A Tale of Two (Okay, Three) Covers - Annie West

I couldn't help but talk covers today. I've got a new book out next week ( but you can pre-order!) and the difference in the covers for this one fascinates me. You'll see as you scroll down the page. I'll put them in the order I saw them. First is the North American cover:

Now is probably the time to tell you what the book is about so you can see how the covers fit. This is my reverse beauty and the beast story, where the hero, once dubbed The Sexiest Man in the World, is the beauty (on the surface) and the scarred, reclusive heroine is the Beast. Of course things aren't quite as simple as that. Here's the back cover text to give you a taste of it:

 

A fragile beauty that tamed the beast within… 

Relentless Italian Raffaele Petri needs reclusive researcher Lily Nolan to see his revenge plans come to fruition. But the damaged beauty is feisty, argumentative and all too intriguing to be ignored!

Scarred as a child, Lily shut herself away from cruel prying eyes, so working for a man as breathtakingly handsome as Raffaele makes her own physical imperfections harder to bear. Until Raffaele's kisses awaken the untouched woman inside.

As Raffaele's retribution draws closer, Lily must use her newfound strength to help him release the torment eating at his soul. But will Raffaele risk his vengeance for her love?

 

So, here's the Australian/New Zealand cover. As you can see, it uses the same picture as the American cover and focuses on passion and the Manhattan rooftop setting (the story is set there and on a Caribbean island resort).

 

 

When I wrote the story I had a very, very strong image in my head of the hero. He's my first blond hero. Not just blond but golden, old-gold hair and golden skin. Yes, I know Italian heroes aren't generally blond but he's from the north and he takes after his mother's non-Italian side of the family. Have you seen 'The Talented Mr Ripley'? It featured a younger, gorgeous Jude Law, looking tanned and, yes, golden, with those bright searing eyes. That's how I imagined Raffa, my hero who dragged himself from poverty and made it to the top in a tough world. He's beautiful to look at but hard as nails underneath, till he meets Lily who makes him feel things he'd never felt before.

 

Okay, then, here's the UK cover to complete the trio. It's got the glamour and the sensuality of the others. In fact I think there's a hint of sexual tension that's stronger here in the other two, and I'm sure it will make people look twice - which is what I ask from a title. I'm just wondering if readers will blame me when they discover that the Raffa inside is clean shaven, golden-skinned and blond instead of bearded, pale and dark-haired.

 

 

What about you? Do you mind if the cover of a book doesn't exactly represent the characters within? Or do you just enjoy the cover and then forget about it when you're reading?

 

I'll give away a signed copy of a backlist book to someone who leaves a comment (and it doesn't matter where you live). I'll post the winner's name here before the next post on Friday.

 

If you want to buy THE FLAW IN RAFFAELE'S REVENGE, all the usual bookstores have it and you can find links and an excerpt on my website. But here are a couple of quick links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Amazon UK

Booktopia (Australia) 

Covers - a many splendoured thing by Amy Andrews

One of the biggest thrills as an author is when you start receiving your foreign translations in the mail. I love it! :-)
Someone suggested in Annie West's fab cover blog  last week how interesting it would be to see the same book in all its different foreign translations. Well....your wish is my command :-)

First book is The Devil and the Deep. I wasn't too thrilled with the English covers.

But I have loved the translations!

Korean!

Lithuanian!

German

Second is Driving Her Crazy. This is a book that was truly blessed by the cover fairies in just about every incantation. I loved the English versions.

UK Hardcover

UK Riva Edition

US KISS version

And the translations. Note how popular the original KISS version of the cover was with all the translation markets. I love how they've each altered the cover slightly though to give it their own twist! 

Italian

Poland

Sweden

German

Last is The Italian Count's Baby. Again I was underwhelmed by the English covers...

The UK hardback - eww! 

The Presents version

My first Manga

        Japanese version has a dust jacket

But I have 3! Japanese translations including my first Manga to make up for the other two :-)




 I particularly love this Italian version because I actually have a picture of me in this almost same exact spot in Ravello in the Amalfi coast hinterland. I was very excited to see this one!








So, what do you reckon? Mixed bag there, right?  Any of them stand outs for you?

