Types of Licenses for Stock Images
Not every stock photo license permits the same uses — and for a book cover specifically, the license type actually matters, since your cover is a commercial, resold product. Here’s what each license type means.
Royalty Free (RF)
The most affordable and common license type. Once purchased, you can use the image repeatedly without paying an additional royalty per use. The trade-off: RF images are non-exclusive, meaning anyone else can buy and use the same image — so there’s a small chance another book cover somewhere uses the same photo.
Rights Managed (RM)
Grants exclusive, time-limited use of an image for one specific project. RM licenses are priced per use — tied to project type, duration, and sometimes geographic region — which makes them more expensive, but they protect against another business (or another author) using the same image in the same market during your license period.
Extended / Enhanced License
This is the one to pay attention to for a book cover. Standard royalty-free licenses often exclude “resale” uses — and a book you’re selling counts as a resold product. An Extended or Enhanced license removes that restriction, typically permitting uses like larger print runs, merchandise, or resale items. License terms vary by stock site, so always check whether your image’s standard license covers a book cover specifically, or whether you need the extended tier — this is one of the most common licensing mistakes authors make with stock photos.
If you’re buying from a paid stock site, see our guide to buying and downloading images from Depositphotos for a walkthrough of the process.
Editorial License
Restricted to “editorial” use — content relating to newsworthy or public-interest events. Editorial images generally cannot be used commercially, which usually rules them out for a book cover entirely. If you find a perfect editorial image, you’d need to contact the stock site directly to ask about a non-editorial usage upgrade, which isn’t always available.
Flickr Creative Commons
Flickr hosts many images licensed under Creative Commons rather than a traditional paid stock license. The main terms you’ll encounter:
- Attribution (BY) — Free to use and adapt, provided you credit the original creator.
- Noncommercial (NC) — Usable only for non-commercial projects — not valid for a book you’re selling, even though it’s technically “free.”
- No Derivative Works (ND) — You can use the image as-is, but can’t crop, recolor, or otherwise modify it — a meaningful limitation for a cover design.
- Share Alike (SA) — Anything you create using the image must be released under the same license — worth avoiding for a commercial book cover, since it could obligate you to license your own cover the same way.
See our full guide to finding and using Flickr images for your book cover for how to search specifically for commercial-use-safe images.
Not Sure Which License You Need?
If you’d rather not navigate licensing terms yourself, we design covers using properly licensed images from the start, matched to the correct license type for a commercial book.