I adore pretty book covers. Getting them made for my books is one of my favourite parts of the publishing process.
My design skills are rudimentary, so I commission a cover artist to give my books a face. These talented artists need me to give them a design brief before they can work, so I spend hours checking out other covers to get an idea for what I want, and researching what readers appear to respond to.
Many authors and graphic designers rely on stock photographs to use on their book covers. These are photos available in a commercial image bank, and anyone can buy a license to use the pictures on book covers, social media, bookmarks, or any other merchandise.
The standard license doesn’t come with exclusivity, so as many people as want can use the same image.
Authors often have similar tastes, so it’s not unusual to see the same happy-looking couple or handsome hero appearing on lots and lots of books!
For my first book series, I wanted smiling couples on the covers. Because what screams “romance” louder than a man and a woman who look like they’re deeply in love? So, I spent a long time sifting through image banks for just the right pictures.
Since publishing, I’ve seen “my” couples on many other authors’ books. This adorable pair below is on my book Hidden in Her Heart, but they first appeared on an earlier edition of Toni Shiloh’s Finding Love, and are also on Rose Fresquez’s upcoming The Soldier’s Trainer. Of course they’re not really “my” couples, since authors shop from the same stock image libraries.
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Milla Holt’s Hidden in Her Heart, an early edition of Toni Shiloh’s Finding Love, and Rose Fresquez’s upcomng The Soldier’s Trainer, all feature the same model couple. |
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Toni’s book Finding Love has since got a gorgeous new cover. 
It’s possible to get a license that allows exclusive use of a stock image, but the price for that is well out of range for many.
Some authors, including InspyRomance’s own Tara Grace Ericson, arrange for bespoke photo shoots, getting their own models to pose for pictures. This ensures their covers will be completely unique. Don’t you love this awesome cover from Tara’s Second Chance Fire Station series?
Do you notice when the same faces crop up on several book covers? Does it bother you?
I write fiction that reflects my Christian faith. I love happy endings, heroes and heroines who discover sometimes hard but always vital truths, and stories that uplift and encourage. My family and I live in the east of England where we enjoy rambling in the countryside, reading good books and making up silly lyrics to our favorite songs.
I must be unobservant because I haven’t noticed that! But then I am more interested in what is inside the book- can’t wait to open it!
That’s good to know, Jeannette! It might be one of the (many!) things I worry about that are actually non-issues.
I really don’t notice the covers when I read ebooks. But if I read paperbacks, I would notice it. It probably would seem weird to see the same couples on different books.
I found it weird, too, until I understood why this happens.
Once I was sharing a book recommendation with my mailing list subscribers and although I’d read the book, it had escaped my notice that the guy on the cover was the same man I had on my own book cover… with a different woman! I didn’t realise it until pictures of both covers were side by side in my newsletter.
I made a joke of it and asked my readers whether they noticed anything unusual about the covers!
I have noticed. I used to be able to remember if I read a book by its cover. Now because the cover may not be exclusive I can’t do that. I have gotten used to that so it doesn’t bother me anymore. The authors have great taste.
I have noticed and I’m a cover person so it does bother me a little but more important is what is inside. Blessings
Thanks for your comment, Lori! Yes, it’s hard to remember a book just by its cover nowadays. Glad it doesn’t bother you to see the same faces every now and then.
Thanks for your comment, Lelia. Like you said, the stories inside are what matters most, and they’re unique although the covers are similar.
No, I don’t seem to notice the covers once I bought the book. But, putting a new cover on a rerelease can confuse me since I may forget that I have read the book.
I notice book covers. It doesn’t usually bother me if the same couple are used. I think that’s why I like the new RomCom covers. It can be anyone’s face and that allows me to see the characters as I see them in the book.
good morning. this is funny. I have said to myself “he or she looks familiar” LOL now I am sure they probably were. LOL no it really doesnt bother me much. I mean there are not enough couples to take pictures of to make all the covers different. I am sure that there are ways to make them all look a little different.
Hi, JCP. Or new titles on re-releases might also be confusing. Thanks for your comment.
