Don't see your question here? Feel free to Contact Us. We're always glad to help.
Q. After I buy my cover, no one else will be able to purchase it, right?
A. Exactly right.
Our covers are all one-of-a-kind. As soon as you purchase it, we take it down from the site. You’ll never see another book title with your cover. We guarantee it.
Q. Why did I find another book with the same images as my cover?
A. We use only royalty-free stock photos. Royalty-free means that the photographer or artist retains the rights to the photo and may choose to sell it again to anyone for any purpose such as advertising, websites or even other book covers.
However, all Castelane pre-made book covers are one-of-a-kind. We use multiple images in each cover or significantly altar existing images so that your cover is guaranteed to be unique.
Q. Why do you use stock images instead of custom models?
A. Royalty-free stock images are an inexpensive way to get top-quality media for book covers. Commissioning artists to draw custom illustrations or photographers and models for custom shoots would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. We’re authors too, and we understand that you want to present your book to its best effect without breaking the bank. For this reason, stock photos are the way to go.
Q. How can you offer book covers at such a cheap price?
A. Two reasons: 1) We use only royalty-free stock photos and art to keep costs down; 2) We are the cover designers, not just the web site maintenance crew. When you purchase from Castelane, you’re working directly with the designers. There are no middle men to tack on additional fees.
Q. After I buy my cover, what happens next?
A. As soon as you purchase a pre-made cover, you will receive an email confirmation with a link to download a short questionnaire. Please fill this out and return it to
admin@castelane.com. This questionnaire will give us all the information we need to customize your pre-made cover to your book and your tastes. Then we’ll send you a link to download your final cover files.
Q. I wasn’t able to download the questionnaire when I checked out. Now what do I do?
A. A designer will contact you as soon as we get your order to verify that you were able to download your questionnaire. If you don’t hear from us, feel free to
Contact Us and we’ll send you a questionnaire.
Q. Why does it take 2 days to get my final cover?
A. On a good day, you’ll get your cover within the hour, sometimes within minutes of returning your questionnaire. We give ourselves a bit of leeway (2 days) just in case an eagle crashes through our office window or some other unforeseeable emergency arises.
Q. What size image will I get for my final cover?
A. You will get a link to a Dropbox with 4 files in it, including:
1-300dpi pdf master file
1-300dpi jpg image (1800x2700 pixels)
1-72dpi jpg image (600x900 pixels)
1-72dpi jpg thumbnail image (132x200 pixels).
You’ll find that these sizes cover almost any use you need, whether it be uploading to a sales site such as Amazon or website and social media use.
Q. I found a cover I love, but I want to change the font. Are your pre-made covers customizable?
A. Yes, to an extant. Because we are also the designers, we will work hard to get you the perfect cover for your title. The colors and fonts of all our samples are designed with three needs in mind: 1) attract attention on the sales page (such as at Amazon); 2) be stylish and unique; 3) be easily readable even as a thumbnail so that customers can read it on a busy sales page. However, you can request font style and color changes. You can also add or remove the tag lines. You can even add a publisher logo.
Q. I got my final cover, but I’ve decided I want to change something on it. Can I do that?
A. Yes. Every cover package comes with one free round of edits. So if you indicate that you want a blue font on your questionnaire, then, after seeing it, you decide you want a red font, we’ll make those changes at no extra charge. After that first edit, additional revisions will be billed on an hourly basis of $50.00 per hour. Please note that to keep our prices low, only fonts (style, color & size) may be altered.
Q. I found a cover that almost suits my book, but I’d like you to change part of the image. Can you do that?
A. No. To keep our pre-made covers low-cost, no changes can be made to the actual art. However, we’d be happy to work with you to create a custom cover that will suit your needs perfectly.
Custom Covers are a great deal, starting at only $100.00.
Q. The cover I chose has no tag line on it. Can I add one?
A. Yes. For style reasons, some covers don’t include tag lines in the sample. These can be added. Simply fill out the tag, review or subtitle you wish to be included on the questionnaire.
Q. My title is longer than the one on the sample. Will it still fit?
A. Because you will work directly with an artist to finalize your book cover, we’ll make sure you are satisfied. If you title is too long or too short, we’ll try different fonts and different sizes to get the perfect cover.
Q. Is there a limit to the number of books I can sell using this cover?
A. You may sell up to 250,000 books (eBooks and printed books) with the existing license on any of our eBook covers. If you sell more than that (and we hope you do!), just
Contact Us, to purchase an extended license. These are generally between $75.00 and $100.00 per stock image. These fees are set by the stock image houses, not us, but they are a small price to pay for so many books! And the extended license will cover you for any other sales of your eBook cover. So get out there and sell some books!
