I have no idea where the vest and male arm came from, as it certainly isn’t mine. Yes, that is me, those are my stock images used on the cover, from my romance novel cover stock image website http://www.RomanceNovelCovers.com
However, I did not create that “cover” (as I don’t design covers, I produce stock images), nor do I know who did create that cover, or why it was pieced together from so many different images, or why it is so pixelated, other than seeing that it was dup’d from one of the author’s other covers, which was probably made final at this small size: http://images.mobilism.org/?dm=BMWA
… then enlarged (causing the pixelation), cutout from that cover and put on a different background, and a new title and such were added to it.
Sorry to read that you’ve been ripped off. IIWY, I’d take action. Otherwise, you’re letting the thief get away with it, and damaging your own brand as well.
A good place to start might be contacting Amazon and the other etailers, letting them know about the plagerized/unauthorized cover. That could very well result in this book being dumped from their online offerings.
Thanks James, but I didn’t say I was ripped off. The image could’ve been bought (like SevenSapiens noted), used on the initial cover, then the purchaser just cut the edited image out of their own first cover, and used it on the other cover of theirs… as it is the same author on both covers.
I have caught quite a few people stealing/using my my modeling images that are not for sale on my “stock image website”, but on my “modeling website” from before I was even involved in the romance novel industry, or images on their covers with my watermark on them from my “stock image website”, which means they used images they were not allowed to use and attempted to remove the watermark, which you could still see parts of it, as well as people taking someone else’s actual cover and cutting the book title name off the top and author name off the bottom, then increasing the cover height by the amount they cut off, then added their own book title and author name to it, and I would contact Amazon, and wherever else the cover was posted, and they were all removed immediately.
I have many fans (readers and authors who have my images on their covers) who find these illegal covers before I do, so it is very hard to get away with it, and it completely ruins the author’s reputation and credibility to even bother with such illegal actions instead of paying $10-$45 for their own cover image or cover, because my fans, as well as myself, post their illegal activity by that author to expose them 😉
“[…] taking someone else’s actual cover and cutting the book title name off the top and author name off the bottom, then increasing the cover height by the amount they cut off.”
Oh, so *that* is the cause of the aspect ratio issue. We must tell Nathan this.
No. The increased height I’m referring to is not stretching the cover, but someone cutting off the book title and author name from the top and bottom of someone else’s cover, then adding a colored bar of the two amounts they cropped off, then adding a book title and author name on the colored bars, so the height of the cover ends up being the same as it was without stretching the cover image.
Height to width ratio issues are due to various things… start-up publishers who don’t research anything and end up making their own covers and they start making their author’s covers at a size they choose, as if it doesn’t matter. Or they allow covers to be made by others at any size. Or authors who just make their own covers and have no idea about there being a standard size ratio, so when those authors upload them to book store websites, those covers get sized to fit those website’s cover size default, which is usually the same all around: 1.5 (2700 high divided by 1.5 = 1800 wide, 800 high divided by 1.5 is 533 wide… 600 high divided by 1.5 = 400 wide… 300 high divided by 1.5 = 200 wide, etc.). This is the standard.
With audio book covers you get so many authors not wanting to pay a little more for their cover artist to make them an audio book cover since they are square, so they take their own rectangular cover (i.e. 400 W x 600 H) and just squish it to be square (400 W x 400 H).
![cover[1]](https://lousybookcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/cover138.jpg)
This cover is actually unpleasant to look at. Not just in an aesthetic sense, but physically unpleasant.
I agree, the image is visually jarring. The fuzzy edges make me dizzy.
Not only is the image sucko, the shadow fonts suck, too.
