Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion

This is spun off from the discussion in the Better Reads folder regarding the use of commercial fonts on self-published book covers.

Post any resources you may know of for copyright free fonts and images. Here's my go-to for cover fonts:
http://www.fontsquirrel.com

Note that each font lists the license agreement and many have contact info for the designers if the license is unclear. Some have restrictions that only allow use on websites and not in e-books.
Another note of caution: doing a search for free fonts (free anything for that matter) tends to bring up a whole host of malicious sites. Surf carefully. You may be better off searching for vetted resources that will list safe sites.

As for images, I admit that I have difficulties navigating most image sites, so if anyone has some info in this respect, please share!

Christina wrote: "Some have restrictions that only allow use on websites and not in e-books. "

Some that allow use for ebooks have restrictions for erotica. Sites like 123rf or istock do not allow their model images on erotic covers, even if we are talking things like "sci-fi erotic romance".

dafont and 1001 fonts are 2 free fonts sites I could think of. I tend to buy my fonts but there are a host of free to use for commercial fonts if you dig.

Here's a site I found with free fonts. Haven't tested it yet. I currently use the fonts that came with my computer on microsoft paint.
http://fontzone.net/

Ken wrote: "Here's a site I found with free fonts. Haven't tested it yet. I currently use the fonts that came with my computer on microsoft paint.
http://fontzone.net/"

Those are the fonts you have to be careful with. Some are licensed to Microsoft for personal use only.

K.P. wrote: "dafont and 1001 fonts are 2 free fonts sites I could think of. I tend to buy my fonts but there are a host of free to use for commercial fonts if you dig."

I think both of these have an option to search for free-to-use fonts as well. I use them sometimes as well.

Christina wrote: "Those are the fonts you have to be careful with. Some are licensed to Microsoft for personal use only..."

If I sell enough books to get threatened with a lawsuit for copyright infringement, I'll figure I've arrived and will happily comply. Until then I'm small potatoes.

I'm starting to hope I don't sell a lot of books, in case a pile of lawyers track me down. Fonts, song lyrics, and that's before we even talk about non-magical ball games beginning with Q!

I'm with you, Ken. You can have the cross next to mine when we get crucified.

Just to be curious, how do they tell which exact font has been used in a cover? If all I've uploaded is a JPEG, how do they know which letterform is which?

Richard 2060 wrote: "Just to be curious, how do they tell which exact font has been used in a cover? If all I've uploaded is a JPEG, how do they know which letterform is which?"

The font designer would no doubt recognize it.

Richard 2060 wrote: "Just to be curious, how do they tell which exact font has been used in a cover? If all I've uploaded is a JPEG, how do they know which letterform is which?"

Unless you'd run into the creator of the font and they have suspicions you did not obtain the license (if there is no free license for the font.)

So if a hypothetical person found it was an Adobe font and available for £25, and he bought it, he'd be in the clear?

Richard 2060 wrote: "So if a hypothetical person found it was an Adobe font and available for £25, and he bought it, he'd be in the clear?"

Yes. All you have to obtain is the so called "commercial license".

Me? I was talking about a hypothetical person ;-)

Now how do get the right to use that Q word!

Richard 2060 wrote: "Me? I was talking about a hypothetical person ;-)

Now how do get the right to use that Q word!"

Ha!

Honestly, if you plan to make your covers yourself, have a small library of good fonts ready. You can buy a couple of favorite families (some are pricey though), or you can collect several with FREE commercial license.

Not all look well on book covers and not all are well-made or have full symbol library.

Richard 2060 wrote: "Just to be curious, how do they tell which exact font has been used in a cover? If all I've uploaded is a JPEG, how do they know which letterform is which?"

Stare at fonts long enough and you will begin to recognize them. Thanks in part to the peculiar meme-ification the internet is fond of, I expect 99% of the population can at least spot Comic Sans, Helvetica, and maybe Papyrus.

Well learning to recognise Comic Sans is like the instinct our ancestors had for recognising tigers. Run away, run away!

I've bought Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed. $18. Thanks for the advice, C.

Not keen to legitimise my quoting lyrics from a certain song though. I really like that chapter.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I've been trying to research the three fonts I had planned to use for my next cover. They are: Felix Titling, Copperplate Gothic, and Impact (undefined by Microsoft). According to my research, the first two are free for commercial use. The latter is confusing since there are many types of Impact fonts, and some of those are free. I think I'll just go with my original cover and hope for the best.

fonts similar to impact free to use commercially - league Gothic, coda,

Oswald and bebes neue

Thanks, K.P.

Actually, I can't see any difference between Oswald bold and Impact. I alter the font on the new cover anyway (stretching vertically), so it's probably not recognizable either way. Thanks again.