Whether you hire a book cover designer or make your covers yourself, there’s a good chance your book cover will use stock photos.
Most authors assume that if they paid the designer, or paid the stock photo site, then everything is fine. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true.
It’s easy to get burned by people who are just out to make a buck. It’s also easy to get burned by well-meaning designers who simply don’t know the rules as well as they should. There are a lot of little details with stock photography, licensing, model releases, fonts, and intellectual property that authors and designers both miss.
And when those details get missed, the consequences can be bigger than most authors expect.
A copyright mistake on your book cover can cost you sales, get your book taken down, put your Amazon account at risk, or even lead to legal trouble.
I’ve made hundreds of book covers for myself and for clients, so I’ve had to learn this stuff the practical way. And I’ve also seen lawyers give the back of their hand to people just like us.
So no matter if you hire a professional book cover designer or design covers yourself, an understanding of the rules on stock photography and intellectual property can save you from legal woes.
LEGAL CYA: Although I’m an author with years of experience and my father was an attorney, I am not a lawyer. This article is meant to help educate you so you can make better decisions, but nothing here should be taken as legal advice. When in doubt, talk to your personal lawyer or contact one through a company like LegalZoom.
The Different Levels of Rights To Stock Photos
When dealing with a stock photo site or designers, it’s important to know what level of rights you have. While this doesn’t cover every nuance or litany of the terms used in the industry, the below highlights some of the different levels of rights.
Standard License – On Shutterstock, for example, a Shutterstock Standard License allows you to use images an unlimited number of times in digital applications, which includes eBooks, websites, online ads, software, mobile applications, and online ads.
What about printed designs, such as hardcover or softcover print books?
This is why the fine print for any stock photo you use for your book cover is imperative. For Shutterstock, a standard license allows your use for up to 500,000 times in print runs.
Extended License – If there are restrictions on an image, you have to pay for an extended or enhanced license. This usually means additional fees for digital usage, print usage, or both in order to use it. An Enhanced License offers more freedom in terms of image usage. An EL doesn't have limits on print runs or out-of-home advertising.
Editorial Use Only – Some images are labeled with “Editorial Use Only.” Shown below is 123rf's clear license policy. You aren’t allowed to use “editorial use only images” as they often contain newsworthy events, celebrities, or recognizable locations.
Right to “Alter” – Some stock photos come with a use license but without permission to alter. You will want to check that your license includes the right to “alter.” That’s critical because at a minimum you will be adding text to your book cover. Some licenses treat edits, overlays, compositing, or adding text as modifications, so make sure your license allows that before using the image on a cover.
You’ll at minimum lose a day of work behind it, and that’s if you’re lucky.
I’m speaking from experience here – I saw a really nice cover that I wanted to use when designing the cover for my Amazon bestseller Serve No Master. But without the alteration rights, I was out of luck. So I found a different stock image on 123rf and altered the pastel colors to make them pop from the screen.
I would have been in violation of the original artist’s intellectual property without this clear statement from my stock photo provider.
As you can see in the 123rf license above, when my sales cross 500,000 copies, I have to purchase the extended license. I’m not quite there yet. 😉
So, in the end, depending on what stock photo site you use or your designer uses, make sure you understand what type of license you have and any restriction it may have as well. The above are some of the common rights, but there are many different terms and other sites describe them differently. So, just be sure to check.
For my recent book Fire Your Boss, which you can grab for free, I combined several beach images to create the exact feel that I wanted. Without the right to alter, I could have gotten in trouble with the original artists for merging their work together.
Because I checked with my licenses in advance, I avoided any risk of an email from an annoyed artist.
So by now you might be thinking, “Hey, all I’ve got to do is read the fine print and I’ll have a beautiful cover – all my dreams will come true.”
But there’s an extra fact that might turn your dreams into a nightmare.
Warning: You Can’t Fully Trust Stock Photo Sites
While you may pay for one of the rights above, you still might be vulnerable to a copyright infringement. Many free and paid stock photo sites have gotten in a lab with their team and put together some very complicated legalese designed to protect themselves…and not you. In essence, they have some statement that basically clears them of any wrongdoing and place all the responsibility on you…even though you paid them.
So, no matter where your images come from, you are the one ultimately responsible. So, make sure you read the license rules for any site where you acquire content.
Above, Pixabay makes it very clear that while the photographer might have given you permission to use the image, the subject of the photo might not have. And that’s because even when a site lets you download an image for free, that doesn’t mean every part of the image is cleared for commercial use. Pixabay’s current license allows broad free use, but it still warns against using content with recognizable trademarks, logos, brands, or people in ways that could create legal problems. So don’t treat “free” as the same thing as “safe for a book cover.”
