Book Cover Category

[studio12]

Hi All 

Recently started with Alamy and was interested in how to get images into the Book Cover category.  On the home page there is a Browse by category and was wondering how you can get images into this area. When filling out details of an image I could not see anywhere in the categories, regarding book covers. Will be interested in any response.

[Mr Standfast]

Hi, these collections are curated by Alamy, it's their showcase for customers and not selectable by contributors. Stay safe.

Edited January 14, 2021 by Mr Standfast
Spelling

[studio12]

Hi Mr Standfast . Thank you for your response, and you too, stay safe.

[Betty LaRue]

On 14/01/2021 at 04:48, studio12 said:

Hi All 

Recently started with Alamy and was interested in how to get images into the Book Cover category.  On the home page there is a Browse by category and was wondering how you can get images into this area. When filling out details of an image I could not see anywhere in the categories, regarding book covers. Will be interested in any response.

While you are just starting out, you should name the caterpillar. I’ve taken some pictures this past summer of a Monarch butterfly caterpillar. While I have the tags you have, I also have “Monarch caterpillar, Danus Plexippus” in the tags and caption. Many times my critters are searched by scientific name.

Tap the blue numbers under my avatar and you’ll soon see my caterpillar. Tap on an image to enlarge, and check out the tags (keywords). Even if you don’t go after many nature images, when you do have one, always name the species and scientific name. 
Betty

Edited January 17, 2021 by Betty LaRue

[wiskerke]

Images of mine that have sold as covers do not look like any of those 😁.

One of the things you'll notice that all of them are verticals. Or portrait like the filter says.

The other is that the search term is concept. Or there's a filter named concept. (Where is that filter?)

Some people actually have book cover in the keywords.

(Use "book cover" as a search term.)

However when clients are searching for book cover, they are overwhelmingly looking for the cover of a specific book. Not an image to design a cover for a book.

(Use All of Alamy to look for %book cover%.)

Some contributors have book cover in their pseudonym. Probably because they already have licensed lots of images as book covers.

(Put cover or book in the Contributor name box under the Advanced search tab.)

And that could be the main reason for being included in that showcase. Selling images for covers. However you will have to work on that. I have just downloaded my all time sales records and they show 41 images sold as front cover and 107 in total for cover. And I'm not in the showcase.

 

BTW you will not or may very seldom see that in your sales report because all your images are RF.

 

wim

[John Mitchell]

I occasionally have book cover sales, and they are usually fairly ordinary images. On Alamy, the content of the image seems to matter more than aesthetic or conceptual value. At one time, book and magazine cover sales were often $$$. These days the prices are all over the place, and often pathetic.

[Brasilnut]

Best to go for more book cover specialist agencies, such as Arcangel and/or Trevillion.

 

https://www.stockstudio.io/post/best-places-to-sell-stock-photos-transitioning-to-book-cover-photography

[Harry Harrison]

I wouldn't get hung up on getting your images to appear in the 'Book covers' category, as others have touched upon it is a mixture of curated images, the first 4 or 5 pages, and a general search for all images with 'concept' in either caption or keywords and in the portrait orientation.  Some of those in 'browse my categories', are only curated images, most are put together like this. Don't confuse them with the primary and secondary categories in your Image Manager optional section. There are 2,918,913 results if you choose the 'Book covers' category, if you search yourself for 'concept' in the portrait orientation there are 2,918,416 results, suggesting 497 curated images. Alamy probably tweak the sort order but they are only ever going to curate a few hundred images, not several millions.

 

I somehow doubt that putting 'concept' in as a keyword will help sell your images as book covers but remembering to shoot in the portrait orientation certainly will. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[Harry Harrison]

I don't know anything about selling for book covers so take what I say with a pinch of salt but I really like your compositions and I see they are mostly in the portrait orientation which is great (of course some books are landscape anyway!). I'd be tempted to give a little more space around them, room to breathe as it were (without obviously introducing distracting elements) as I think the designer might need a little more room to crop them as he/she wants to. Also as you can see in the thumbnail view the pictures are already cropped slightly on Alamy in that gallery view and that seems at first sight to spoil the composition of your green bicycle shot by chopping off the bottom of the wheel.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[spacecadet]

I've had book covers, but I don't use categories. Buyers can work in out.

[studio12]

On 06/03/2021 at 20:24, Harry Harrison said:

I don't know anything about selling for book covers so take what I say with a pinch of salt but I really like your compositions and I see they are mostly in the portrait orientation which is great (of course some books are landscape anyway!). I'd be tempted to give a little more space around them, room to breathe as it were (without obviously introducing distracting elements) as I think the designer might need a little more room to crop them as he/she wants to. Also as you can see in the thumbnail view the pictures are already cropped slightly on Alamy in that gallery view and that seems at first sight to spoil the composition of your green bicycle shot by chopping off the bottom of the wheel.

Thanks for you thoughts.  It is always adapting and learning in photography.