How I Chose a Cover for My First Romance Novel
By Fiona Blake
After writing my first romance novel, Emerald Island, I thought choosing a book cover would be easy.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Choosing a cover design has been the hardest part of publishing my book. It is unbelievably difficult to create a cover that is eye-catching and also accurately represents your novel’s story and feeling.
When people who don’t love romance novels think of romance covers, they think of Fabio. They think of cheesy bodice rippers. They think of a strong, muscular man with flowing golden locks sitting atop a white stallion.
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t mind reading the occasional cheesy bodice ripper. They don’t, however, represent the genre. There’s a lot of diversity if you look beneath the surface.
I am — like most authors — inspired by the books that I love reading. Growing up, I loved reading Nora Roberts novels. If you look at most Nora Roberts book covers, you’ll find that they depict an eery landscape with nary a human to be seen. They pique the reader’s curiosity rather than appealing to their more base desires.
Lately, I’ve been reading contemporary novels, which have more abstract covers. I have to admit that I loved Fifty Shades of Grey. I am also really into Meredith Wild and Helen Hardt. The covers often feature a closeup of an object (e.g. handcuffs, fingers unbuttoning a shirt, etc.).
I have to admit that I also like reading smutty erotica. Kendall Ryan is one of my favorites. She writes steamy novellas that make you fan yourself. And it’s clear from her covers. Her covers are very explicit; hard abs and entangled limbs (yes, please).
Now that you know my favorite authors, you begin understand Emerald Island’s origins. The book features a Nora Roberts-like idyllic escape. It features a mysterious billionaire (so hot!) and a strong female heroine like many contemporary romance novels. And it features some pretty steamy sex scenes like most smutty erotica.
Figuring out how to incorporate the essence of Emerald Island into a book cover felt a lot like I was Goldilocks choosing a bowl of porridge. Being a self-published author on a budget didn’t help either.
I first started by trying to create a few covers by myself using Canva. How hard could it be? Right?
I thought these covers were okay, but they didn’t really get my blood pumping. I needed humans on the cover. Sexy humans.
It’s tough getting free pictures of sexy humans, so I turned to Fiverr for designs. Let’s just say the first few designs left me disheartened…
The designs I got back from Fiverr made me wonder whether or not I should pursue a career in graphic design instead of writing romance novels. I decided to make another one myself.
I thought I had created the perfect cover. But the feedback I received from my writing circle friends was lukewarm. One direct quote: “It looks very, very homemade.”
Sigh.
I decided to try Fiverr one more time. This time I asked for a modern-looking cover with a man and woman in a tropical environment. This is what I got back…
So much, so much better. It has a hot man and a hot woman. They are in a tropical setting. The models capture Sophie and Erik’s tension (Emerald Island’s protagonists).
The cover isn’t perfect. I didn’t imagine Erik DeWolf (Emerald Island’s hero) would have long hair and a beard. The cover seems a bit dated. But hey! It’s close enough for my first shot.
I’m excited that Emerald Island is out. Part two of the Billionaire Bedroom Series is in the works and it’s going to be a thrilling page turner. I’m pretty proud of the series so far.
How do you feel about the cover I ended up with? Any thoughts on how to make it better? Let me know what you think!
And if you enjoyed this story and want to hear more about what I’m learning on my journey to becoming an author, I’d love it if you clicked the heart below :)
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If you’re interested, you should check Emerald Island out on Amazon: http://amzn.to/29Xk8RZ
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