That’s definitely one advantage with faceless book covers!
I’m sure they were familiar, Lori, ha ha! Yes, there are quite a few ways to differentiate even the exact same photo.
I have noticed it, and it doesn’t really bother me. It does make me stop and take a second look, though! Which can be a good thing!
I have noticed this before but when I recognize them it is usually because they strike me in a positive way. This only makes me want to read another book they are on that much more. This is one difference I find between choosing a physical book & a digital one. I generally approach the desire to read a digital book on descriptions & reviews alone where seeing a cover on a physical book adds a third element. I don’t know why I tend to pay no attention to the cover when choosing a digital, it is still visible. Then again, I gave up putting too much stock in trying to figure out why my mind works the way it does a long time ago! 😊
I haven’t really noticed .
Good to know it doesn’t bother you!
That’s an interesting point, Deb, and when I think about it, I realise I’m the same way. Perhaps because I tend to buy printed books in shops where I can handle them, and that makes me pay extra attention to the covers.
I’m a bit relieved there are a good number of people who haven’t noticed this! Thanks for your comment, Kendra.
Yes,I have noticed before, but it doesn’t bother me.
This is hilarious! the truth is that I had not realized that different books can have the same couple. I thought it was because they were all connected lol.
I mean I saw the pictures of those three books before I read the post and I thought they were a trilogy: In Hidden in her Heart they obviously fall in love, in Finding Love they’re already a couple clearly because of their postures and in The Soldier’s Trainer they’re just getting married. see them dance so happy and she has a party dress right? hahaha
At least now if I see the same hero/heroine with another person in another book I won’t think it’s because the protagonist is widowed after book 1 or they got divorced hahaha.
This is really funny, it makes total sense when you explain it but I had never really thought about where the pictures on books come from. I have to say I’ve never noticed, I’m often quite bad at recognising people I’ve met and bump into elsewhere in real life though so I’m not that observant!
I’ll look more carefully from now on – It wouldn’t bother me though – what does annoy me is if the picture on the cover doesn’t match the descriptions in the book, e.g. if the heroine is described as blonde but the cover shows a red head!
Good to know, Alicia!
That’s so funny, Lilly! I’d totally not seen it that way. Thanks for the laugh!
I know what you mean, Ruthie. In real life, I often need to see somebody “in context” to recognise them. Like, if I saw my next door neighbour in a random place far from home, I might not immediately know it’s her because I’m so used to seeing her in a particular location. And I share your pet peeve about the person on the cover not matching their description in the book!
Milla, I had noticed that even some traditionally published books, the characters on the cover might be on some other book cover. Even though the covers you mentioned have the same couple, they are in a different pose, and that helps make them different.
yes, skip the book if the covers are the same as other books
I have to be honest. I have never paid attention. I look at the book I am reading. I cannot say that I pay that much attention to the people on the cover. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
Yes, Merrillee! My husband recently showed me an article where the same distinctive tree was used on over 20 traditionally published book covers. Not couples, but it shows that often, good stock photos get used repeatedly.
Thanks for your comment!
Thanks, Debra! Seems we have an even split between those who notice and remember covers, and those who don’t. I didn’t really notice until I began publishing books.
I noticed it more with Historical. Several years back there was a photo of a lady I think looking out a window or similar with a blue dress and blond hair and it was on quite a few book covers in a short period of time. And by authors I read.
Normally I don’t notice as much except I was getting the newsletters and they came close together.
I think I know exactly the picture you mean, Jenny! Historical fiction is particularly challenging because there’s a very limited selection of stock photos, especially if you write clean romance.
This is interesting to learn and it makes complete sense how it happens but I have never noticed.
Thanks for your comment, Jessica! After a lifetime of reading, I only began noticing in the past couple of years.
I love all the covers from Tara’s Second Chance Fire Station series! And I’m the kind of person who notices only when they’re using the same “pose” of the couple (not as in your example, where is the same couple, but they’re in different poses in all 3 books). It bothers me a bit, but so long as it fits the story, I can get over it quickly (I’ll just refer to them in my mind as “the couple from the first book I saw them in”).