Comments on: In Defense Of Women’s Fiction Book Covers

By: Essa Adams

Essa Adams — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:31:47 +0000

I always loved covers with the houses, meadows, forest path. Never liked covers with a woman on the front. For the most part, I prefer to imagine and the silhouette or the headless just turns me off. When I designed my novel cover, my friend said, no not a bed! But I think a cover can represent all the subtitles the book would have. The Marriage Bed, The Dying Bed, The Broken Bed, The Healing Bed. The cover begins to tell the story. My new favorite covers, Olive Ketteridge and The Secret Life of Bees. Golden yellow is in for 2009/2010.

By: Livia

Livia — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:37:55 +0000

Some romance covers are good and some are really bad or stupid. I would never buy the book just reading a summary. I need to have a picture, which will tell me something about the story. That’s why I would never read some Historical or Harlequin Blaze romance. Their covers to unnatural and stupid. But I like covers with the kids and families. I also like Harlequin SupperRomance and American romance covers. They always have meaning and people on them look real. I like series covers and Special Edition covers. I learned long time ago, that the best books have the best covers. I don’t care how cheesy they are. I like cheesy, because I like an interesting story lines and I don’t care about sex and nake bodies on the covers. I also like a cowboy them books. Men on cowboy books covers always look good even if their bodies covered with cloves. On my opinion all nake bodies on the covers just ruin books. I can’t stand for example the Harlequin Presents covers. All female models their always wear some negligee and pose in such ridiculous poses, witch naturally no women would do in real life. They all look not like cover for romance novels, but like advertising for Victoria Secrets models.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:45:24 +0000

Lynn — It’s unclear why you think you need to hire a cover model at all. That’s the publisher’s job! You need to focus on the story.

By: Lynn Hubbard

Lynn Hubbard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:23:32 +0000

I am in the process or writing a historical fiction book. I can’t afford a model for the cover sigh…..
so i used a photo i took while in Vegas! Please let me know what you think!

Run into the Wind
http://authspot.com/novels/run-into-the-wind/

By: Joanna

Joanna — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:24:55 +0000

Can I ask a totally stupid question and not get too many shoes thrown at me?? I have just started reading romance novels after a hiatus (?)of 25 years. They got too boring and the pictures on the covers nade me so angry. I am not the least bit interested in what the woman looks like, as it’s me that I dream of seeing in that gorgeous to-die-for man’s arms. Why are the men almost so secondary on the covers? And why don’t the people on the covers look like the people that are in the stories?? This had ragged on me for years while I read the books. I want to see the handsome men that are built like beautiful hunks of manhood that are not available in my world. Thus I read the romance books to get them into my Lil’ world. And another thing that makes me sooooooo mad!!! I love hair on a man’s chest and almost none of them have any, even if they have it in the story!!
It’s not on the front cover. So, now that the shoes have stopped flying, could someone give me a clue!?!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:19:38 +0000

I was googling for hot Fabio shots and happened on this. Go figure.

I’m in my mid-forties an have been reading romance novels on and off for thirty years.

My understanding of it has always been that the cover often represents how graphic of a sex scene you would be presented. Historical, romance-fictions have always lent themselves to be bodice-ripping affairs, and if you weren’t totally convinced by the cover, there was always the sub-group category located on the spine of the book just too play it safe – like: The Darkest Embrace collection, or the Forbidden Passion collection. The spine gives you an idea how innocent or decadent the characters are going to behave. It’s pretty much industry practice.
I have yet to be misled by a cover, yet. *wink-wink, nudge, nudge*

By: romance novel covers

romance novel covers — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:03:30 +0000

[...] especially in days gone by, sent the wrong message about the quality and content of the novels. …http://www.booksquare.com/in-defense-of-womens-fiction-book-covers/Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Romance Novel Reviews Come for the …… will get books and a romance [...]

By: M.L. Malcolm

M.L. Malcolm — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:40:49 +0000

My second novel, “Deceptive Intentions,” is coming out in June, and because I went with an independent press I had final approval on the cover. They ended up letting me choose between two vintage photographs: one with a shadowy man on the cover, the other with a couple who looked as if they had ducked into an alley to avoid being seen during a romantic interlude. I chose the latter image, because my informal focus groups (read: forty emails sent to friends and readers) picked that one, but not by a wide margin. In fact, more women than men were turned off by the couple cover because it looked “too much like a romance.” Guys seemed very into the potential sexual intrigue displayed on the couple cover, although many women commented that I’d “get more women readers” with the couple cover. Go figure.

By: K.S.R. Kingworth

K.S.R. Kingworth — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:25:32 +0000

I really love this blog. I’d like to make a link to it from my blog at http://ksrkingworth.com. Do you mind?

By: Jude Welch

Jude Welch — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:45:19 +0000

I don’t mind a little romance in a fiction Adult or Young Adult book. I prefer to read mysteries, fantasy (if done well) and LOVE a good series where you get to know the characters.