I recently learned that there is a German Kindle edition of SAVING LORD VERWOOD. I’m excited to be out in four languages now (there are Dutch and Italian versions of LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE).
I’m also impressed with this cover. I liked many things about the original Signet cover (pictured below). The hero looks right (and hot, which never hurts), the house is the right style and period, and composition is pleasing. My only slight gripe was that the heroine should be a redhead, not a blonde. Since she had already appeared as a redhead in two previous stories, I chose not to rewrite her description to fit the cover.
In contrast, the German cover accurately depicts both my hero and heroine. I also love, love, love that the artist took the time to recreate the stormy, craggy western Cornish coastline. This even looks like an actual scene from the book.
As an author, I love it when the cover art conveys my inner image of the characters and setting. As a reader, I used to be annoyed by cover art that didn’t match the story, but even before I knew about the cover art process, I guessed—correctly—that the authors might not always have much control over their covers. Now I enjoy it when a cover fits, but mostly I care what’s inside.
How do you feel do you feel about cover art being accurate to the story? What are some of the worst cover bloopers you’ve seen? Any covers that you thought suited the story especially well?
I always thought the Fabio covers were awful & never read them…
The idea of every hero looking like Fabio leaves me cold, too. But please remember, the stories inside were probably all very different.
It doesn’t really matter to me if the cover depicts a scene from the story or not, but I really hate it when the hero/heroine is blond and the cover is brunette and vice versa. I had one book where they did the opposite of both the hero and heroine. I hated the cover. “Scandalizing the Ton” actually takes the scene from the beginning of the book. That was fun.
We’re on a cover roll here this week!
Judy, actually Scandalizing the Ton had an error on the cover. It shows them in a mews, which is the way I originally wrote the story. Then one of the editors walked through Mayfair and discovered that the street where my heroine lived did not have a mews behind it. She described a walled garden and a gate and I rewrote the scene to show that.
But I do love that the cover shows the hero carrying her.
Covers are important, still. It’s got to catch the eye, even online, you know? But I still hate it when the physical descriptions don’t match. Bugs the heck out of me!!
I prefer the cover be an accurate depiction of the story and characters. I can not remember the title of the book, but remember the author being a bit put out with the cover. Her heroine was on the plump side and the cover showed a slender woman with a different hair color. The woman’s “size” was an important factor in the story, so the cover did neither the story or the character justice.
I’ve given my editors character descriptions and even photos of actors who resemble my characters. I know many authors who have done the same. How the covers come out differently is a mystery!
Pat, a shame that particular book cover wasn’t accurate. Sometimes the appearance doesn’t matter too much to the story and sometimes it does. Which is why authors may not change the story to fit.