Does the Cover of a Romance Novel Matter?

Elizabeth Camden Ramblings about Romance, Writing Life Leave a Comment

We have all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but come on... it is almost impossible not to make some snap judements based on a cover.  Besides, the cover is probably the most effective form of advertising and can convey in a split second a wealth of information about the tone, setting, and contents of a novel.  Take a look at the three covers below: 

I’ll bet you can tell which one you would prefer to read, simply based on the message conveyed by the cover illustration.  If you like the Amish genre, The Thorn is for you.  My One and Only implies a contemporary romance, probably a road trip, in which the emphasis is on a poignant relationship rather than a sexy thriller.  And finally, the campy tone of the third cover lets the reader know they should expect warlocks and probably a whole slew of other supernatural elements, but there will be no spooky or gothic tone typical of the genre.  Rather, the reader needs to brace herself for a fun ride. 

Getting the tone right is probably the most important thing the art department can do for launching a book.  Sometimes they miss in a big way.  Suzanne Brockmann was famously given a terrible cover for Get Lucky, the 9th book in her Tall Dark & Dangerous series.   Readers were dying to get their hands on the long-anticipated book about a smokin' hot Navy SEAL named Lucky O'Donlon, who had appeared in many of the earlier books.

As you can see from the cover, the artist seemed to have forgotten about the "smokin' hot" angle when she drew Lucky.  Instead of Get Lucky, some people said the book should be called Get the Pillsbury Doughboy.  Brockmann even had a “fix-it kit” she mailed to readers if they wished to cover up the hero’s picture with a smiley face.  Brockmann was not yet a nationally recognized author who had veto power over her cover illustration.  The only power she had was a sense of humor, and she weathered the storm of a disastrous cover with classic grace.

Personally, I was very pleased with the cover of my upcoming book.  I never understood how much work went into the design of a cover until I saw this article about the process over at the Lifeway Fiction blog.  I was thrilled when they used The Lady of Bolton Hill as the case study for how a cover is designed, so if you want to see a handful of the alternate covers for my book, click here. 

A fun website for evaluating romance covers is the Cover Café in which internet readers vote on their favorite and least favorite covers in a given year.  I love looking through all the gorgeous winning covers in the Historical, Contemporary, and Suspense categories.  Of course, it is hard not to cringe at the covers in the Worst Covers of the Year category. 

There is a rumor that the toe-curlingly awful covers of heaving bosoms and half-naked pirates so popular in the 1970s and 80s was a result of marketing ignorance of the salespeople who sold novels to the chain bookstores.  It has been said that most of these salespeople were men who believed women needed such covers to identify the romance books.  I have yet to read anything in the industry trade journals to verify that rumor, but there is no doubt that the quality of cover illustration for romance novels have improved drastically in the last decade.

Is This the First Photograph of a Human Being?

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life Leave a Comment

A rather dull, boring picture isn’t it? 

Guess again.  In the lower left corner you will see two small figures, one standing, one sitting.  This is the first known photograph of a human being, taken by Louis Daguerre in Paris, 1838.  In these earliest years of photography it took upwards of ten minutes of exposure time to set the image on the surface of the silver plate.  As such, anything that was moving in this picture…the horses, pedestrians, leaves blowing down the street…simply vanished from view.  Those two figures in the lower left remained still long enough to have their picture taken. Speculation is that the standing person was getting his shoes shined and thus lingered long enough to be captured in the photograph, but we will never know for sure.

I love these little unexpected glimpses into the past.

Where have the Great Romantic Sagas Gone?

Elizabeth Camden Ramblings about Romance 2 Comments

Does anyone remember Poldark?  How about The Forsyth Saga? If you are a fan of the BBC, you probably recognize those names.  If you were reading in the 1970’s and 80’s, you may remember authors like Celeste De Blasis, Catherine Cookson, Dorothy Dunnett, R.F. Delderfield, and John Jakes, who were churning out multi-generational family sagas that sold like wild. 

