Judging a Book by its Cover(model)

We all know the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. I get the sentiment behind it, but judging or reading a book based on its cover is a very real thing. I’ve definitely noticed the importance of book covers as I’ve started to read more romance novels. And of course it got my brain squirrels foraging and creating more questions I need answers to! Have you ever picked your next favorite read based on the cover? Why do some authors spend so much time and money for the perfect cover? And why are romance novel covers so similar to each other that it sometimes becomes difficult to differentiate between one book and another?

The romance covers I noticed first are the standard “mancandy” cliche covers. You know the ones: six-pack abs, Adonis V, well-defined pecs, bulging biceps, often accompanied by a face with more structure than my entire life, complete with a well-aimed smolder. Personally, I kinda like the covers that don’t include the model's face. They allow me to create the image for myself based on features the author gives in the book, but I can still put my personal spin on them, too. One of my favorite authors, Brittney Sahin, said her covers intentionally don’t include a model’s face because they don’t match her muse for the character in the book. However, when she found the perfect model (Joseph Cannata) for one of her characters (Roman from Chasing Shadows), she not only included his face on the cover, she purchased exclusive photos to ensure they would not be used on covers by any other authors. That image of her muse was so tied with her character it was a concrete way for her to really showcase her vision, and at the same time ensure it would forever be associated with that character, her character. And in a fun twist, she used a different pose of Joseph, without his full face, for the next book in her series (Finn from Chasing the Storm).

It might sound extreme, paying extra money to ensure a specific photo is never used on another cover, but it’s not an irrational concern. It's actually quite common for models to appear on multiple covers for multiple authors. Sometimes in the exact same clothing and pose. Google images for “Jonny James book covers.” Seriously, go do it, right now. I’ll be here when you’re done paging through 100s of covers with his face and/or body on them. Want another one? Try Daniel Rengering. Lucas Loyola. How about Andrew Biernat. And if you haven't already, Google the covers Joseph Cannata is on. Ok, I think you get the point. You’re welcome for the eye candy. These models have done hundreds of book covers for hundreds of different authors. And most of those authors are using stock photos available for reasonable prices because nobody can lay claim to them exclusively. But for a reader, it can cause some visual confusion. I wouldn’t want to be the author whose book gets passed over because readers think they’ve already read it based on a quick glance at the cover photo.

Enter cover designers. For authors who use stock photos, a good cover designer can be their best friend, and best chance for getting their book to visually stand out. They can change an entire background to match a book’s setting or theme, or they might add or remove tattoos from the

model, providing even more differentiation for the author. But does it all really matter? Are people buying books because of the cover? Although most of the books I read come to my attention through other readers I know, or authors I’ve already read, I will readily admit to buying a book because I liked the cover model. I recently did this for one of Susan Stoker’s newest books. She was already on my tbr, but I wasn’t sure where to start in her impressive backlist. I saw Daniel R on the cover of Finding Lexie, and decision made!

But hot bods are not the only things gracing romance novel covers these days. Rather than photography and realistic backgrounds, some of my favorite covers showcase unique and custom artwork specific to the theme or style of the novel. Similar to stock versus exclusive photos, the price of illustrated covers can vary greatly. The more popular the author, the bigger the budget, the more likely they are to commission an artist to create a custom illustrated cover. Newer authors may be more likely to use illustrated covers with stock images and artwork- think clipart- because they’re much less expensive. The popularity and user-friendliness of design programs has also made it easier and cheaper for authors to design their own covers. When she branched out into the RomCom realm, Janice Whiteaker (writing as Josie Watts) designed her own cover for her debut novel Fish out of Water. Author A.M. Johnson created standard photo-based covers for her “For Him” series to be sold on Amazon, but she also hired artist Ashley Ranae Quick and typographer Murphy Rae to create stunning illustrated covers available through her website. Even if they use a commissioned piece by an artist, the depth of the artwork can affect the price, so sometimes a simple cover designed by a commissioned artist is the perfect fit for an author not comfortable with creating their own design who doesn’t have a huge budget for cover design.

Curious to know what kinds of covers attracted my fellow romance novel readers, I did some very non-scientific research: I posted a poll in multiple romance novel groups on Facebook. Some groups were author based, others were more general romance genre based groups. I asked the following question: Which of the following would be most likely to encourage you to read/consider reading a specific book? You can choose more than 1. And if you think of a cover style I neglected, please include that in the comments below the poll.

Out of 1765 votes, the breakdown was as follows:

Male Cover model photo: 49.07%

Opposite gender couple cover photo: 22.21%

Illustrated/Artistic cover (non-photo based): 20.57%

Same gender couple cover photo: 4.14%

Female cover model photo: 4.02%

Well, I think we have our answer. That male cover model, he’s pretty damn important. I was surprised by how much, though. And as much as I hate it, I wasn’t surprised to see that female cover model at the bottom of the list. I have my theories of why that number is so low, but it’s a frustrating one I’d rather not delve into right now. Let’s just leave Pandora alone with that box for a little bit.

There were several trends in the comments regarding book covers as well. Multiple people said they would skip over a book with a cover that looked like it was cheaply made (clipart, little to no effort/style detected in the planning). Several commenters said they got frustrated when a cover model didn’t fit the characters in the story. If the blurb says the main male character is a silver fox in his mid-50s, don’t put a dark-haired 20-something on the cover. And if you describe your hero as of Asian descent, your readers don’t want to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer on the cover. Sounds like Brittney Sahin is onto something with her headless covers. Quite a few readers said they are more drawn to covers that are unique. A cover with a distinctive scene on it relevant to the story, or with unusual or quirky artwork stands out amongst the line-ups of pecs and abs. An extremely high number of readers said in the eReader world they rarely even look at the covers, choosing books based on the blurb or another reader’s recommendation. Another interesting stat: while every group but one ranked Male Cover Model Photo highest, groups with a more protector/suspense theme ranked Male Cover Model photos higher than all other categories combined. Illustrated/Artistic covers gathered three times more votes in groups with a focus on romcom/small-town books.

I can’t get out of a blog without my favorite fangirl moment: several romance authors weighed in with their thoughts on the subject. Janice Whiteaker commented, “I think for me the cover depends on what I'm wanting to read. For protector I want the dude. For romcom I want an illustrated or object cover. For Regency I generally expect a cover with the woman on it (then the step back with the couple in a sexy embrace). Branding is powerful stuff man.” Powerful stuff, indeed! Brittney Sahin enganged her readers in the comment conversation beneath the poll in her group, giving amazing insights into why and how she chooses the models and poses she uses for her different books and series. She even explained how Amazon has determined what photos she uses as they will often refuse to list covers with poses they find to be too provocative. In one case she had to change a cover twice before Amazon would approve it. And Anna Blakely really got my squirrel brain going again when she commented, “It’s very interesting to see what readers vote for. Especially since I recently invested in my first exclusively purchased cover images for two of my upcoming series."

And now I’m wondering how authors make these decisions, knowing what they put on their cover could have a huge impact on their sales. You know what that means! Keep an eye on the blog over the next few days and I’ll bring you some insights from Janice, Brittney, and Anna who all recently made the decision to license exclusive photos for use on their book covers.