Potpourri
Cover Art
Did You Know…
There's a fabulous list of links to models, artists, and other cover material at We Really Dig...Romance Novels. They link to models I've never even heard of! That's why I ditched my own list. Why reinvent the wheel?
Did You Know…
Regular authors (i.e., everybody but Major Authors) get little say in their covers. We can only make suggestions (which are usually ignored). So we routinely throw ourselves on the mercies of our publisher's art department, trusting that they know more about cover art than we non-artists. And they generally do. However…
Did You Know…
Everybody gets an ugly cover once in a while. If you want to see my ugliest, check out Night Vision on my Deborah Nicholas page.
Did You Know…
Publishers don't much care about historical accuracy on covers. They don't even care if the cover depicts an actual scene from the book.
They care about what sells. So don't bother to complain that the gown on the Regency heroine is actually Victorian or that there's no gazebo in the book.. If the cover is pretty and it sells, they'll ignore you (see above about what they do to authors).
Did You Know…
Authors don't get to choose, audition, meet, or in any other way involve themselves with the cover models who appear on the books. Except for the occasional promo booksigning (see picture of me with Steven Sandalis signing Topaz books), we probably see a cover model in person about as often as you do. Sigh.
Did You Know…
The double front covers (called "stepbacks") are expensive to create and easily harmed in shipping. That's why you only see them on the books of Major Authors (and why booksellers dislike them).
Did You Know…
The title/author name embossing and foiling are run through separately from the actual printing of the cover, which increases the cost. So by the 3rd or 4th printing, standard industry practice is to leave off the embossing and foiling. For example, the 2nd printing of The Forbidden Lord has embossing, but the third printing doesn't. And the sixth printing of The Dangerous Lord not only lacks embossing or foiling, but the title doesn't even have a color!
Cover Process
- The editor and author discuss ideas.
- The editor presents them to other editors and staff from the marketing and art departments in a meeting called—surprise—a cover conference. They discuss not only the cover concept but colors, poses, etc.
- An artist is commissioned.
- The artist sketches the concept.
- The artist then hires models and photographs them in several poses. That's called—surprise again—a photo shoot.
- The cover used to be painted from the photo that looked the best, and the painting was sent to the publisher, but these days artists mostly spiff up the photo digitally to make it look like a painting. Or so I'm told.
- The art department places on the digital image the lettering and back copy (written by the copy department and approved by the editorial staff).
- The whole thing is sent to the printer. Two sets are printed. The first is printed 6 to 8 months before the book's release to use for promotion and sales. Once orders come in, about a month before the book arrives in stores, the final printing is done, and those prints are used for the actual books.