Wht are romance book covers and titles so AWFUL!
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WHY do novels with any element of romance have such TERRIBLE titles?? And some of the covers! Dear God - Do authors/publishers really imagine all their readers to be idiotic simpering nitwits?
I can't tell you how much it annoys me when I read an intelligent, well plotted book with sparkling and witty dialogue which has the most vapid, soppy title and a cover that is so embarassing you have to hide it on the train.
I find it almost insulting!
I choose most of my books through reader reviews. If I chose them on the basis of the title and cover - well, I would probably never have read half of them. There was one book which so offended me that I stuck parcel tape on the cover!!!!! LOL!
Seriously - What are they thinking? The generation who liked soppy hero/heroine pictures and stupid soppy titles have surely vanished, if they ever existed. Thank god Jane Austen didn't call Pride and Prejudice "A bride for Mr Darcy" or some such and stick a picture on the front of some hideous ape in regency clothes (except for the obligatory and very unregency slashed shirt so that we sex-starved females can drool over his usually repulsive self)
Please authors and publishers, have a bit of respect for yourselves, your readers and your products. An intelligent, well written book shouldn't be cheapened with this trivial tat that they are dressed up in.
...And breathe.
I can't tell you how much it annoys me when I read an intelligent, well plotted book with sparkling and witty dialogue which has the most vapid, soppy title and a cover that is so embarassing you have to hide it on the train.
I find it almost insulting!
I choose most of my books through reader reviews. If I chose them on the basis of the title and cover - well, I would probably never have read half of them. There was one book which so offended me that I stuck parcel tape on the cover!!!!! LOL!
Seriously - What are they thinking? The generation who liked soppy hero/heroine pictures and stupid soppy titles have surely vanished, if they ever existed. Thank god Jane Austen didn't call Pride and Prejudice "A bride for Mr Darcy" or some such and stick a picture on the front of some hideous ape in regency clothes (except for the obligatory and very unregency slashed shirt so that we sex-starved females can drool over his usually repulsive self)
Please authors and publishers, have a bit of respect for yourselves, your readers and your products. An intelligent, well written book shouldn't be cheapened with this trivial tat that they are dressed up in.
...And breathe.
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Comments
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/b/c0/4bae453d32a6c/detail.jpg
The writers of the romance genre - especially those of the category romance Mills & Boon titles - often have little or no say in the choice of titles or the picture art. It's a product, plain and simple.
I agree with you, they can be mortifyingly embarrassing - sometimes I'm embarrassed just to be seen looking at a romance shelf in somewhere like WH Smith, never mind daring to purchase the thing - and I don't understand how the reasoning works. The publishers would deny it, of course, but the attitude towards romance covers seems out-of-touch and patronising. They would say that marketing research dictates otherwise.
I feel your pain, but please don't blame this on authors. I'm on an email listing where a heap of romance writers for a publishing company share views, and issues like this often get an airing simply because titles are very much not within the author's control. The big bit that happens between the covers is what the author does; the rest is nothing to do with them, except if you happen to achieve worldwide fame.
Authors either provide a title that fits in with the imprint's branding or provide a title that they like but which stands a good chance of getting changed, sometimes completely. Authors that stamp their feet and complain about the new title never get their views considered, but they do rapidly get a reputation for being difficult and shortly after that they stop getting their books published.
Covers are the same. I write westerns (but the principle is the same as we're dealing with genre fiction). With one publisher, for every book I get asked for a cover suggestion. Every time I provide one and every time I get something completely different. Well, perhaps not entirely true. I remember once mentioning sky in my suggestion and the cover did have some sky in it. With my other publisher I don't get asked at all and the first I see of the cover is when it appears on amazon. That's the way it goes, and actually I pretty much always like or understand the choices made. The publisher makes their decision based on marketing advice, branding, their assumptions on what readers want etc etc. And the fact that they are in the business of selling books and authors are in the business of writing books means for the most part both parties know what they're doing. Personally I understand where you're coming from with your view, but I (and I reckon many others) also quite like the idea of well-written genre books hiding within trashy titles and lurid covers. It's all part of the package that's been around since the early days of pulp and now works in an ironic, post-modern sort of way.
Note: Margaret Mitchell's original title for Gone with the Wind was Tote the Weary Load. The publisher decided to change it.
Thanks! That's very good!
Thanks for this!
I completely agree with you on this. I think it's time they reassessed what readers are drawn to. In fact covers probably mean less in these modern times of online reader reviews and ebooks.
The titles are not much better. Mills and Boon especially seem obsessed with virgins and mistresses. According to a M&B writer, the titles will soon be changing, At least the M&B covers have improved and look more contemporary. They looked like a relic from the 1980s before.
Probably more civilised than gaffer tape. LOL! I have a couple of paper backs with tape on! One particularly gross, steroid enhanced gorilla had a one inch square of black gaffer tape stuck where his face should be because he looked absolutely nothing like the character and I felt queasy every time I looked at him!
I have seen my articles with some pretty dreadful titles, too and once or twice, fonts that made me ashamed. They've always done me proud on the illustrations/photos but then again I usually do the picture research and will send them maybe 20-30 images, from which they'll whittle it down to half a dozen and I have no control over that (or the captioning, or the layout), either!
I'm sure the main input novelists have is the 'author' blurb - which most write themselves. When you're a featured contributor in a magazine, you have to write that too. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die of shame when I had to write one, last year.
Actually, I think that romantic fiction in general seems keener and keener to attract the younger market. If you look at the new Mills and Boon covers, they've ditched the old look and instead of illustrations have got pictures of good looking younger models who wouldn't look out of place in a glossy magazine. It's the same for the mainstream romances with the emphasis being on younger, glossier and sharper.
The bodice ripping covers on the 80s and 90s are not as prevalent in the UK as they are in the States where they seem to continue to be popular.
Funny you should say that I recently went through a spell of buying old romance books from the States! Perhaps they have clouded my judgement!
I've never read any Mills and Boon
LOL. I've not looked at them for years, must admit. I suppose if their market is dying off at one end, they got to replace them at t'other.;)
As for M&B, I remember reading an interview with the Managing Director of the company who said that the challenge was to attract a younger readership and that since ebooks came onto the market, sales have soared so it's not just little old ladies who can't get enough of M&B!
I'm still waiting for the Harry Potter books to come out for the Kindle for this very reason. No way will I read them where anyone could see what I was reading! It's a shame that the author doesn't seem keen on e-books, so it's unlikely they'll be available in that format legally.
Some interesting examples:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/303986-great-cover-art
Best stick with Peoples' Friend, which hasn't changed in 500 years!
http://www.abitofhome.ca/page/C1/PROD/10082107
Yes, I read romance and I'm not ashamed. At work we even had contest to see who could find the cheesiest book. The secondhand bookstores must have a huge spike in profit.
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/the-playbot-sheikhs-virgin-stable-girl-by-sharon-kendrick/
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/decadent_by_shayla_black/
Two reviews of books that are so bad they are funny.
Ha Ha Ha!Fantastic! Some of these were laugh out loud!
...but...Holy Moly! Those Fabio ones are so HOT that I may have changed my mind! :eek::eek::eek:
"The Playboy Sheikh’s Virgin Stable Girl"
Really? I mean, Really???? :eek:
Imagine Romance covers with lizard aliens and giant guns
Not for long I guess