Whether you’re ready to self-publish your first book or working on your twenty-first book, you need to create a great looking book cover.

Sometimes, the steps on how to find great Royalty Free Stock Photos to use for your self-published book cover, can seem a little confusing. At least that’s how it was for me when I first started self-publishing my books seven years ago.

At first, I didn’t know where to look. But I’ve had a few years of searching since I first start out and have discovered a few great spots to grab great images for all my book covers.

After a few years of doing this, I’ve learned where to find some of the best stock images for your book cover at a great deal and some are even Free!

If you want to know where you can find great images for your book covers, keep reading below…

Find Great Deals or Free Stock Images for your Self-Published Book

Finding really good stock images for your book covers, isn’t as easy as you might think. I’ve talked with some writers who at first thought that if they found a good image on the internet that it was free to use. Sadly, this is not the case. Images are copyrighted. Do not use them without permission.

But there is another way to find great images to use on your book covers. I’ve tried both the Free stock photos and I’ve tried paid options and I like both. Whenever there’s a great deal on paid images however I take advantage of it, because that way I don’t need to worry whether I have permission to use them for my book covers.

P.S. There are some affiliate links in this blogpost. This adds no extra cost to you, but it does add a little to Lorna’s coffee fund and keeps her writing.

Thankfully, there are legal ways to find and use images for your book covers:

• Use an image your took yourself.
• Buy Royalty Free Stock Photos.
• Use an image that’s in the public domain(no known copyright). Or perhaps because it has a Creative Commons Zero (CCo) license – meaning that the photographer has chosen not to hold onto her/his copyright.
• Use an image with another type of Creative Commons license and follow the terms of that specific license.
• Get written permission from the photographer.

If you want to read details on how to use images legally, here’s a guest post on Social Media Examiner that is helpful.

Below are Sites where you can find Great Deals on Royalty Free Stock Images(some are even free)…

Deposit Photos: This is by far my favorite place to get images… I love this deal!

Many writers I know, literally wait for the once(sometimes twice) a year offering of this deal to buy stock photos to use in their graphics for their website or for their book covers. They buy 100 at a time, use them whenever they want, and there’s a money-back guarantee.

And the price… is amazing. If you want a comparison, one stock photo on Canva for instance, will cost you $1.00 whereas Depositphotos is $0.39. It’s for real and it’s a steal of a deal. The thing is, it only comes around once(maybe twice) a year and it’s only made available until they run out of codes.

Here’s how to get this deal:

1.Go here(the details are on AppSumo).

2.Scroll down and find the yellow button to buy the code.

3.Choose if you want 1 code(100 photos), 2 codes(200 photos) or 3 codes(300 photos). The amount you choose will probably depend on how often you use stock photos(for your website, self-published books, etc.).

4.Proceed to the checkout to complete your purchase.

5.You’ll get a code(or codes, depending on how many you bought). You’ll need to apply this code to your Depositphotos account within 60 days. It’s not difficult to do, but it’s important. Once you’ve finished that, you can download photos as often as you need them.

Here’s how to use this deal:

1.After you’ve completed your purchase, click the Next Steps button to go to your AppSumo account. Another way to sign-in to your account, is by clicking the link in your receipt email — or you can go to My Products via the menu under your account in the Top Right Hand corner.

2.Next you must redeem your code. How? You bought the deal from AppSumo and they will give you a code to put into DepositPhotos which basically gives you a credit in your DepositPhotos account for the number of images you bought. This part is easy, but you must redeem your code(s) at DepositPhotos within 60 days! I like to do it right away so I don’t forget.

Once you’ve found this page(via the steps above), click on Redemption Instructions below:

3.On the next screen that shows up, click the Copy to Clipboard to get your code. Next, click Redeem Now button. This will take you to the Depositphotos website. (If you don’t have a Depositphotos account sign-up, and if you do sign-in).

4.Once you sign-in to Depositphotos, paste your code in the box at the bottom(the box next to the green button) and click Apply. Next, if you bought more than one code, go back and repeat the process. Once you’ve completed those steps you’re all done!

5.Once you’re inside Depositphotos site, you can see how many images(or downloads) you have left at any given time in your Depositphotos account > Home.  The images never expire, so if you need them now or two years from now, simply log into your Depositphotos account, search for the image you want, download it and use it. I’m not sure how long this deal will last, so if you need images I encourage you to get this deal now.

Here are some Free Ways to find Royalty Free Stock Photos:

1.Use photos that you take yourself.

2.Websites like Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash and StockUp say that their images are free to use because they are released without copyright under the CreativeCommons CCo license. Generally, folks like to use photos from these sites under the above CreativeCommons CC0 license, because they can be used for personal or commercial use, with no attribution required. And sometimes that works.

However, there have been instances where people have faced legal action because what they thought was free to use, wasn’t. One other disadvantage of using free images from the sites above, is the possibility that many people are using the same images, which doesn’t help you stand out if you’re using it for book covers.

Both free or paid options work.

I like to buy images from Depositphotos(especially when they offer this rare deal). But, if you’re on a tight budget, then free works. Just remember to understand and follow the terms of use. And if you aren’t sure, find a different image or try contacting the owner of the image and asking permission for use.

I hope you found this post helpful and that you find the stock images for your book cover that you’re looking for. Have fun looking for the perfect photo!

Question: Where do you find royalty free stock images? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments… we can learn from each other! 🙂