Friday, September 14, 2018

Discussion: Deja Vu?


This Week’s Topic: Deja Vu?


Have you ever seen a book and felt like you have seen it before? Well, it could be that you have.

I recently saw this thread on Twitter, and I totally knew yet another book with that same image.

This is something I see often with romance books, but it seems like it's sprouting up in other places too. It sort of makes me nuts, because you all know what a cover-ho I am. When I see a cover, the image gets burned into my brain. I cannot tell you what a source of confusion this has been for me when I am scrolling through books at Amazon or on Hoopla. I think it's the book I am looking for, but then realize the author or title are different.

Let's take a look at the original example:
Clearly the same image was used on both these covers.

Here are two featuring some of my recent reads or TBR adds:
 Again, the same image in used, but it looks like they cropped it and colored the girl's hair. They even stuck with the heart thing. Really? 

I feel like these images are from the same photo shoot, because those are definitely the same people, in the same clothes, sitting in the same car. The difference is the pose, but still, at first glance, I thought they were the same cover. 

When I first saw the cover for Let Me List the Ways, I swore I had read that book. I hadn't, but I did read Wild Life, which sported a really similar cover. 

Amirite? The more I look at this, the more I think it is the same photo, and they photoshopped clothes on these people. 

I do not know what the motivation is for these repetitive covers. I feel like there are way too many talented graphic artists out there, who could be hired without breaking the bank to create something original, but maybe I'm wrong. 

Now it's your turn! Can you think of any deja vu covers? 

Can you think of any deja vu covers? 
Let us know in the comments!

54 comments:

  1. LOL, they're all hilarious, but the first one takes the cake. Seriously. It's not even a picture that catches your eyes and burns itself into your brain in the first place...🤣

    BUT! I have a same-image bonanza as well! I'm not sure how to post pictures in a Blogger comment, so I'll go with the links - sorry in advance. Now, this is an A.S. King book, so I'm doubly amazed that they used a stock image, but here goes...

    Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24958052-glory-o-brien-s-history-of-the-future

    Remember Me by Melanie Batchelor: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20448607-remember-me

    Wat als... by Daniëlle Bakhuis (well, this one is Dutch at least LOL): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18329516-wat-als

    Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23645681-bad-behaviour

    And who knows...maybe there are more!

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    1. Wow! The only one I had seen before today was Glory O'Brien (fantastic book!). It's really odd that they selected the same image with how close the release dates were. The first two were released the same year. I guess they don't worry about it looking familiar? You would think the publisher would want the cover to stand out, not remind you of another cover. OR MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY REALLY WANT! They want you to think of another book, when you see it, and it's a subliminal attempt to make you buy it. <-- conspiracy theory

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    2. There is absolutely no other logical explanation. >_<

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  2. I see this a lot in Indie books where authors opt out of creating a new cover and paying the money, going instead for a stock image. I get why they do it but I like a shiny new and original cover on each book I buy!

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    1. I understand an indie book a little more, since they are most likely working with a smaller budget, but these are big press.

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  3. I hate it when they use the same image on a cover. It confuses me to no end. I see it all of the time with romance novels but I wonder how many I don't catch. How many books have I passed over after glancing at the cover and thinking it was really a different book?

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    1. I swore I read this one romance, because of the cover. Again, a lot of romance writer pump out a whole lots books each year, and I get budget constraints, but I bet they could find a graphic artist who could work with their budget

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  4. I can't think of any off the top of my head but there are many. I'm liking your conspiracy theory. LOL

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    1. Right? I think I am on to something with that too 😆

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  5. I’ve seen the same models on books, but usually those models have heads. I didn’t know they’d put the exact same decapitated guy on two books! That’s wild. It probably has to do with what’s affordable and what sells. Buying a photo for commercial use can be stupidly expensive. Maybe these photos are cheap, so lots of publishers use them? There are also copycat covers when a book sells well. When The Hunger Games was popular, minimalist covers became popular. When The Fault In Our Stars Was Popular, covers with blue, black, and white were popular.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. Well, right there is a whole post. I have a short list of copy cat covers too. I am sure it all comes down to money, but it's especially noticable when they are published close together

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  6. I also tend to get really confused when books have the same photo or models! Like you said, it happens all the time with romance novels, but I've been seeing it a lot more in YA. I think the first one I noticed was North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley and Evemore by Alyson Noel. The change of colors and insert of a rose does make the covers differ enough that I don't confuse the two, but I was still taken aback when I saw the books side by side!

    Also List Me the ways and Wildlife are definitely the same picture with clothes photoshopped on. The same angle of the girls' head, the guys' arm, etc. I do find it really odd when publishers use the same picture but barely put work into differentiating the image that much. At least Miles Away From You and Waiting For Fitz has different colors!

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    1. I thought I was seeing familiar covers in YA, but I didn't realize how rampant it was until I saw the tweet. I kept swearing Let Me List the Ways was an older book, until I did a side by side 😆 Note: I really liked both those books regardless of the recycled cover.

