Free, original & pretty book covers for texts in the public domain

[Algiedi]

Hello everyone,

... I should just make a post template that starts with apologies for posting in the wrong forum and/or talking about something that's already been discussed a thousand times, as my short stay on MR has already established that I suck at making a search on this forum (why is it always the one synonym-keyword you didn't think about?)

Anyway, I just had a mini-epiphany, and I had to bother someone with it - turns out that'll be you people. Sorry for that as well.

So - getting to my point - I was checking out my public domains ebook collection on Calibre, and testing the wonderful new book cover search to pimp up the metadata. And I was getting kinda upset that I only had a choice between really, really ugly but free covers or copyrighted covers attached to specific editions.

I wondered - why wouldn't artists create and release under free licences really nice covers for those texts? And/or why has no one created a database for those yet, where people could upload, vote on and download pretty, free covers in a centralized and convenient manner?

A very quick Googlin' hasn't brought up any relevant results on that kind of project, so my questions are:

Do I also suck at Googling, because something like this already exists?
or
Anyone wanna start something like that?

[AJ Starr]

When I don't find an official book cover, I use a file I made. I bring it into my Presentation software and change the title and author and use it. One of these days I need to add embellishments.

[Giggleton]

Sounds good, which texts are you talking about?

[Algiedi]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Sounds good, which texts are you talking about?

Any kind of free/public domain book - anything you can find on Gutenberg Project or Feebooks and whatnot. Yesterday I was adding some Lovecraft, Conan Doyle and Jane Austen to my collection - important, inspiring works of literature that deserve pretty, free, dedicated packaging.

As for the type of graphics I had in mind, something like this or this - something inspired and professional-looking.

Now if it was just about prettifying my own collection - I've been using Photoshop for something like 15 years and I could take care of my own business. But I've also taken the habit of sharing every image I've ever produced under free licences (the wtfpl being my favorite) for other people to use.

I could just post whatever I make on Flickr or this forum, but wouldn't it be great to create a centralized, easy-to-find, easy-to-access (for other websites such as Feedbooks, or at least for Calibre) database for everyone to enjoy & contribute to?

But all I have to offer for this idea is Photoshop skills, so I'm checking if anyone else is getting excited by this idea

[Giggleton]

I am interested in a high quality cover for an anthology of Lovecraft's work, I will put together the epub if you design the cover.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I am interested in a high quality cover for an anthology of Lovecraft's work, I will put together the epub if you design the cover.

Before you do that, note that we have already two Lovecraft collections in ePUB in our library:

Collected Stories in 4 volumes
The Complete Collection

Those might already be what you want, or they might serve as a better starting point than other online versions of the texts you can find. And, if you find any mistakes to correct, try contacting the uploaders of the above versions (ghostyjack seems more active) before uploading your own.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Algiedi

I wondered - why wouldn't artists create and release under free licences really nice covers for those texts? And/or why has no one created a database for those yet, where people could upload, vote on and download pretty, free covers in a centralized and convenient manner?

As an old preacher of mine used to say "that's a great idea, why don't you take charge of that?!"

Lee

[elemenoP]

If you do this, could you make versions which have been optimized for/converted to grayscale please? Just as a color photo looks muddy and gray if you just desaturate it, the color covers on an e-ink reader look ok, but they could be MUCH better.

eP

[Algiedi]

Originally Posted by leebase

As an old preacher of mine used to say "that's a great idea, why don't you take charge of that?!"

Lee

Wow, I hadn't even considered that.
I guess it's because I have no technical knowledge whatsoever of whatever it would take to set that up.

But then, I could learn and/or ask for some teaching from some open-source-nerd-buddies.

Time for some furious Googling.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Before you do that, note that we have already two Lovecraft collections in ePUB in our library:

Collected Stories in 4 volumes
The Complete Collection

Those might already be what you want, or they might serve as a better starting point than other online versions of the texts you can find. And, if you find any mistakes to correct, try contacting the uploaders of the above versions (ghostyjack seems more active) before uploading your own.

Thanks, I'll check those out.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

If you do this, could you make versions which have been optimized for/converted to grayscale please? Just as a color photo looks muddy and gray if you just desaturate it, the color covers on an e-ink reader look ok, but they could be MUCH better.

Eventually we'll all have color eink readers, I would suggest highest res possible for covers.

[crich70]

I've made up covers for some of the books I've uploaded as well. I found pictures of the author through wikipedia (public domain pics) and added a title. I think it's interesting to be able to see the author him/herself sometimes. Especially if it's an omnibus edition of the author's works. I used GIMP to make the covers.

[sassanik]

I think it should also be noted that what are great covers for paperbacks and hardbacks do not necessarily translate well into covers for ebooks.

When creating a cover I try and make sure that the title is still readable at 25% of the original cover size. As many of the covers are seen as thumbnails first, and decisions made based on those.


@Crich GIMP is an awesome program!


Amy

[Algiedi]

Originally Posted by crich70

I've made up covers for some of the books I've uploaded as well. I found pictures of the author through wikipedia (public domain pics) and added a title. I think it's interesting to be able to see the author him/herself sometimes. Especially if it's an omnibus edition of the author's works. I used GIMP to make the covers.

That's pretty much the kind of "DIY" covers I'd like to provide an alternative to

Anyway, someone nicely provided me with some web space with Drupal on it, and I'm in the process of working out the kinks of gallery managing. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it's much more simple than I thought it was.

I also started doodling a cover for the Lovecraft antology thing, but that'll have to wait for a couple of months until I get a new PC since my current one is half fried and won't let me paint
That still leaves design so I'll try that first I guess.

Originally Posted by sassanik

I think it should also be noted that what are great covers for paperbacks and hardbacks do not necessarily translate well into covers for ebooks.

When creating a cover I try and make sure that the title is still readable at 25% of the original cover size. As many of the covers are seen as thumbnails first, and decisions made based on those.

That's an excellent point. At first I imagined covers that would be used in Calibre (either the library or in the cover search feature), but if they were used on a website, that would definitely mean a different design approach.

Although public domain books might imply a different context, like their visibility and appeal relying more on an author's name than a cover?

[Giggleton]

I think we need to think outside the box on this one, meaning the rectangular image we generally imagine when we think of book covers. What do we want from our book covers? Can the Table of Contents be inserted into the cover itself? Will we be able to manipulate the cover with gestures? Things of that nature.