Google+ The Art that Inspires Writers and Readers: March 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Made to Order Romance Novel Cover

Dear Ladies,


The story behind my 2 new videos:









While preparing a video with the covers of Lisa Kleypas' series I found a possibility I had not considered before: Readers making their own casting call for the heroes and heroines of the novels they read! I had already seen some fan videos showing the author's casting preferences among snippets of old movie trailers and some model's promo-shots. Now I found the same idea among  pininterst users. Lisa Kleypas is a perfect example of this trend.

Lets watch cover evolution before your eyes: 

1. The Wallflower series: The first book "Secrets of a Summer night" was published in 2004 by Avon Books using a classy cover design not showing any skin, but wait to open it to find the step back with an old stile painting. These paintings are done using a photograph with actual models specially taken for the occasion. 



2. Lets jump to the fourth book "scandal in Spring" published in 2006. The stile of the cover is till the same, making it a graphically homogeneous series of four lovely books. The step back has a modern feel because it has more the look of a photography than a painting. The Hero is sporting the same naked torso+ black breaches+boots ensembles, but the body is less muscles an more grace.


 

3. The last book of a the series, "A Wallflower Christmas"  (2008), a special "reunion" episode has no step back and there is a total change of style reflecting the change in time and publisher from Avon to St Martin press



4. The Hathaway series: The first book "Mine till midnight" first published in 2007 also by St. Martin's Press is in the the same line of design as "Wallflower Christmas": the bodies without the face , as if saying you can imagine what you like best OR to entice you to open the cover and look underneath. The stepback shows a risque scene in a very photographic stile.


 

5. By the time we reach book four ("Married by Morning", published in 2009) of this bestselling series the covers change again. Risking the continuity of the series probably to appeal to a younger audience (my guess). There is a nice step back, but oh so tame! Do they want to trap young adults or only save the readers the embarrassment to carry the book?


 

6. By now (2014) the books have new covers and no step backs. Kindle Editions of some books don't even have a cover. So what can you do if your imagination needs a little prompting? Go online and look for what others have already chosen or make your own personal selection among the endless offer of virtual flesh. 

Here is an example of a different edition of "Mine till midnight" and two personal casting choices for the hero Cam Rohan and Heroine Amelia Hathaway found in Pininterest


 

Here other personal choices for Katherine Marks and Leo Hathaway from "Married by Morning"  





And finally an example taken from "Love in the Afternoon" (the final book in the Hathaway series) showing a personal Beatrix Hathaway and Captain Christopher Phelan.





What are you waiting for? your personal heroes and heroines are just a click of the mouse away.


Miranda