Q. Can I use Photoshop to alter the cover myself?
A. Sorry, but no. Once you purchase a cover, you agree to the royalty-free license that goes along with it. When we purchased the rights to use the stock images in your cover, we purchased the rights to change the photos and resell them. However, these rights are non transferable.This means it’s yours to use freely on any sales site, website or social media site. You can also send it in newsletters, ads or make POP material with it (like posters, bookmarks or postcards). But you may not alter it in any way.
Q. What is the Author License Agreement?
A. When you purchase a pre-made book cover, you will receive a questionnaire to fill out with your book details. This questionnaire also includes information on the
Author License Agreement. By digitally initialing it and returning it by email you agree to the following:
Castelane Inc. Acknowledgements. Castelane Inc. Agrees that all book cover and videos have been made with royalty-free stock media and that all standard licenses have been purchased for this media. Furthermore, all covers and videos are unique. Media used has been altered or combined to create and one-of-a-kind product that cannot be altered under this licensing agreement. Castelane Inc. agrees 1) not to resell this unique product to any third party; 2) that each stock media usage license is represented by the artist to be sufficient to grant to the Company and for Company to grant to Author the rights the Company is granting to Author herein; 3) that the Licensed Cover is represented by the artist not to infringe upon any copyright, trademark or trade dress, or other intellectual property rights of others; and 4) that the artist represents that the stock photography agency has obtained valid model releases from each person who appears in the Licensed Cover sufficient to convey the rights granted to the Company and to the Author herein.
Author Acknowledgements. When the Author purchases a pre-made, custom cover or video preview, the Author is granted a nontransferable license to use, digitally reproduce, publish, display and distribute the content up to 250,000 copies in aggregate. For quantities above this amount, the Author agrees to purchase an Extended License. Extended licenses are a one-time purchase with the price to be set by the stock media house. It is the Author's responsibility to inform Castelane Inc. if book sales exceed 250,000 books. Castelane Inc. will inform you if an extended license would be needed at that time. Castelane Inc. will not be held liable for license infringement. This grant of rights includes the right, for all print and ebook versions of the Book, to distribute, publish, use, transmit, crop and otherwise display the Licensed Cover in connection with the Book, and for marketing, advertising and promotion of the Book. The Author understands that content used to create a purchased cover or video is copyrighted and may be owned by a third party, and any unauthorized use by you may be an infringement of such copyright.
The Author agrees not to:
(a) resell the cover alone or as a template to a third party.
(b) authorize any third party to use the Content for any purpose or resell, sublicense, or otherwise make available the Content for use or distribution separately or detached from a product or Web page;
(c) share Content across a network or service, on a CD or DVD or any media, or in any other way that enables Content to be accessed by any third party (subject to the provisions in this Agreement), downloaded or distributed via mobile devices or shared in any peer-to-peer or similar file sharing arrangement;
(e) use Content in any logo or part of any trademark;
(f) under any circumstances, use Content in connection with any pornographic, obscene, immoral, defamatory or illegal materials; endorsement of product(s); sensitive mental/health/other similar aspect of contexts or subjects.
The full Author License Agreement is available for viewing on the
Author License Agreement Page.
Q. Can I use my Castelane eBook cover to create a print cover on Createspace?
A. Yes. Use the high resolution 300dpi version that will be sent to you upon completion of your order. CreateSpace has a great
template for making book covers.
Q. Why don’t you offer pre-made print covers for sale?
A. Print covers have too many variables (such as size and spine width) to make pre-made covers cost effective. But we’d be happy to work with you to create a
Custom Print Cover. These start at $150.00.
Q. Do I need to credit the cover artist in my book?
A. Proper accreditation is always welcome, but not mandatory. If you would like to include an artist credit please use: Cover art design by
www.castelane.com.
Q. If I buy one of your covers will you help me promote my book?
A. Yes! We are active on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Just let us know when your book is available for sale and we’d be happy to let the world know. When you purchase a cover from us, we’ll also give you a free
Author Promo Page on our site.
Q. I'm having a technical problem with the site. What do I do?
A. Please contact us at
admin@castelane.com for any technical difficulties with the site. If possible, state your technical problem in the email and let us know what internet browser you are using. We’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Q. What other advice do you have for authors trying to sell books?
A. We are authors ourselves and we’ve always been impressed by the warm online writing community. When readers read, we all benefit. So check out our extensive
Knowledge Base of marketing articles from authors who have been there, done that, and are willing to share their experiences.