These books are a close cousin to the romance genre.  Like romance, they usually feature a strong central character plunged into a dynamic, larger-than-life setting.  Sagas often deal with the decline or ascendancy of a particular family, through which the reader experiences broad, sweeping historical events without glossing over the interesting details of daily life.  There is almost always a central love story running throughout the saga.  But while the time frame of a romance novel usually has a compressed format, rarely lasting more than a calendar year, sagas can span decades.  We get to see what happens after the hero lands the heroine.  Can they make a go of the farm?  Will they survive the impending war?  Rarely is the story tied up with a neat little bow as is typical of a romance novel.   

My favorite saga was Winston Graham’s Poldark series, first published in the 1940’s and 50’s, then made into a BBC mini-series in the 1970’s.  Set against the rugged world of 18th century tin mining in Cornwall, the main character is Ross Poldark, a soldier returning home from service in the American Revolution.   He arrives home to a fiancé who has abandoned him, an estate that has fallen into disrepair, and a tin mine that is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Over the coming decades Ross will make and lose fortunes, earn a seat in Parliament, and battle with his nemesis, the wicked Warleggan.  There is some rocky going in Poldark, but good usually wins out over evil in the end.   

By the 1970’s, the popularity of sagas was so great it inspired publisher Lyle Kenyon Engel to envision and commission a series of lucrative family sagas, beginning with The Bastard by John Jakes. Featuring a young illegitimate man who emigrates from England to America in the years prior to the American Revolution, the book was so successful it eventually inspired an eight book series called the Kent Family Chronicles.  Engel formulated the basic outline for the stories, commissioned a writer to produce the story, and maintained tight editorial control over the entire process.  He was the driving force behind the Wagons West series, The Roselynde Chronicles, and The Australians.  

The popularity of sagas waned in the 1990s, but has anyone been reading Ken Follett?  It would not surprise me if this man single-handedly breathes new life into the genre.  Pillars of the Earth was magnificent, and I enjoyed the follow-up, World Without End.  I have not yet had time to delve into his three-volume Century Trilogy, which will trace five families throughout the course of the major wars of the 20th century, but it is on my list.

Are there any sagas you care to recommend?

 

In Praise of a Gloomy Day

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life 2 Comments

Am I the only person who savors a good, cloudy day?  I find them especially delightful if the wind is blowing and dark, ominous clouds are scudding across the sky.  The gloomier the weather, the more protected and cozy I feel.  Peaceful, even. 

I think it has something to do with the ability to safely cocoon myself indoors.  Batten down the hatches, light some candles, and curl up with a good book.  All these wonderful things, with no guilt for not going outside to mow the lawn, exercise, or run errands.  When the sky is crystalline blue, I always feel a bit guilty for “wasting” the day by staying indoors.  It is as if the gloomy weather has given me permission to hole up inside and indulge in the things I love best.

 My husband does not get this.  He is a sunny day sort of guy who craves as much sun as possible.

 Is anyone else with me?  Anyone else love a good, gloomy day? 

 Photo courtesy of Trey Ratcliff

Why the Royal Wedding Matters

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life, Ramblings about Romance 1 Comment

If you have been reading the blogs or the newspapers lately, you have seen the chorus of people who roundly disavow any interest in the royal wedding.  Fair enough.  I admit the wall-to-wall coverage is probably annoying to people who have no interest.  It is true that an obscene amount of public money has been lavished on a ceremony when many people in England are groaning under the double-whammy of high taxation and skyrocketing unemployment, but I still hope something good can come out of this very public affirmation of marriage.  

I grew up in an era when little girls began planning their wedding before they were in kindergarten.  I remember playing Bride by walking around my bedroom with a white towel draped over my head.  This sort of thing was fun, and even though it is now eschewed by academics who believe little girls should be taught to aspire to something more professional, I am sorry the cynicism of our era has taught young women to be skeptical of marriage.  Given recent history of the royal family, such skepticism may be well-founded, but whoever thought it was a good idea for a 33-year old man to marry a 19-year old girl he barely knew?  William & Kate are both 29 and have been dating for years, so I am hoping they’ve got the foundation and stamina to make it across the finish line. 

We live in an era where a ‘starter marriage’ has become par for the course.  People get married jumping out of helicopters or at drunken affairs in a Las Vegas chapel.  Not too long ago, a celebrity got married with a whacky Alice-in-Wonderland theme.  She is already divorced.   

