In fact, at least nine books have been published with this same cover image; in order of publication, the seven others are Wildwasser by Paulus Hochgatterer (2003), The Miracle by John L’Heureux (2003), Restless: A Ghost’s Story by Rich Wallace (2003), Le monde perdu de Joey Madden (the French translation of Ruin Creek) by David Payne (2004), The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (2004), Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor (2008) and Son of a Witch by Gregory McGuire (2009).
And here’s the thing: it took me less than five minutes to find those other seven books. How? By using TinEye Reverse Image Search. Like Google, TinEye is a search engine, but instead of searching for terms, it searches for images. It’s not perfect (it can’t find reversed images, for example), nor is it exhaustive, but it certainly makes it much much easier to find copycat covers, especially if you’re starting with a stock photo (rather than a cover image that has text and perhaps other images on it). There’s no reason publishers couldn’t check to see whether the stock images they are using on covers have been used before. The question is, will they? Do they actually care?
How do you feel about copycat covers? Are you outraged? Annoyed? Amused? Indifferent? Do you think publishers should care if the stock images they are using on covers have been used before?
How do you feel about copycat covers? Are you outraged? Annoyed? Amused? Indifferent? Do you think publishers should care if the stock images they are using on covers have been used before?
God, it would be so nice if publishers would use this! BUT it wouldn't work on books that come out within just a couple of months of each other (and an image that hasn't been used previously). I edited a book and 1 month before the pub date, we found out the image was on a book coming out from another publisher the same time as ours. We couldn't do much at that point but change some colors and fonts. But when a publisher reused an image from another one of my books, 9 months after my book's publication, that one did annoy me. There was ample time between the two that the other publisher did not need to use our same image. Lazy.
ReplyDeleteTinEye is amazing! I tried it just for fun on an image I created for my meme, Really Random Tuesday (on CoolText): It searched over 1.9532 billion images in 9.038 seconds and didn't find any others.
ReplyDeletePerhaps publishers will use this tool so that their covers will be unique. I don't "catch" the similar covers like you do, Avis, but I am always astounded when you present so many look-alikes.
Good point, Carin, I hadn't thought about the fact that if the books come out nearly simultaneously, a TinEye search wouldn't catch them. In this case, the first three books to be published with this cover came out in June, August and September 2003 -- undoubtedly too close together for TinEye to have been of any help (had it been in existence then). Oh and I'm dying to know what the books you worked on were!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, Suko, TinEye has taken some of the fun out of finding lookalike covers for me -- it's too easy now! However, I just recently found two more sets on my own, so I'll definitely be posting more in the weeks to come!
ReplyDeleteAvis, don't feel obligated to use TinEye. Rely on your own eye, which has never failed you. But TinEye is a nifty "device".
ReplyDeleteI am okay with copycat covers as long as they represent the story within. I've read so many books lately that have covers that don't match what is going on in the book.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I'm sure photographers would have something to say about all this as well. If an image they shot could only be used once, it would greatly reduce their income.
As far as the mass use of stock photos.. I would think that as an author (who usually has little control over their cover art) and the publisher (who has near complete control), I would want the cover of the book I am publishing to be 100% unique.
ReplyDeletePay the extra money to get someone to design a cover that represents the content of the book. I cannot believe how many novels shared the same cover image!!!
I am rather annoyed when I see the same image used on more than one cover. I would be terribly upset if I was the author of one of the books. In this day and age, how difficult is it to come up with a new image?
ReplyDeleteThat's a cool search engine! I'm with Kathy about using the same images..it can be confusing when you're trying to remember a book that you've read just based on the cover!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because I'm a huge cover lover. I've bought books simply for the cover, a couple I never even really read but saying that I don't know I mind all that much about copycat covers. As long as it's a good cover. This is, of course, a totally subjective, idea. One woman's trash is another's treasure, as they say. But, I think sever (and I have a sneaking suspicion there are more) is a few too many. Great post and thanks for sharing about TinEye, I've got to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI can understand multiple books having the same type of image, but to use the exact same photo is just lazy. I wouldn't say it bothers me. I do have an appreciation of a well made, creative cover. Those will get my attention.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few cases in which an identical match can actually fit each cover, but seeing as so many of us judge books by their covers (or at least are drawn to them based on their cover images...), there might as well be some diversity.
ReplyDeleteI think that publishers should seek for originality in all matters relating to their books. Just like I'd like the story to be fresh, the cover shouldn't be predictable, familiar and copied. Originality is crucial in this regard. Publishers should avoid stock photos all together in my mind...
Wow, this is fascinating, Avis! I didn't know about TinEye (which sounds also like a great way to see if other websites have stolen your copyrighted images).
ReplyDeleteI've seen duplicate images before on books, but nine books with the same image?! Startling! It'll be interesting to see if publishers take notice and start checking before using stock images.
Thanks for the post!
HOLY Smokes! I can't believe it! THis is the most I've seen since I've followed similar covers!
ReplyDeleteOMG! 9 book covers? That's insane! I'm not sure how I feel about publishers using the same stock image, but . . . 1 stock image x 9? 0_o
ReplyDeleteI'm absolutely amazed by this.
ReplyDeleteThe tiny eye software should be a great way to pursue image stealer of the world
When I see them in your posts, I think it seems outrageous. But I have yet to pick up on a similar cover all on my own. If I was an author, I would want a unique cover!
ReplyDelete