The Romance Troupe discussion

What do you like on a romance cover? What makes you pause and think 'Oh,man, I gotta check this one out! Look at the _______ on the cover.'?

Colors!! I love colors that pop out and grab you. Emerald green, sapphire blue, ruby red.

I prefer drawings to real photographs. That is just me. I also, even though I read for the sexy take-charge kind of men, like a lovely strong woman on the cover. For example:

Jill wrote: "Colors!! I love colors that pop out and grab you. Emerald green, sapphire blue, ruby red."

Me too! Give an example by posting a cover that grabs you.

I love the covers with beautiful strong women too, but...I'm guilty of picking the cover with the beautiful manly abs on it first. I just love me some rock hard abs, LOL. I really like bold colors as well, they need to catch my eye and look professional. If it looks like someone just superimposed a guy on a photo and didn't blend and make it look like it belongs, *pass*, We only get one first impression.

It depends on the book! ;o) But if you put a manly man with lots of rippling muscles on it, I'd probably read the guide on "how to unclog your bathroom sink"! hahaha

I think these are great covers and the author did them herself!
They look so professional!

This cover made me buy the book with blurb unread.

Jill wrote: "This cover made me buy the book with blurb unread."

I can see how. It is very attractive and it has all the rich colors you said you like. I may have a read, myself.

Natalie wrote: "I think these are great covers and the author did them herself! [bookcover:Of Wate..."

You're right. They are great. I have no visual graces and I'm planning on getting professionally designed covers for my coming books, although so far my sales for previous books not great, but they say a cover can make a huge difference.

I've created a board in pinterest that I call Awesome book covers, to check out for inspiration so...I'll gladly keep pinning.
I have a lot from YA books as in one of their groups they had a thread on beautiful covers that got me started.
Here is my board...
http://pinterest.com/olganm7/awesome-...

Well, I too am very guilty of stopping to look at a book with a gorgeous, half nekkid man on the cover. ;) But I prefer people, because that's what I'm reading the book for. So, I'm afraid items on the cover, or a bedroom, or a town, that kind of thing, honestly make it pass the book on by. A lot of Nora's books do this, and I honestly pass them by. Please forgive me for saying this, but...I find them boring. Those kinds of covers don't really tell me anything about the book. I like a cover that's striking, that gives me some sense of what the book might be about. Amazon's top 100 list, for example. It's the books with faces on the front that stop me. Then again, I always was a sucker for the "clinch" cover. lol

J.M. wrote: "Well, I too am very guilty of stopping to look at a book with a gorgeous, half nekkid man on the cover. ;) But I prefer people, because that's what I'm reading the book for. So, I'm afraid items on..."

I agree J.M. I know what you are talking about with Nora Robert's books. They bore me too. I don't want a still-life cover. Give me action. Give me an embrace. Give me LIFE.

Natalie wrote: "Give me action. Give me an embrace. Give me LIFE."

Exactly!

Sexy man on the front....and its nice when they depict the actual physical attributes of the hero in the book ;)

I love a cover that sets the tone for the book...like you can pick it up, look at it and know what it's about.

I like the covers that show feeling--whether it's the people--or even the background that 'says' something. I'm a fan of couples on the cover in Romance. In YA, I like to see the female protagonist (or male, whichever) in a 'scene' from the story. But, for romance--I'm still a fan of the covers with sexy couples. I refuse to use a straight stock image unless the artist does something to make it original. I don't want to see my cover on twenty other books. For 'light' romance or paranormal, I've developed a fondness for the covers like on HP Mallory books. They are fun--think Linda Wisdom did some like that, too. Just depends on the book. I won't even read the blurb if the cover is boring, though (I know, that's bad, LOL) Oh and..please..make the cover models match the characters! That's a HUGE pet-peeve of mine! Loved the covers on the Underworld series, too. it says we can't post links when I started to answer--so I didn't--but I could have put up some samples of what I like :)

HOpe, if the book is in Goodreads there's a link on top of comment that says 'add book/author' and it allows you add either a link or a book cover, so do! I must check the ones you mention as I'm curious and can't recall what they might look like.

Jill wrote: "This cover made me buy the book with blurb unread."

Wow! That is one gorgeous cover....and I can see why you selected without a blurb! ;)

Wow! That is one gorgeous cover....and I can see why you selected without a blurb! ;)"

Angela, I loved Kate Pierce's Tudor Vampire books, too bad the publisher didn't like them as much as I did. :(

I like a cover that gives you an idea of the "feel" of the book. Personally, I think your cover goes a long way towards establishing your "brand" as an author. That's one of the nice things about self-publishing: I get to control that.

Natalie wrote: "J.M. wrote: "Well, I too am very guilty of stopping to look at a book with a gorgeous, half nekkid man on the cover. ;) But I prefer people, because that's what I'm reading the book for. So, I'm af..."

YES.

