Discussion»Questions»Books and Literature» For websites/apps such as Wattpad, where do these authors and writers obtain the photos they use for their covers?
You can actually buy cover art. There are tons of sites devoted to it, either just as the art or as part of publishing software. If you're just purchasing the rights to use someone's work/ cover art, I've seen pricing as low as $10. Others sell the exclusive rights to their cover art and that I feel like I've seen around $100. These are all pre-made things. The artists just create something around a theme, so it doesn't necessarily reflect the book, but it can be a pretty close fit. For example, my friend wrote a murder mystery. He purchased the rights to use someone's cover art. He picked a pre-made one with the silhouette of a bare tree and birds. I think he paid $20.
Like Jaimie said, you can commission artwork too, but it's expensive. You may find a starving artist or someone in a foreign country willing to do it for $50 or less, but if you want an accomplished artist from North America or the UK, expect to shell out a couple hundred.
When it comes to sourcing images online, you can do that too. But, bear in mind, most art belongs to someone; it's not available for use without permission from the artist. You can run Google searches for art labeled for reuse for commercial purposes, in which case you can use those, though they generally require attribution. If you use one that isn't labeled for reuse, you could wind up getting sued by the owner of the work/ artist later.
