diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8a24e8883..349dd82b1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -6,13 +6,6 @@ RUN mkdir /app /app/static /app/images
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
-# Use RUN curl because ADD will re-download the file every time to make sure it
-# hasn't changed, which is exactly what we don't want
-RUN mkdir -p /app/static/fonts/source_han_sans
-RUN curl \
-  https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-han-sans/raw/release/Variable/OTC/SourceHanSans-VF.ttf.ttc \
-  -o /app/static/fonts/source_han_sans/SourceHanSans-VF.ttf.ttc
-
 COPY requirements.txt /app/
 RUN pip install -r requirements.txt --no-cache-dir
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y gettext libgettextpo-dev tidy && apt-get clean
diff --git a/bookwyrm/apps.py b/bookwyrm/apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a3fe1c2cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import os
+import urllib
+import logging
+
+from django.apps import AppConfig
+
+from bookwyrm import settings
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+def download_file(url, destination):
+    try:
+        stream = urllib.request.urlopen(url)
+        with open(destination, "b+w") as f:
+            f.write(stream.read())
+    except (urllib.error.HTTPError, urllib.error.URLError):
+        logger.error("Failed to download file %s", url)
+
+
+class BookwyrmConfig(AppConfig):
+    name = "bookwyrm"
+    verbose_name = "BookWyrm"
+
+    def ready(self):
+        if settings.ENABLE_PREVIEW_IMAGES and settings.FONTS:
+            # Download any fonts that we don't have yet
+            logger.debug("Downloading fonts..")
+            for name, config in settings.FONTS.items():
+                font_path = os.path.join(
+                    settings.FONT_DIR, config["directory"], config["filename"]
+                )
+
+                if "url" in config and not os.path.exists(font_path):
+                    logger.info("Just a sec, downloading %s", name)
+                    download_file(config["url"], font_path)
diff --git a/bookwyrm/preview_images.py b/bookwyrm/preview_images.py
index f48ca15e2..325742d72 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/preview_images.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/preview_images.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import os
 import textwrap
 from io import BytesIO
 from uuid import uuid4
+import urllib
+import logging
 
 import colorsys
 from colorthief import ColorThief
@@ -17,29 +19,37 @@ from django.db.models import Avg
 from bookwyrm import models, settings
 from bookwyrm.tasks import app
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 IMG_WIDTH = settings.PREVIEW_IMG_WIDTH
 IMG_HEIGHT = settings.PREVIEW_IMG_HEIGHT
 BG_COLOR = settings.PREVIEW_BG_COLOR
 TEXT_COLOR = settings.PREVIEW_TEXT_COLOR
 DEFAULT_COVER_COLOR = settings.PREVIEW_DEFAULT_COVER_COLOR
+DEFAULT_FONT = settings.PREVIEW_DEFAULT_FONT
 TRANSPARENT_COLOR = (0, 0, 0, 0)
 
 margin = math.floor(IMG_HEIGHT / 10)
 gutter = math.floor(margin / 2)
 inner_img_height = math.floor(IMG_HEIGHT * 0.8)
 inner_img_width = math.floor(inner_img_height * 0.7)
-font_dir = os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, "fonts/source_han_sans")
+
+
+def get_imagefont(name, size):
+    try:
+        config = settings.FONTS[name]
+        path = os.path.join(settings.FONT_DIR, config["directory"], config["filename"])
+        return ImageFont.truetype(path, size)
+    except KeyError:
+        logger.error("Font %s not found in config", name)
+    except OSError:
+        logger.error("Could not load font %s from file", name)
+
+    return ImageFont.load_default()
 
 
 def get_font(weight, size=28):
-    """Loads custom font"""
-    font_path = os.path.join(font_dir, "SourceHanSans-VF.ttf.ttc")
-
-    try:
-        font = ImageFont.truetype(font_path, size)
-    except OSError:
-        font = ImageFont.load_default()
+    font = get_imagefont(DEFAULT_FONT, size)
 
     try:
         if weight == "light":
diff --git a/bookwyrm/settings.py b/bookwyrm/settings.py
index 197e672c1..b85925b77 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/settings.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/settings.py
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ LOCALE_PATHS = [
 ]
 LANGUAGE_COOKIE_NAME = env.str("LANGUAGE_COOKIE_NAME", "django_language")
 
+STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("STATIC_ROOT", "static"))
+MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("MEDIA_ROOT", "images"))
+
 DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = "django.db.models.AutoField"
 
 # Preview image
@@ -44,6 +47,16 @@ PREVIEW_TEXT_COLOR = env.str("PREVIEW_TEXT_COLOR", "#363636")
 PREVIEW_IMG_WIDTH = env.int("PREVIEW_IMG_WIDTH", 1200)
 PREVIEW_IMG_HEIGHT = env.int("PREVIEW_IMG_HEIGHT", 630)
 PREVIEW_DEFAULT_COVER_COLOR = env.str("PREVIEW_DEFAULT_COVER_COLOR", "#002549")
+PREVIEW_DEFAULT_FONT = env.str("PREVIEW_DEFAULT_FONT", "Source Han Sans")
+
+FONTS = {
+    "Source Han Sans": {
+        "directory": "source_han_sans",
+        "filename": "SourceHanSans-VF.ttf.ttc",
+        "url": "https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-han-sans/raw/release/Variable/OTC/SourceHanSans-VF.ttf.ttc",
+    }
+}
+FONT_DIR = os.path.join(STATIC_ROOT, "fonts")
 
 # Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/deployment/checklist/
@@ -310,13 +323,8 @@ if USE_S3:
     MEDIA_FULL_URL = MEDIA_URL
     STATIC_FULL_URL = STATIC_URL
     DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = "bookwyrm.storage_backends.ImagesStorage"
-    # I don't know if it's used, but the site crashes without it
-    STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("STATIC_ROOT", "static"))
-    MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("MEDIA_ROOT", "images"))
 else:
     STATIC_URL = "/static/"
-    STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("STATIC_ROOT", "static"))
     MEDIA_URL = "/images/"
     MEDIA_FULL_URL = f"{PROTOCOL}://{DOMAIN}{MEDIA_URL}"
     STATIC_FULL_URL = f"{PROTOCOL}://{DOMAIN}{STATIC_URL}"
-    MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("MEDIA_ROOT", "images"))