don't have to see that silly watermark; you can actually truly download them and use them as you need to. I had to have words with the DreamTime folks about their watermark. It's not free if you have a damn watermark. It's just LOOKING for free. I needed it to be free.
I have a gal in the States somewhere, I don't know where she is, that will take my image after I've added my text, and she'll trim it up for me to use as a cover for the printed books and eBooks. I am going to learn how to do the interior, but I don't mind paying for someone to make the exterior for me. She's very inexpensive, and after she does one for me, and it works, I'll scream her name and contact out for everyone to use. She agrees that we need to wait until I'm 100% satisfied with the trim. If it uploads like I want it to, I'll be the first to sing her praises.
So, now that I have about 10 book cover images downloaded, I'll need to come up with new titles after the initial six. I can do that. I know I can do that. I am already writing one of them, and I have to stop because I have others to write before it. I need 48 hours in a day. I really do. When you think of writing a book, do you think of writing your book quickly from start to finish, or do you take your time and really plan out all the details? I write as I go, and I watch Perry Mason and/or read Erle Stanley Gardner as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I pick and piece things together. You're likely to see something that resembles what they wrote, and that's OK, they took it from someone else, I'm sure.
I was reading a Sir Walter Scott novel and found something that Doyle used. I laughed. I wondered where or who Scott took his inspiration from. There's an entire series of books written between 1825 and 1852 I think, something like that, they are called the Wilson Tales of the Borders. I think there are 24 if I'm not mistaken. They are short story anthologies really. John Wilson did not write them all. There are several contributors, and Scott is one of them. GREAT stories, and really interesting things going on that maybe newer writers have neglected to add to their narratives. I want to add the history and be of some usefulness when it comes to people reading my books. I want to educate and entertain.
Anyway, the Adobe Stock site is so very very well worth your attention. All of the photos are of high resolution and can be used either with a Standard license or an Enhanced license. I am using them under the standard, which means if I sell more than 500K of one title I'll need to change the photo or pay for it. I'm sure I'd just change it. I can't say for sure, but it would be an interesting problem to have, wouldn't it? Yes, indeed it would be. I wanted to thank Adobe and the artists for their contributions. They are truly appreciated. They are inspiring too; as I was cascading through the pictures I kept thinking of what else to write....dang.
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock: Viktoriia #6134076216
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