At Last - The Power of the Cover! Annie West

Being an author is in some ways like entering a lucky dip contest. I'm talking covers of course. Those wonderful glossy images that attract readers to our stories and, hopefully, persuade them to pick up the paperback or click on the link to buy.

 

Many readers don't know that authors don't usually design their covers. Finding a new cover for an upcoming book on a bookstore site, or being sent it by a helpful member of editorial staff is the point where I hold my breath, cross my fingers and toes and hope for great things. I have to say I've been extremely lucky. Some of my covers are stunning. Some fit the story perfectly. Others make me wonder. Occasionally a reader will comment on hair colour or looks of a character on the cover as opposed to what they read in the book. But you can't have everything.

 

For quite a few books I had no input to the cover at all. More recently I've been asked to provide some suggested scenes which might be used on a cover. Occasionally I get something that matches the scene. Other times not. Here are a selection.

 

The exotic and mysterious. With a location shot as well!

 

The very, very basic. Argh!

 

The downright confusing.

 

 

On the bed.

 

 

In the sunken bath.

 

In/on the swimming pool.

 

The location shot.

 

The hero shot. And no, I don't know why he has worry beads when he's an English businessman. 

 

 

The baby bulge.

 

 

The embrace.

The sweet baby.

After years waiting to see what the cover gods had in store for me, it was an exciting and slightly anxious time when I finally got to choose my own cover. I'm publishing a novella next month (BACK IN THE ITALIAN'S BED is out on Friday 2nd May if you're interested) and this time I worked with a designer to choose what I wanted, from the picture to the wording and layout. Should I go for a clinch cover, something very sexy, or something tantalising? Should I have bold colours and a location shot? It was potentially daunting till a friend on Facebook found the perfect photo (at least I think it is).

I admit the power to decide my own cover was fantastic! On the negative side, I could see myself spending ages browsing for photos and ruminating on script and design if I had to do it too often. But the cover suits the story and it makes me smile, so hopefully that's a plus with readers too.

So, if you had the power to create your ultimate book cover, what would it feature? Brooding landscape with a gothic theme? Bare abs? A tantalising close up? A bedroom scene? Something restrained? Something dynamic and bold?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. They may help me next time I wield the power over my own cover!

Cover Love

A lot of you would know a few years back I wrote a book with my sister, Ros Baxter, called Sister Pact. It was a great experience for both of us and we loved it so much we’ve written a second and are on to our third.

The book sold out its print run which is good but over several months, not in one or two weeks which makes you a superstar. It’s now OOP – out of print :-(  BUT thanks to the digital platform you can still get it as an e-book.

And from today you can also get it as an e-book with the original cover.

The original cover was the one both Ros and I loved.  Harper Collins truly outdid themselves with nailing exactly what the book was about in one piece of art and we were ecstatic – absolutely over the moon.

Look at it – isn’t it gorgeous?? (if you click on it, you'll get a lovely big, readable version!)

 

But then the marketers and the books buyers got involved and were not very nice about our cover. They didn’t like it, they wouldn’t buy many copies. It was too chick-litty and didn’t we all know that was “publishing death”?? It seemed it was too reminiscent of those covers that defined chick-lit for many years – cartoon martini glasses and red stilettos . 

Sigh.

So our beautiful cover was ditched and we got a more generic women’s fiction cover which everyone who knew stuff about stuff agreed would sell better.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this cover – it’s perfectly fine. Except it has nothing to do with the book whatsoever...

The first cover tells the story in one glance. The second cover tells you nothing. In fact, it looks like the women in the story are the best of friends and they’re going to ride off into the sunset together (or possibly star in a Libra Fleur commercial) which is so not what happens, so not what the book is about.

So you can imagine how ecstatic we both are that the lovely peeps at Harper Collins have decided to out the old cover back on the e-book AND have reduced the price from $12 down to $4.48 in the US, 2.99 pounds in the UK and $4.99 here in Oz!

We finally feel like we have our book back!

