Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Cover Comparisons
May 03, 2012 | Thursday | 46 Comments
First, from Rebecca, this is a fascinating article that profiles Claire Brown, who designs covers for romance novels from Forever. I love this article because it's not condescending or snide- it talks about the art involved. The design of the romance genre is driven by sales, but the formula works. “There are constraints in how much we can deviate without alienating the reader,” Brown says. “Familiarity in typeface and painterly style reassures the reader that this book is what you think it is going to be, and you are going to love it. “With that said, there are an infinite…
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April 26, 2012 | Thursday | 43 Comments
It seems I have been looking at book covers for far, far too long. I now recognize when Ewa Da Cruz is featured on a cover, and I can almost tell the artist when I look at a picture. I'm not the only one keep track - this Pinterest board has artist and model notes, too.
But I'm beginning to think there's something seriously wrong when I can recognize the same two people from a very sexual photo shoot. Have a look - and BE YE WARNED. This is so not safe for work:
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March 26, 2012 | Monday | 34 Comments
For awhile now, on historical romance covers, we've been looking at backs, or, more specifically, women undressing from the back:
I love how all these women in historical times went around with their gowns laced over nothing. It's like the upper-body version of going commando. Boobmando!
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March 06, 2012 | Tuesday | 124 Comments
There are levels of trouble in cover art land. There's "a little trouble," like when the eyes of a cover model's face are Photoshopped a little crooked. There's "a lot more trouble" like a cover with nipples so erect that you could hang ornaments and some garlands off them. And then there's "WTFTROUBLE," which is where we are today. Brace yourself as we take a look at some covers of "Beautiful Trouble Publishing" which specializes in erotic stories, some short, some romance, some bedecked with Poser. But each one teaches something important, I think. And not just the ages-old lesson,…
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February 22, 2012 | Wednesday | 81 Comments
Last week, Jane sent me some Longarm, by which I mean she attached about six different Longarm covers to an email message and I barely remained upright. These were so bizarre, I asked her to snark them with me. But first, Jane answers the burning question, HOW DID YOU FIND THESE? Jane: I was searching Berkley published books in an effort to find some deals. I came across these. I think that there are several hundred of them published. Sarah: Yup. After doing some research, I found this Wikipedia entry which states that there is one Longarm novel published nearly every month. There…
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January 12, 2012 | Thursday | 9 Comments
Author Jim C. Hines has recreated several UF covers. This is so awesome, I don't know where to put my eyeballs first! The insulin pump site is what makes it extra more awesome. High fives to you, sir! I am waiting for the 'oops my ballgown is falling off my shoulders and is totally open in the back' pose. When's that coming, Jim? What poses would you like to see Jim recreate? In May 2011, a reader asked me about author Alison Richardson, who wrote a series of Spice Briefs. I was contacted by Ms. Richardson, who was very flattered that…
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November 03, 2011 | Thursday | 28 Comments
Two weeks ago, I had a signing at Posman’s Books in Grand Central Station, and as I chatted with Stacey Agdern, the romance expert there, I noticed something really interesting on the shelves. Posman’s has a small romance section, but for its size, it’s amazingly diverse and well-stocked - mostly thank to Stacey, who is kickass as a bookseller and as a romance advocate. Because of the smallness of the section, most of the books were displayed spine-out, and this is where I noticed that Avon was doing something REALLY cool. Have a look. (NB: I apologize for the somewhat…
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November 02, 2011 | Wednesday | 107 Comments
This cover was sent to me in the email by an anonymous source. I tweeted about it last night before I had to sign off for the evening, but I had to share it with you here, too.
Why is the ass crack the most objectionable part of that image such that it had to be airbrushed shut? WHY does she have no crack?!
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October 06, 2011 | Thursday | 72 Comments
Ah, romance covers. They say so much with so little. It occurred to me recently that the perfect romance hero has pretty much been assembled through the artistic renderings of the romance cover.
Don’t think so? Have a look.
The perfect romance hero must:
Have excellent dental work
Really. We expect the finest in dentistry. (He should wipe his chin, though.)
And of course, man-titty with extraordinary buoyancy in a maritime emergency:
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August 31, 2011 | Wednesday | 87 Comments
This entry was inspired by Abby, who wrote to me and implored, “go to amazon.co.uk and look up Lisa Kleypas. WHY ARE THEIR BOOK COVERS SO MUCH BETTER THAN OURS?!?!?!! I am so upset about this, it’s kind of ridiculous. They just look so much classier! It’s totally unfair.”
Is that so? Well, let’s have a look, shall we? All the pics are below the fold - but the poll, depending on the browser, may be up here.
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August 17, 2011 | Wednesday | 28 Comments
Do you see it? Do you? Huh?
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June 07, 2011 | Tuesday | 89 Comments
Alert reader Jennifer sent me the following message: “Searching for a good (kindle) historical mystery for myself, I noticed that someone slapped Richard Armitage on the cover of their book: It’s flipped & Photoshopped, but it definitely looks like his head shot (via RichardArmitageNet.com). I’m all for seeing Richard everywhere, but somehow I don’t think this is authorized usage—- couldn’t they afford some stock photography to use? Arrgh. (sending it your way since this site discusses book covers and Richard Armitage is one of the patron saint hotties of romance).” HUH. That’s a new one - self published book sales…
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June 01, 2011 | Wednesday | 37 Comments
‘Allo. Ah am zee Bucket. You perhaps have seen mah work on other covers, yes? No? Yes yes! HERE AH AM. AH STRIKE AGAIN WITH MAH BUCKETNESS. Some vixen named Kim has spotted the efforts of Bucket. First, we have zee cover with zee green from 2009. Ah like the green. It is very green, like zee environment, and zee logo at zee bottom of zee email telling me not to print zee email, which Ah do not do since Ah am a Bucket. But what if you are tired of zee green? Green, it is too… too… too 2009,…
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May 06, 2011 | Friday | 22 Comments
Los ebooks en Espanol? ¡Hombre, claro que si! Harlequin los tine! (Ebooks in Spanish? Like, DUH. Harlequin’s got them!) Have a look - they’re 25% off. ¡Qué guay! Time to gaze at covers and pick the best one - and struggle with it every time like I do, right? Yeah. It’s Cover Cafe voting time!. The voting runs until May 31st. The picking of the bestests and worstest covers MIGHT TAKE ME THAT LONG. Thanks to Karen for the heads up. Seriously. The worst cover selection this year was a choice between Bad Photoshop, Bad Stock Images, Bad Art Design…
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March 03, 2011 | Thursday | 62 Comments
It’s time for yet another Adventure Of Bucket! Not Hyacinth Bucket, nor the Lolrus Bucket. This bucket.
This bucket has a lot of work to do. Here’s an example. Look! It’s a book cover, brought to my attention by sharp-eyed reader DL!
Quite a lovely photograph, really. It’s not bad. But NOT FOR BUCKET. Bucket Must Make Change!
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