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  7. Oh wow, it’s even more prevalent than I thought. For me it’s more seeing the same cover models (stock photos, I guess) over and over. That couple on the cover of Tammara Webber’s Easy? I see that same couple A LOT. Sometimes the exact same pose, sometimes slightly different - but boy does that phot get used a lot. Maybe original photos are expensive air hard to come by, but some are just sooo overused.

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    1. I know the exact couple you are talking about. They are definitely on several covers.

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  8. Woah! I’ve never noticed this but there’s the proof. How annoying! Are they self published books? Maybe self published authors are shopping around for cover art on the same site???

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    1. No. Those are big 5 up there. Roberta even had an AS King book with the stock photo featured on 4 books she knew. I was pretty surprised

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  9. YES! These all crack me up! A couple years ago there was this particular stock photo of a girl with her arms out that I was seeing EVERYWHERE! I understand it's going to happen with indie books, but it's hilarious to me when the Big 5 can't do an original cover.

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    1. Right? I was really surprised to see it happening with so many YA books.

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  10. Oh my gosh yes the similarity in covers kills me sometimes! It just seems so blatant sometimes? I can't think of any off the top of my head (naturally) but I was just thinking about this the other day, when I saw a cover for a book and was like waitaminnit! Haven't I seen that cover before? I knew I had, jsut couldn't remember which one...

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    1. Maybe it us blatant so that we free associate that book with some other book. A different form of name dropping

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  11. This is...weird. And hilarious. But the whole issue of using someone's photography or art work makes me touchy. My dad was a professional photographer, and for years had several stock agencies that bought his pictures. These weren't the generic models we all know about, but instead he'd sell them travel pics and animals pics and so on. If someone wanted to have a polar bear in their math book, or a desert sunset on their billboard, they'd contact the agency, look through the options, and buy limited rights to one. The agency would get 50% and the photographer would get 50%. He planned on it being his retirement fund. Then the internet happened, and people just grabbed images online, and the money all dried up. We still see his photos from time to time, uncredited and unpaid for. So when I see the same image being used repeatedly, I wonder if the original artist/photographer/designer/model all got their payment for each use. Or did the publishing company buy rights to one piece and then use it on multiple books they put out? I haven't checked the ones you pointed out to see if they were published by different companies or not.

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    1. That sucks for your dad, but I would like to think that a major publisher would follow the law and pay for a picture's use. I was going to look and see if the books were from same company. Such a tangle of imprints to wade through

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    2. These days, there are a lot of stock photo companies that photographers can sell their photos to, or license them to for royalties. I suspect a lot of the photos used by cover designers -- at least the reputable ones -- come from those stock companies. There are also people willing to put their images out there for free on sites like Pixabay. None of that excuses what happened to your dad, Wendy. It's sad but true that if something is on the internet, some people assume that it's OK to use it and even make money on it without permission. I try to make sure the images I use for my blog are public domain, but I wasn't really aware of the issue when I first started blogging.

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  12. I've started noticing this more and more this year! I can think of a few off the top of my head: A Blue So Dark -- Rain Village, Evermore -- North of Beautiful, The Goddess Test -- The Vespertine (also Dark Angel), No Humans Involved -- The Dark Divine, Return to Paradise -- Reaching Through Time, This Lullaby -- Bewitching Love Potions & Charms.

    Like you said... there are so many talented graphic designers out there, so creativity and originality shouldn't be an issue. Is it cheaper or easier to just reuse an image? I know a few of those are free stock photos.

    Lovely, provoking discussion!
    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?

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    1. I am sure it is cheaper to use an image your already paid for than to buy another, but some aren't even that amazing. Get some attractive friends together and take some shots 😆 I have definitely seen that Goddess Test shot many times. I have to check out the others on GR

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  13. I almost wrote a post on this same topic a while back! Sometimes the photos aren't even really altered from cover to cover like most of these were. There was a book that I was interested in and I just made note of the cover but couldn't remember the title. I then saw the cover again and again and I thought I was seeing the same book over and over, but it was actually different books with the same cover. Then I couldn't remember which title it was that I actually wanted to read.

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    1. Same EXACT thing happened to me. I am really visual, and more likely to remember the cover than the title. I also feel like every author put their heart into their book, and they deserve their own cover

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  14. Yes yes, déjà vu!!! The same can be said for the cover of Making Faces with the girl, some covers of Jus Acardo etc. Eerie and disturbing! Sophie @bewareofthereader

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    1. Yes! Something else reminds me of Making Faces too.

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  15. Okay WHY do they do this!? Just... why? I feel like it is better for sales even to use an original image? Because like you said, it's hard to even FIND the actual book you are looking for when they do this! Also, the Miles Away From You cover is ugly in general, so why on earth would we KEEP using it!? It sucked the first time!