Caveat emptor est. Let the buyer beware!
Or in this case, the downloader. Make sure you click on “learn more…”. Pixabay has a far more extensive list of photos and images that they include on their site that can get you into trouble behind that link.
Different Types of Stock Photography Sites
It turns out there are different types of stock photography sites out there and each offers different levels and styles as well:
Major Microstock Websites
Large websites for stock photos have moderators who examine the pictures that are uploaded to check the legality. Some of these stock photo sites include:
- Shutterstock
- DepositPhotos (my preferred and used on this site)
- Dreamstime
- Adobe Stock
- PhotoDune.net
- 123rf.com
While you are generally safe with the photos purchased from these stock photo sites, you still can run into some issues. The core test is whether an element in your cover can be easily recognized as belonging to some other party. If someone looks at your book cover photos and says, “That’s Batman!” You are flying too close to the sun.
The legal test is whether a potential customer could be confused. If a regular person could see your book cover and reasonably assume it’s licensed or authorized by DC Comics, then you’re on the wrong side of the law.
Note: Sites like Wunderstock can help you find free or Creative Commons images, but treat them the same way you’d treat Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, or Flickr: useful for inspiration and some commercial projects, but not automatically safe for a book cover unless you’ve checked the license, release status, and any visible trademarks or recognizable people.
Boutique Stock Photo Sites
Boutique Stock Photo Sites are platforms run by small businesses or solopreneurs. Unlike major microstock websites that have pictures or every kind, boutique stock photo sites generally stay in a genre or style and are very unique. An example is:
Stock Photography Agencies
Agencies for stock photos vet their images much in the same ways as the larger Microstock websites. These represent the gold standard of cover art and are used less commonly than microstock and boutique stock sites.
Some reputable stock photography agencies are:
As with all stock photos for book covers, be sure to check the licensing rights options that come with photos from agencies.
Social Art Providers
Many artists display their designs on major social art platforms within their individual profiles. They want to spread the word about their work and will often allow you to use their images wherever you’d like as long as it’s for non-commercial use.
If you want to use their image in something you are selling (like your book cover), each individual has their own licensing fees and terms or requirements. This can get pretty complicated. But if you see an image by an independent artist that you must have, start the process by contacting them directly. Some of these artists actually have their images available on smaller stock photo sites, which makes the licensing process far easier.
Stock Photo Sites to Be Wary Of
Here are a few picture sites that have the potential to bring you legal trouble.
Free Stock Photo Websites
Sites that sell stock photos are far stricter with their content than sites that just list free images, such as Pixabay or Pexels.
Free stock photo sites can be useful, but they’re riskier for book covers because “free to use” doesn’t always mean every model, property, logo, brand, or trademark in the image is cleared for your specific commercial use. That matters a lot more when the image is going on a product you’re selling.
They aren’t using the image for commercial use. But you are.
The biggest issue with these sites is when people use photos with people, aka “figurative” stocks. The subject of a photo might not care about a picture of them being on a free stock photo site, but they might not appreciate appearing on the cover of your edgy BDSM novel.
So it’s important that you always get your figurative images from a reputable site, such as the Microstock and Boutique sites mentioned earlier. When in doubt, ask your artist for links to their sources.
Cheap Artist Sites – Like Fiverr and 99Designs
There are loads of platforms where you can get cheap designs. These artists are usually paid far too little to have any concerns about copyright infringement. I'm DEFINITELY not saying all Fiverr or 99Design artists are this way, but just understand and be a bit wary.
Just because an artist says they have a license for a stock photo site, it doesn’t mean that they actually do.
Many of my covers were designed by artists that I hired on Fiverr. However, I always provide my own stock and figurative images just like Dave shows in this epic article on how to effectively and safely use Fiverr better for book cover designs.
As independent authors, many of us are working with a limited budget. We want to find a cover where price, quality, and copyright intersect. We want a cover we can afford, that will generate sales, and comes without the risk of a copyright lawsuit.
If you can’t afford to throw bales of cash at your book cover, the best solution is to use book cover stock photos from reputable sources and send them to an artist you can afford.
What to Do: Hire a Real Professional…They have Lots to Lose
Designers who can’t slink off under the rock from which they came have to stand by their work. They not only have a reputation to uphold, but they also need repeat customers.
