The Right Look: Stock Photos On A Budget
They say we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but the reality of things is, a lot of us do. Everyone who’s tried their hand at getting their writing out there quickly learns that. A book’s cover is what immediately grabs a potential reader’s attention, and is the first step to getting them reading.
Working With Coupons
From the options available, it’s pretty safe to say that buying photos would be the better option for 99 percent of us. We have to keep in mind, though, that we’re trying to keep our overheads at a minimum. If you’re at this stage in you book development process, you will doubtless have interacted with various design platforms, forums, or specialists in the writing and publishing arena. You can also save money on pretty much anything, including a2 hosting coupons
For iStock Coupons
These guys are great for offering discount coupons to affiliated stock-photo sites like iStock.com and Getty Images. Keep an eye out for these offers as you’re making your online rounds and you’ll definitely see some good offers floating around. Good luck!
Why Images Matter
Whatever your content looks like, you need to get your cover right if you want to succeed. The problem comes in here. Potential readers have thousands of book options at their fingertips, so what would make them pick out your book in particular: that is the question that should concern you.
A good title is only half the battle. You need to have an eye-catching, intriguing image on your cover design that fits in with your content perfectly. What options are out there? What if you’re working on a budget?
The Options Available
There are probably only three realistic options out there for those in need of images to incorporate into their cover designs; either make them yourself, hire an agency, or buy them yourself.
Creating Photos – There are lots of people out there who hire professional photographers to take care of their image creation requirements. Needless to say, this can cost quite a pretty penny, and is thus out of reach for many aspiring authors. There will also be a bit of a time demand in coordinating with the photographer to get what you’re looking for.
Some people have the talent or nerve to take matters into their own hands and shoot the photos themselves, but this can be a hit-or-miss kind of thing. Sure, there’s no accounting for taste, but very few people can pull this off unless they have a very good eye and a clear vision of what they require. The time investment is a major one here, even if there will be a bit of cash saved.
Hire an Agency – Cost-wise this is a broad category that includes relatively cheap options like 99designs.com where freelancers compete in a contest to design your cover, to big agencies that offer cover designs backed by market research and experience. This tends to be cost prohibitive for most authors who are just starting out.
Buying Photos – Stock photo agencies exist to serve people in this very situation. They stockpile and sell photos that are already made and edited at a fraction of the cost you would incur if you were to hire a professional for custom-made photos.
There are thousands, perhaps millions of stock photo options you can choose from, meaning the difficulty for you won’t be in finding a suitable image, but settling on one in particular. The fact that they are readily available on these platforms means that your time input will be considerably shortened, and you can launch your book or e-book that much sooner.