Jill wrote: "Wow! That is one gorgeous cover....and I can see why you selected without a blurb! ;)"

Angela, I loved Kate Pierce's Tudor Vampire books, too bad the publisher didn't like them as much as I did. :("

That tends to happen to me with television shows! I hate to like any of them, because they usually get cancelled! This looks like it would have been a great series :)

Angela, I thought that was only me and television shows! LOL I really love Elementary so hope it stays.

I love the covers of Anya Wylde's Regency Romance novels. She has two that I love - A Wicked Wager and Penelope. I'm not usually a fan of cartoon covers but these are so cute and so fit the books.

Linda Wisdom has cute cartoon covers too.

Talli Rolland also has nice cartoon covers.




I've noticed there are a lot of covers like this out there now. I'm actually not crazy about them, but it's a ll a matter of perspective. :-)

~JD

I'm not a huge fan of the cartoon covers either. There are a few I like, but for the most part no.

I've had very mixed feedback about my book cover. Would appreciate any input!

Jill wrote: "Angela, I thought that was only me and television shows! LOL I really love Elementary so hope it stays."

Hahahahaha!!!

Charmaine wrote: "I've had very mixed feedback about my book cover. Would appreciate any input!"
Well, I can't get the cover to show full size, but from what I can see, it looks good. It has the hunk of man on the front AND the bright colors everyone here seems to favor.

Honestly, I think the cover is important and can make the difference between picking the book or not. It's not the only thing - of course title and story are important - but a cover with a hunk of a man or man and woman in an embrace is always an eye-catcher.
I think your cover looks good, Charmaine.

Natalie wrote: "Charmaine wrote: "I've had very mixed feedback about my book cover. Would appreciate any input!"
Well, I can't get the cover to show full size, but from what ..."

Thank you Natalie!

Jennie wrote: "Honestly, I think the cover is important and can make the difference between picking the book or not. It's not the only thing - of course title and story are important - but a cover with a hunk of ..."

Thank you for the feedback Jennie!

Strong images that stick in your mind - hot and sexy people without being slutty.

Love books with a sexy hero on the cover. Doesn't have to have his head showing in the picture. Chest down works for me just as well. Leaves something to my imagination.

Hello everyone who commented. Thank you for participating in the conversation. I wrote a blog on The Romance Troupe's blog page about covers using the opinions given here. Take a look and see what you think. http://www.theromancetroupe.com/2013/...

I'm slightly disappointed with my new cover; the one for Mending Fate, because it says the absolute opposite of what my book is about. I need to be able to look at the cover and go "Oh, so THAT'S this part..."

I would love some feedback on my cover. The book is supposed to be about one of the Greek Fates... Fiery red hair, black leather clothes, and ancient runed double doors inscribed with curses.

This is what I ended up with for Mending Fate...

http://kaylapayeur.weebly.com/blog.html

Kayla wrote: "I'm slightly disappointed with my new cover; the one for Mending Fate, because it says the absolute opposite of what my book is about. I need to be able to look at the cover and go "Oh, so THAT'S t..."

Wow, that really isn't anything like what you wanted. Did you have any input in this cover? It isn't dark, doesn't say curses or greek mythology, almost like a contemporary romance, maybe even a christian romance. It isn't bad but it doesn't sound like you got what you were imagining.

They asked for a description of my characters and key items to the story. Believe it or not, I was way more detailed on the cover sheet. I agree, I thought contemporary romance when I saw it, too. Sadly, I'm stuck with it.

Red haired gave me a fit when I was shopping for a cover artist I wound up using a cartoonish style cover but everyone seemed to like it.
I would ask them if they could redo if it's with a publisher. I thought this couple did a good job with what I wanted on my cover, and a reader saw someone different reading so it cost a star on her review - if your heroine is nothing like the model the way they see her, I learned they will say something :) And she actually fit my character's description!

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-in-Rain...

I can't change it. It's in my contract. :( I don't really think the artist read my descriptions at all.

That stinks. I remember the detailed forms you have to fill out for those too. I got lucky because one of mine asked me my vision so that I got the cover I sort of wanted. They aren't all like that, though.

Your cover is really pretty though, so maybe they won't say anything about it not matching their ideal.

I am a big fan of books that don't have people on the cover like:

and:


Here are the working covers my new romance series


Now that I've heard so many of you talking about needing people on the cover, I'm worried. Should I consider changing them?

Suzanne wrote: "I am a big fan of books that don't have people on the cover like:

You should NOT change them. Looking at the covers you like, it seems as if you have hit it on the head. This thread is about what YOU like on a cover. I am curious about what everyone thinks. Obviously this type works - these authors have sold millions of books with covers like this.

Suzanne, I could totally see my own feet on my covers. ;)

Suzanne, don't worry about needing people on the cover. Some of the most popular novels have almost nothing on the cover. Take a look at James Rollins' novels. :)

Hi,

I am interested in covers because I write and I take my own cover photos. So far I have tried to show the location of the story in my cover. There is usually also a person, or people. If the book is not a romance, I don't believe it needs a person on the cover. Romances do tend to be much more about the people. That said, a romance can just show the setting, to good effect.