That’s one thing that makes using a real book cover designer who’s truly ‘in the game’ a major benefit and increases your safety.
Here are some professional book cover design companies that would have a lot to lose if they made any of the mistakes listed above, and are ones that Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur has not only vetted, but also used as well:
- 100 Covers – Professional, quality book covers at an affordable price. Kindlepreneur's readers rave about them. If you use the code “DAVE” without the quotes, you can get a 20% discount on their already great prices.
- Damonza – Professional cover design team with hundreds of books under their belt. Also offers a 5% discount with the use of this code: KINDLE5
- Author Packages – Affordable custom ebook and print cover designs available as well as formatting and proofreading service.
Questions to Ask Your Cover Designer Before Hiring Them
Hiring a good cover designer can save you a lot of headaches, but don’t assume every designer handles stock photos, fonts, and licensing the same way.
Before you hire someone, ask a few simple questions:
- Do you use stock photos, AI-generated images, custom illustrations, or a mix?
- Which stock photo sites do you usually use?
- Will I receive links to every stock image used in the cover?
- Will I receive proof that the images are licensed for commercial use?
- Does the license cover ebook, paperback, hardcover, audiobook, ads, and social media graphics?
- Are the fonts licensed for commercial book-cover use?
- Will you send me the font names when the cover is finished?
- Do I need to buy the stock images myself, or are they included in your fee?
- If the cover uses AI-generated artwork, will you tell me so I can disclose it properly when publishing?
A good designer should be able to answer these questions clearly.
If they get defensive, vague, or tell you not to worry about it, that’s a warning sign.
You don’t need to interrogate them like a courtroom attorney. You just need to know where the cover assets came from and whether you have the right to use them.
5 Ways Stock Photos & Font Can Bite You
Okay, so we now know about the license levels, the different types of stock photo sites and which ones to be wary of. However, there are still some things that all authors need to know and look for in their stock photos. There are a lot of ways stock photos can still hurt you. So let's dive into some examples to help you gain a better understanding, starting with the intellectual property of companies.
1. Company IP
If your book cover photos incorporate any intellectual property owned by a company that is not licensed to be used in stock photography, you open the doors for big trouble.
For example, I typed “Batman” into Pixabay, and here are my search results:
Use one of these “stock photos” on your cover, and it’s only a question of whether DC, Marvel, or Lego will come after you. Those brands you loved as a child won’t seem so friendly when they get your book removed from Amazon and sue you for every dollar of royalties your book has ever earned.
Claiming that you acquired the image from a “creative commons” site is a fig leaf that will offer little protection when the lawyers come in swinging. Yikes.
So if you recognize any part of your cover from movies, pop culture, video games, etc. that's definitely not safe to use on your cover.
2. Another Artist’s IP
This one is much harder to be aware of because any part of your design could be stolen ideas from artists who share their work online. Unlike huge companies and pop culture, design elements of individual artists are not as easy to recognize.
As an author, it's nearly impossible to know if this infringement happened. Your best bet is to ask your designer where they sourced your images. I'd like to believe the majority of professional designers understand copyright and care enough not to put you in that scary situation. But it's hard to ever be 100% sure.
3. Tattoos
When it comes to people on your cover, if they can recognize themselves, you had better have their permission.
Romance books often have a picture of a muscly hunk without his face showing. Hiding the face might make you think you’re in the clear, but a recent lawsuit shows that might not be the case.
In 2011, the artist who designed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo sued Warner Brothers for showing that tattoo on another character’s face. They settled out of court. While we don't know the details of the final agreement, we do know the artist walked away with a smile on his face.
If you use an image of a tattooed hunk on your book cover, there appear to be three potential dangers:
- the tattoo might include copyrighted imagery (e.g., Bart Simpson's face)
- the tattoo artist might hold a copyright on the image
- some copyrighted tattoos are small and can be tricky to avoid
There are quite a few female models with a tattoo of the logo of the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars. While you might not recognize the image as anything more than a tribal at first blush, do you want to be the one sued by one of the largest film franchises of all time? You might not recognize their property, but they sure will.
4. Clothing
Another thing to look out for on stock photo images for your cover design is recognizable clothing brands or logos. If a character on your cover has a big checkmark across their t-shirt, you could get an angry letter from Nike.
5. Font
While most of us realize that images have copyrights, knowledge about text often slips through the cracks. Should your cover designer use a premium font without your knowledge, you could be headed for trouble. Some fonts have free and paid versions and I have seen regular fonts that are free, while the bold version requires a special license. So it’s best to run your own research.