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    1. I honestly don't get what they like about that decapitated image, but then again, there's this one cover model I see EVERYWHERE, and for the books I have read, he doesn't even have the right look. I think I would rather see some great lettering vs. an over used stock image.

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  16. I hate it when I find multiple book with the same cover image. Even the same model is frustrating and confusing! I don't often actually get confused about the books, but it just bothers me lol. But people really do need to stop using that first image already!

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    1. The first image is probably my least favorite of the bunch. So, yeah, I don't get the draw, but what amazed me is how close together the releases sometimes are with the same exact image on the cover. Seems like a disservice to the book, if you ask me.

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  17. Oh, I have seen this conversation so many times on so many blogs, about all different books. If I remember rightly, from what I've read in the past, it's cheaper for a publisher to pay to use a stock image than it is to organise their own photoshoot, which is why the same images are used fairly often.

    There are the covers for North of Beautiful by Justina Chen and Evermore by Alyson Noel - and I think there's even another book with this photo, I but I can't remember it right now.

    There's City of Shadow by Alex Scarrow and Shadows by Isla J. Bick. The titles are similar here, so it's good that the covers are different enough not to be confused.

    There's Luna by Julie Anne Peters and Fate by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

    They're just some of the ones I remember. I also did a similar post on my own blog, not so much about using the same photo, but about having a very similar design.

    I hadn't seen these doubles before, though. It is a little frustrating. But at the same time, I think it can be interesting, the ways different cover designers use a photo, and can create pretty different looks covers (at least in the instant of City of Shadows and Shadows), or covers that look almost identical.

    Thanks for the post!

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    1. At least with your first two examples, they tried to make them look really different - cropping, coloring, flipping. The third one is way too similar. I am sure it is way more cost efficient to use a stock photo, than organize a professional photoshoot, but I feel like if the pubs are dealing with a book with a smaller budget, maybe they could find a smaller graphic designer. You know, somebody who is good, but just breaking into the business. I bet they could get something original and economical that way, because it would be a win-win for both the pub and the person looking to build their portfolio.

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  18. Oh gosh, yes. I get confused by books with similar covers and I also get confused by books with similar titles, especially in fantasy. There are so many with blood, bone, fire, shadow, etc.

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    1. I remember that TTT, which featured common words in titles, and there really are fantasy buzz words.

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  19. That first example is really obvious because of how much that picture stands out. Seems crazy that they'd keep using that. I have a whole Goodreads list filled with this one guy that I see on covers all the time (mostly romance). It's got 27 books on it, and a lot of them are the same picture just Photoshopped slightly differently. Here it is, if you want to see it - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/88896.Covers_with_Smirky_Broody_Guy

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. Yes! I know that guy, because I read so much romance. I am laughing, because you actually have a shelf and have given it such an awesome name. You're awesome!

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  20. I understand that stock photos are cheaper, that a lot of authors work 9 to 5's and write on the side. I understand that they can't pay an exorbitant amount of money for the cover art and still do what ever else they need to do to publish a book. With that being said, I still hate it when this happens! There has to be less popular stock photos they can choose from and make drastic edits to to not resemble 20+ other books that are already on the shelf

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    1. Usually the pubs take care of the covers though, not the authors, at least with big pubs, which all these books are published by. I am sure a self pub and indie have a much smaller budget, but what's the big publisher's excuse?

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  21. I never noticed this before. That's terrible!

    When my husband self-published his book years ago, the cover didn't turn out to be that great, but at least it was unique! I'm really surprised that they do this. I can see using the same model, but the exact same picture? Or one that is almost exactly the same? They can do better than that!

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    1. I think I would rather just see some interesting lettering. Than an over used stock photo.

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  22. Stock photos can be terrible for cropping up on covers but I didn't realise it was this bad! I know I've seen the same stock picture appear on covers before but can't think of any right now but wow that one cover of the couple of the rock I think if I was just browsing covers I could have easily picked up the wrong book if I didn't know the title. How bad is that?

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    1. It's really rampant with romance books, but those authors are churning out double digits in books. These YA authors are publishing 1 book a year. They deserve something more unique. For fun, you should check out Nicole's shelf (see above). I know I have read several books with that guy on the cover

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  23. I myself would rather pay a bit more to have a cover all my own that no one can take. But that is just me. I see a lot of Deja Vu books out there and I hate it. Great post!

    Mary

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    1. I am just such a cover ho, so this makes me sad and befuddles me.

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  24. Wow - if you hadn't have pointed these out I probably would have thought they were all the same. :)

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    1. There are so many more, but these are ones I have seen recently

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  25. Those are hilarious! I'm someone who is more likely to remember a cover than a title, so it's frustrating when two books have the same cover, like the ones you've shown.

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    1. Same here. I was looking to buy a book people were raving about, and I almost bought the wrong one. You know, I saw it in my GR feed, clicked the Amazon link, but then was confused. This happens with romance so often, so I at least try to remember the author.

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