And because I’m so damn excited I’m going to give away a digital copy with the new cover to someone who stops by and leaves a comment. Tell me, which cover do you prefer? If they were side by side in a bookshop which one would you pick up? Do you buy on cover alone? Do cartoon covers turn you off? Does it annoy you when the cover doesn’t match the content? 

Pinch Me!

You ever had one of those moments where something amazing has happened to you that you'd never thought in a millions years would?

I had one of those last week when I received this great pic from fellow Cat, Louisa George, and has since been sent to me by quite a few people. It's a lift in the Marriott in Atalanta - USA - where the RWAm conference has just wrapped up and it has my book cover on it. Yes - MY book cover!! It's the cover for The Girl Least Likely To Marry and if you read yesterday's smooch you'll be able to get a sneak peak of the book which is out "officially" in the next few days.

Okay, granted, its not a bus but if someone had told me 9 years ago I was going to have my book cover on a lift on the other side of the world I would have laughed at them!

But, here I am. And there it is!

Which goes to show you should always dream big because you just never know, right?

That bears repeating I think - 

ALWAYS
DREAM 
BIG.

What are your big dreams? Ever had a "pinch me" moment?

Judging A Book By It's Cover....

By Helen Lacey

I love book covers and do tend to look at the covers when I'm deciding what books to buy/read. Of course that's quick to do when trawling a site like Harlequin, Entangled or Amazon etc, because you can flick through titles easily and select what you want with a click of a button. But what I really love is checking out the new releases in a bricks and mortar book store.

Last week I took a trip to my local book store and spent a fun half hour looking over hundreds of titles. I bought two - Half Moon Bay by Aussie author Helen Young (I always buy her books but the cover of this one is fabulous) and The Storyteller by Jodie Picoult. I've only read one other Picoult book, but this one caught my eyes based only on the cover. One of my favourite covers is from an old Doreen Owens Malek

romance called The Highwayman... it's got the 80's/90's bodice ripper cover thing all over it. Plus it's an awesome book.

I'm something of a lazy reader, so I like the cover to tell me a bit about the story...if it's a romance I like a good shot of the hero and heroine in some kind of clinch. If it's sci-fi or fantasy I want something relevant to the quest. Remember the cover of Jaws? A lone woman swimming and a massive shark head looming underneath her....frightening....and there was no doubt what that book was about.

When I look for a category romance novel, I love how the covers tell something of the story. A Presents book about a smouldering Greek hero and feisty heroine will usually have them in a passionate embrace. A home and heart story about a single dad will often have kids on the cover too. And what's a sexy as sin cowboy without his horse?

Harlequin have recently  given some of their lines a cover makeover and my next Special Edition looks like this.....

What do you think?

Do you judge a book by it's cover?

Does a fabulous cover make you love a book even more?

Covers, characters and a giveaway!

by Emmie Dark

Hi Lovecatters! It's an exciting month for me. Not only has my brand new novella Spellbound hit the e-shelves with Destiny publishing, I've also just received the cover art for my June SuperRomance!

I've totally been blessed by the cover fairies this month. Check out Spellbound:

Isn't it gorgeous? Sexy, a little mysterious, and somehow magical -- perfectly in sync with the quirky spice of the story. Personally, I also think that guy has one very sexy shoulder/chest. I think, maybe, it's because he's wearing a singlet and not showing just bare skin. What do you think? Are we in the romance world a little weary of naked-chested hunks? (Is such a thing possible??)

And here's the cover for Just For Today...

I've got a story about the cover for Just For Today. It's funny how different books can be. For me, most of the time when I'm writing, I don't usually have an exceptionally strong sense of how my characters look. I mean, I know what color their hair is, and their eyes,  as well as any quirks like scars, etc, but when I picture them in my mind's eye, I don't often have a crystal-clear image of their faces.

That was totally different with Just For Today. I knew exactly, right from the start, what my hero and heroine looked like.

My hero was the spitting image of Jensen Ackles from the TV show Supernatural. He seems to be a perennial favourite with romance authors -- I do see his mug pasted up on Facebook more often than most.

And I think you can see why.

Apart from the jaw and chiselled chin, the hair was a big thing. My hero, Sean, does his hair exactly like that. And it gets referred to a lot in the book.