So you know James, the image shown on this cover above is not the original stock image. The original stock image that cover image came from is this one:
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/onlinestore/copyright.php?id=3061
… which can be found/purchased here (once you are logged in):
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/onlinestore/galleries.php?pluginoption=catalog&item_id=3061&main_id=0&category_id=
And the dress added to this cover image is from this image:
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/onlinestore/copyright.php?id=3032
… which can be found/purchased here (once you are logged in):
http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/onlinestore/galleries.php?pluginoption=catalog&item_id=3032&main_id=0&category_id=
I have no idea where the vest and male arm came from, as it certainly isn’t mine. Yes, that is me, those are my stock images used on the cover, from my romance novel cover stock image website http://www.RomanceNovelCovers.com
However, I did not create that “cover” (as I don’t design covers, I produce stock images), nor do I know who did create that cover, or why it was pieced together from so many different images, or why it is so pixelated, other than seeing that it was dup’d from one of the author’s other covers, which was probably made final at this small size: http://images.mobilism.org/?dm=BMWA
… then enlarged (causing the pixelation), cutout from that cover and put on a different background, and a new title and such were added to it.
Thanks,
Jimmy Thomas – RNC
http://www.RomanceNovelCovers.com
http://www.RomanceNovelCenter.com
http://www.RomanceNovelConvention.com
Thanks for the info Jimmy. I can imagine it hurts to see what someone else has done to your work.
@Jimmy Thomas
Sorry to read that you’ve been ripped off. IIWY, I’d take action. Otherwise, you’re letting the thief get away with it, and damaging your own brand as well.
A good place to start might be contacting Amazon and the other etailers, letting them know about the plagerized/unauthorized cover. That could very well result in this book being dumped from their online offerings.
Good luck to you. I hope you prevail.
What if the person who did the cover actually bought the image? I don’t think anything can be done in that case.
Thanks James, but I didn’t say I was ripped off. The image could’ve been bought (like SevenSapiens noted), used on the initial cover, then the purchaser just cut the edited image out of their own first cover, and used it on the other cover of theirs… as it is the same author on both covers.
I have caught quite a few people stealing/using my my modeling images that are not for sale on my “stock image website”, but on my “modeling website” from before I was even involved in the romance novel industry, or images on their covers with my watermark on them from my “stock image website”, which means they used images they were not allowed to use and attempted to remove the watermark, which you could still see parts of it, as well as people taking someone else’s actual cover and cutting the book title name off the top and author name off the bottom, then increasing the cover height by the amount they cut off, then added their own book title and author name to it, and I would contact Amazon, and wherever else the cover was posted, and they were all removed immediately.
I have many fans (readers and authors who have my images on their covers) who find these illegal covers before I do, so it is very hard to get away with it, and it completely ruins the author’s reputation and credibility to even bother with such illegal actions instead of paying $10-$45 for their own cover image or cover, because my fans, as well as myself, post their illegal activity by that author to expose them 😉
Thanks,
Jimmy Thomas – RNC
http://www.RomanceNovelCovers.com
http://www.RomanceNovelCenter.com
http://www.RomanceNovelConvention.com
“[…] taking someone else’s actual cover and cutting the book title name off the top and author name off the bottom, then increasing the cover height by the amount they cut off.”
Oh, so *that* is the cause of the aspect ratio issue. We must tell Nathan this.
No. The increased height I’m referring to is not stretching the cover, but someone cutting off the book title and author name from the top and bottom of someone else’s cover, then adding a colored bar of the two amounts they cropped off, then adding a book title and author name on the colored bars, so the height of the cover ends up being the same as it was without stretching the cover image.
Height to width ratio issues are due to various things… start-up publishers who don’t research anything and end up making their own covers and they start making their author’s covers at a size they choose, as if it doesn’t matter. Or they allow covers to be made by others at any size. Or authors who just make their own covers and have no idea about there being a standard size ratio, so when those authors upload them to book store websites, those covers get sized to fit those website’s cover size default, which is usually the same all around: 1.5 (2700 high divided by 1.5 = 1800 wide, 800 high divided by 1.5 is 533 wide… 600 high divided by 1.5 = 400 wide… 300 high divided by 1.5 = 200 wide, etc.). This is the standard.
With audio book covers you get so many authors not wanting to pay a little more for their cover artist to make them an audio book cover since they are square, so they take their own rectangular cover (i.e. 400 W x 600 H) and just squish it to be square (400 W x 400 H).
Thanks,
Jimmy Thomas – RNC
http://www.RomanceNovelCovers.com
http://www.RomanceNovelCenter.com
http://www.RomanceNovelConvention.com