In this week's episode, we take a look at the best methods for finding ad graphics for book advertising.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 224 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is October 25th, 2024 and today we are discussing the best methods for sourcing images for ad graphics. We'll also have an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. Let's go right to that.

I am currently 61,000 words into Cloak of Illusion and am hoping to have that out before the end of November, since 61,000 words puts me about halfway through the rough draft, I think. I'm also 14,000 words into Orc Hoard, which will be the 4th Rivah book, and if all goes well, the final book I publish in 2024.

In audiobook news, recording is underway for Shield of Conquest. That will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills, and it's also underway for Cloak of Spears and Ghost in the Tombs, which will be narrated by Hollis McCarthy. I think probably Cloak of Spears will come out first, but we will see how things play out for the rest of the month. So that's it. That is the update on my current writing project.

Next month and next week, I want to do a new podcast series for the month of November that I’m going to call Moeller Writing Tips Month as sort of a gentler alternative to National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) for a couple of reasons. The NaNoWriMo organization has had a number of problems over the years, especially recently, so I don't feel comfortable endorsing it anymore. I've also begun to wonder if NaNoWriMo is a bit like a shock diet. If you talk to doctors and other medical experts about weight loss, they say the best way is always to make small, sustainable changes that you can keep up with over time. It's better to lose like a pound a month and keep it off than it is to lose like, 5 or 10 pounds a month in a shock crash diet only to gain it all back once you go back to your own old habits because that kind of a weighty yoyoing is very hard on the body.

I wonder if National Novel Writing Month, where you write 50,000 words in a month is like that for a lot of people; it’s sort of a crash diet. For someone like me, Ghost in the Tombs was my 156th novel. I typically can write a rough draft or novel in a month if I don't have anything else come up. So for me, that's normal, but for most people who don't have that kind of experience, I wonder if National Novel Writing Month would be the sort of writing equivalent of those crash diets that might leave you worse off than you were to begin with. So with that in mind, next month I'll start a podcast series discussing gentler ways one can ease into the regular habit of writing. More discussion on that topic next week and next month.

00:02:45 Main Topic: Sourcing Ad Graphics

Now onto our main topic for the week, sourcing ad graphics. Before we get into that, a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and none of what I'm about to say is actual legal advice. You obtain actual legal advice by hiring a lawyer who is qualified to practice in your jurisdiction. It is very important (to continue the disclaimer) to be on firm footing with the copyright of your ad image. If you don't own the image or the right license to use it, you're infringing on someone's copyright and they can respond either legally or through the places where your book is sold. This is less of a problem with ad images than is with book covers, but it still can happen.

With that in mind, some of the free stock images sites have restrictions on commercial use or modification of the images. It's a good idea to read the licenses carefully. Some of these sites have often not gotten the appropriate clearances from the models in the pictures, so be cautious of using images with identifiable faces from those types of sites. If you're not familiar with the legal term, a model release is when a model or someone in a stock photograph appears in the stock photograph. They sign a release that gives the rights for their likeness to be used for the commercial image and not all free stock image sites do that. Good stock image sites like Shutterstock or iStock Photo or Dreamstime will clearly state on the image page whether or not a model release has been included. If a model release has not been included, you can't use it for commercial purposes, and though it is not terribly likely, you can open yourself up to legal liability that way.

In that vein, be also cautious about Creative Commons sites, since copyrighted work frequently ends up on those sites. This is also true of the free stock image sites, where sometimes people will pirate images and post them there. Also, many Creative Commons photos are restricted from commercial use, modification, and/or the artists require attribution. Tread carefully and make sure you understand the conditions of using images with any of the various Creative Commons licenses.

And before we get into further details, it's also important to understand the difference between creating book covers and creating ad images. The number one thing to remember about ad images is that ads are ephemeral, and they should change often because you often get diminishing returns for using the same ad graphics. Ads can be tailored for different audiences. Ads can be tailored for different platforms. In fact, you kind of have to tailor ads for different platforms because, for example, Bookbub and Facebook, the two ad platforms where indie authors are most likely to use ad graphics, have very different requirements for images. People are more tolerant of AI images in ads than in book covers, but AI is very polarizing, and if you use an ad image that is easily and immediately identifiable as AI, you will probably get some pushback for that. So with all that in mind, let's first look at some free places to get images for ads and then some paid options.

The number one free option is public domain images from the US government pages. It is the law of the land in the United States that images produced by the US government or federal employees in the course of their duties (with some exceptions) are in the public domain. Some of these are great as using as backgrounds or components of an ad. For example, are you a sci-fi author in need of a planet you can put behind a spaceship? You're in luck; NASA has plenty of those images and you can find them quite easily. However, sometimes U.S. government websites use stock images or government created images that have some types of restrictions. For example, NASA forbids use of images of current astronauts for commercial purposes for any reason and has some pretty strong feelings about people using their images to create NFTs. You do not want to go through life getting sued by the federal government, so you probably want to avoid that.

Sources that are easiest to be confident in, images that are explicitly included in public domain collections on U.S. government websites such as the Library of Congress free to use and reuse sets website or NASA's Images Hub (this page also includes some guidance on NASA specific researchers) and the National Gallery of Art Open Access Images page. All of these have ample supplies of images that are in the public domain, and you can look over them for images you can use for ads or components of ads.

Another free option is other public domain collections. Some libraries and some museums have created public domain image collections or let you filter for public domain images on their site. Very large institutions tend to be cautious about using this type of copyright language and their staff generally have training on what is or is not public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has a public domain filter on their search page and The Met museum in New York has an Open Access filter in their search page where you can look for images in the public domain.

The third free option and one that I have done myself a lot is take your own photos and use your own photographs for backgrounds components in an ad, etcetera. Since you're the creator, you hold the copyright. I have done this in a lot of the books I have published in 2024 and the ad images I created in 2024. A fair bit of them have my own photos because I took some trips to some fairly scenic parts of the country this year. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that, so while I was there, I took lots of pictures with an eye towards using them in ad images and book covers because as you get more practice with graphic design, your projects tend to have more layers to them. You often come across things and think well, this wouldn't be a good image by itself but would be a great background or great foreground and I can use pieces of it to assemble a better picture. So I've done that a fair bit and since I own the rights to all the photographs, I am one hundred percent in the clear.

Now let's move on to a few free or low-cost options and one that might be a bit controversial. In fact, it is controversial: AI generated images. The pros of this are that the US government has consistently ruled so far (this might change after the election, but it might not) is that AI images cannot be copyrighted in any capacity. This means you can quickly make eye-catching art that matches your specifications instead of hunting for stock art. The con is that many people will assume that the book is AI generated if they see an AI generated ad image and many people strongly dislike AI art in general, or object to AI art on principle, viewing it as a form of theft.

For myself, I've decided that my personal ethical line on this (barring changes in circumstances or laws) is that I will not sell anything that was created by AI. If I am selling anything or giving away a free ebook, it is 100% written by me and the cover was ei...

Episode 224: Sourcing Ad Graphics