My heroine, Jess, also sprang into my mind's eye just as quickly and fully formed. She was Erin Karpluk from the TV show Being Erica. (If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must! It's wonderful!)

Jess had that same long, flowing hair and very natural, down-to-earth look. She's also a little older than Sean (a little more world-wearied, too) and I thought the two of them worked perfectly together. (I was thrilled to discover, long after the book was written and submitted, that Jensen and Erin shared screen time in the show Dark Angel -- unfortunately not romantically!)

Now go back and look at the cover for Just For Today -- don't I owe the talent scouts in the art department at Harlequin a beer??

I haven't got my advance copies of Just For Today yet. But leave a comment and I'll send one lucky commenter a copy as soon as they arrive. You'll be among the first in the world to read it!

How much notice do you take of the way characters look on the covers as compared to how they're described in the book? How clearly do you picture your characters when you're writing?

Judging a book by its cover

by Emmie Dark

I recently bought a book absolutely wholly and solely because of the cover. In my defence, it was very pretty. I went to an online cover competition to vote for a friend's book and saw it there. The cover just called to me, and a minute later I was looking it up online. All I found out was that it was a paranormal YA romance -- not at all my usual thing -- and before I knew it, I placed an order with Book Depository.

I wanted to own it, just based on the cover. I've received it and read it now, and I'm pleased to say that the words inside actually did live up to the cover! It was a great story and I'm glad I'd bought it.

Amazon

I suppose I should share it. Here you go, this is Die for Me, by Amy Plum. It's a fantastic book for older YA readers (or grown ups!).

It doesn't take much to make me buy a book (as my credit card statements will attest!) but it's not usual for me to buy something just based on the cover. In fact I buy a lot of e-books, and books that I've read reviews for, or just heard about by word of mouth on Facebook or similar, and for many of them I don't think I've even looked at the cover! So what was it about this one that intrigued me?

It's a few things. Paris, for one. One of my favourite cities. I have a little Eiffel Tower sitting next to me on my desk right now, and a calendar of vintage French travel posters on the wall. Set something in Paris, and you've already half-won me over.

The red dress, for another. I love the idea of a glamorous red dress like that. One day I will have to attend the Oscars so I can wear one! It speaks of power and fun and adventure and fairy tales. (As a side note, have you heard about "The Travelling Red Dress" project by The Bloggess? It's amazing. And it's all about not waiting for an invitation to the Oscars in order to wear a dress like that.)

And the black squiggly things. I don't know why I like them but I do. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to get a tattoo in real life, but I'm always intrigued by other people's, especially when they're beautifully drawn black lines. And if I ever did, then it would be something like those pretty swirls and winding vines and leaves. In fact, when I draw doodles in the margins of notebooks, they tend to look something like that (although not nearly as pretty).

So for me, the reasons I like that cover are all incredibly personal. There will be plenty of people out there who don't like it, who have an objection to red dresses for some reason, who encountered a rude Frenchman on their trip to Paris and have less than fond memories of the city. For those people, this book won't be appealing on any of the same grounds as it was for me.

Covers are so subjective. Like any kind of art, I suppose -- beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And in these days of ebooks, I wonder if covers are as important as they used to be? We've heard about the demise of album art in music now -- I wonder if book covers will go a similar way?

Pre-order at Amazon

While on the subject of covers, I can't finish without a shameless self-promotional plug for "In His Eyes" my new SuperRomance, which comes out in August in North America. I just received a copy of the cover for it a couple of weeks ago -- and how gorgeous is it??

I feel I have been blessed by the cover fairies (or just the Art Department at Harlequin -- thanks guys!). My cover for Cassie's Grand Plan was beautiful, and when I got to see it on the shelves in the US, the bright ocean and blue, blue sky made it stand out and it really drew the eye. (It wasn't just me -- other people said the same thing!) In His Eyes is set in a fictional winery area outside of Melbourne and my hero and heroine have competing vineyards and a complicated history. I just love the dark tones and sense of drama in this cover -- it's totally appropriate to the story. I hope you'll agree when you get a chance to read it. :)

Do you think book covers are less important these days? Have you ever bought a book just because of its cover?