For my ServeNoMaster site, I used a font called Badaboom BB. It looked free at first glance, but the license mattered. Blambot’s free fonts can be free only for certain limited uses, while commercial uses may require a paid desktop license.
Most of us download a font we like from a free site and add it to our computer without reading the license document. But actually, it’s really important to crack open that innocuous little file. That’s where you will find this critical sentence:
“This font is freeware for independent comic book creation and non-profit use only.”
When I read that, I knew I needed to take action by going to the font designer’s website, Blambot. I read their license options and purchased the one that met my need. While you probably won’t get caught for a naughty font as quickly as you will for a naughty image, when you do get caught, it can be devastating.
So when hiring a cover designer, ask them to use fonts that are clearly allowed for commercial cover design, and have them send you the font names and license sources when the cover is delivered. I always ask the artists to list the fonts they used upon delivery so I can quickly review the license on each font to make sure I’m in the clear.
As with all art on your covers, make sure you know exactly where everything came from.
How to Check if You’re Compliant
Reading this article, you may start to get worried about your existing covers. While you may not have done anything wrong intentionally, you are at risk as long as those covers are out there.
Reach out to each of your artists and ask them to provide links to the source of any stock images they used. Most artists can provide you with the information you need in a short email.
If your artist is no longer reachable, start looking for the reference art yourself. I couldn’t find the original image from my Serve No Master cover but a stock photo search for “flying man” eventually led me back to that image.
There are also several image reverse lookup tools, including:
These tools will take any image you upload and try to find similar images. You definitely want to do a check for compliance, but this is by no means a sure thing.
If you have an old cover that you discover has something unauthorized (or you just suspect it), the best course of action is to create a new cover following the recommendations of this article.
What About AI-Generated Cover Images?
AI image tools have made cover design faster and cheaper, but they don’t remove the copyright and licensing problems this article is talking about.
If you use AI-generated artwork for your cover, Amazon KDP currently requires you to disclose AI-generated images when publishing or updating your book. That includes cover artwork.
You’re also still responsible for making sure the image doesn’t violate someone else’s rights. So if your AI cover looks like a famous actor, a Marvel character, a well-known painting, a recognizable brand, or another author’s cover style, don’t assume you’re safe just because the image came from a prompt instead of a stock photo site.
The safest approach is to treat AI images like any other cover asset:
- Check the tool’s commercial-use terms.
- Avoid recognizable characters, celebrities, brands, logos, and living artists’ styles.
- Keep a record of the tool used, the prompt, the date, and the final image license/terms.
- Disclose it to KDP if the final cover includes AI-generated artwork.
A Simple Book Cover License Checklist
Before you upload your book cover to Amazon, save yourself some future stress by doing one final license check.
Here’s what to look for:
- Is the image licensed for commercial use?
- Does the license allow book covers?
- Does the license cover both digital and print use?
- Is there a print-run limit?
- Are you allowed to modify the image?
- Are you allowed to add text over the image?
- Are recognizable people covered by a model release?
- Are recognizable buildings, landmarks, or private properties covered by a property release?
- Are there any visible logos, brands, tattoos, characters, artwork, or product designs?
- Is the image marked “editorial use only”?
- Are the fonts licensed for commercial use?
- Does your license cover how you actually plan to use the cover?
That last question matters because your book cover might not stay in one place.
You might use it for your Kindle ebook, paperback, hardcover, audiobook, box set, website, ads, social media graphics, book trailer, or reader magnet. Some licenses are fine for one use but not another.
So don’t just ask, “Can I use this image?” Ask, “Can I use this image this way?”
Once you’ve checked everything, create a simple folder for that book’s cover assets. Save your stock image receipts, source links, license screenshots or PDFs, font names, designer contract, final cover files, and any AI image notes if you used AI-generated artwork.
You may never need that folder, but if Amazon, a stock photo company, a designer, or a lawyer ever asks where your cover came from, you’ll be very glad you have it.
Need more guidance on designing a book cover that attracts readers? Here are a few of the best guides you can use for creating a book cover that catches shoppers' attention while they’re browsing for their next book:
- Serve No Master Episode 44: Book Covers That Sell by yours truly
- The Ultimate Guide To Creating Your Book Cover Design article by Dave Chesson
- When and How to Redesign Your Book Cover podcast episode with Dave and Sasscer Hill
- Dave’s recommended tools and services for Book Cover Designs
- Canva’s font combination guide to find fonts that pair well together for your cover
