Bitchery Reader Mary forwarded me to links to a two-part interview at Risky Regencies with Richard Cerqueira, romance cover model.
My personal favorite quotes are his recommendation that the “models chosen should accurately depict the book’s heroes.” Now how often have we seen than happen – the raven-haired o-faced chick on the front is representing a brown-haired freckled girl who really wouldn’t wear magenta eye shadow, right?
But the part that has me absolutely amused:
Modeling for romance novel covers is much quicker and, dare I say, easier. For one thing, I get to pose with a beautiful girl nearly every time, that’s always a bonus. The shoots typically last only an hour and they do not require much planning nor do they ruin one’s whole day; you can easily hold down a regular job, do a photo shoot on your lunch break and go back to work with no one more the wiser.
That’s just awesome. Thanks to the miracle of digital photography, you can be the man titty cover model on your lunch break? I’m never going to look at lunch hour the same.
So Stanley in Accounting has to wear a girdle underneath his buttondown to hide his bounteous man titty from his co-workers? Or does he swagger around the office in full pirate garb? Swiving receptionist wenches beside the water cooler! Taking fair maiden CEOs captive in board meetings!
…that could work as a gender-reversal version of Flashdance, methinks.
I am in awe. Before, I just took simple pleasure in the bounteous man titty. Now, I appreciate the complex process that underpins it. And insights like the following are priceless – and for once in my life I’m not being sarcastic.
“I get a call from the booking agent asking about my availability and the length of my hair. Sounds funny but the hair length is often a deciding factor whether you are right for the hero or not.”
And I thought my job was demanding. There’s a whole ‘nother world out there.
It was great having Richard visit us at the Riskies. Another thing he said that caught my attention: “we often use some of our own clothes for a book cover shoot.” I wonder if that explains the zippers we’ve sometimes seen on our Regency heroes?
And that’s why there are so often sandwiches amidst the silken sheets.
Length of hair is a deciding factor? These men actually have the mullets? In real life? I’d so hoped that someone in the art department was filling them in later. Someone who was stuck watching nothing but 80’s re-runs.
No, No, No.
He misses LUNCH?!
He seemes disturbungly well-educated. That shouldn’t bother me, and maybe it is true, but all of the degrees, jobs and experiences made him sound like… a hero in a romance novel, not the dude who gets called in to strip half-naked for Harlequin. I was present for the cover shoot of Stephanie Lauren’s The Perfect Lover and those two models definitely weren’t popping in between accounting meetings. Ok, done judging now.