This morning, millions of girls dragged themselves out of bed in the dark hours of the morning to witness a big, bold, stick-in-your-memory-forever type of wedding.  I hope it becomes something for them to aspire to.  I am not referring to the horse-drawn carriage or the lavish gowns.  I want them to remember this celebration of a once in a lifetime event.  The wedding was a solemn occasion mingled with joy, pageantry, and music that soared to shake the rafters.  William and Kate were married within the sight of God with reverence, solemnity, and respect for tradition.  These girls witnessed the acknowledgement that a marriage can be a life-altering and life-affirming event.  And that is a good thing!

Wishing William and Kate all the best!

Photo courtesy of Defence Images

 

The Ultimate Modern Gothic: Rebecca

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life, Ramblings about Romance 1 Comment

When Rebecca Du Maurier’s Rebecca was published in 1938, the novel single-handedly resurrected the gothic novel, a genre that was on the verge of extinction.  Gothic novels reigned supreme in the 19th century, when works by Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Bronte, and Mary Shelly blended elements of a picturesque setting, mystery, romance, and sometimes a hint of the supernatural.  By the early 20th century, such storylines were being discarded in favor of mysteries and more realistic forms of drama.

The book was an immediate bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.  Although it met initially with poor reviews, the public adored this story, in which a plain girl marries a wealthy and powerful widower.  Swept away to a house of bewitching splendor, there nevertheless is a sense of foreboding that pervades the great estate.  The heroine, who remains symbolically nameless throughout the book, lives in the shadow of the beautiful, glamorous dead wife.  In the course of the book, the heroine’s self-esteem is methodically ripped to shreds until she discovers that her husband actually despised his first wife.  The shift in power is subtle, but the second Mrs. De Winter gradually finds her backbone and is capable of becoming a salvation for her husband.  

It has been noted by critics that there are striking similarities between Rebecca and Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte, 1847).  Both novels feature a presumably dead but haunting first wife, a plain heroine, a spectacularly gloomy estate in the English countryside, and a fire that destroys the estate and reduces the hero to a state of dependency.  It is easy to understand the appeal of witnessing an apparently plain, unassuming heroine ultimately triumph over the beautiful, privileged other woman. For my thoughts on the enduring appeal of Jane Eyre as a movie, see here. 

Rebecca sparked a new round of interest in the gothic genre in the 1950’s and 60’s, when massmarket paperback mysteries were failing to find a female readership.  Gerald Gross from Ace Books set about to find the “next Rebecca.”  Using the same formula of young and innocent heroine venturing into gloomily mysterious settings, a new wave of authors led by Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt gave rise to the modern gothic.  Soon we saw countless paperbacks with young girls dressed in  floaty gowns fleeing the gloomy mansions.  Those battered paperbacks were my first foray into romance literature, and I devoured them.  It was Rebecca which can probably be credited with having sparked that gothic revival, and for that, I will be forever grateful. 

Cinderella for Guys

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life 2 Comments

Do you ever watch those sweaty guy movies like Die Hard or Under Siege?  My husband devours these movies with an unholy gluttony.  Now, I am the last person on the planet to criticize anyone for their preferred genre.  After a long day at work, I confess to having a bizarre fascination for watching old re-runs of Cops, so I have no desire to pick up the first stone.

Having sat through my fair share of these guy movies, I have concluded that most of them adhere to the male version of the Cinderella theme.  The classic example is Under Siege (1992).  Steven Segal plays a cook on the battleship Missouri.  He’s a mild mannered guy, overlooked and under-appreciated by everyone except the captain of the ship, who treats this lowly cook with a great deal of respect. 

Segal keeps to himself and performs his humble kitchen chores until the ship is infiltrated by clever villains who are out to steal the ship’s nuclear weapons.  Chaos and mayhem ensue, but suddenly the humble cook is revealed to be a former Navy SEAL who was busted down to the position of cook after he struck a commanding officer who got his men killed in botched operation in Panama.  Sooooo, Cinderella sheds his rags and emerges as the hero, the only man who can save the ship despite his lowly status as a cook.

I think this movie, and the thousands that follow in a similar mold, speak to something inside the average guy.  Who doesn’t want to be a hero?  For every real life cook or mailroom clerk, there is the young kid who once dreamed of becoming a Navy SEAL.  For every manicurist or secretary, there is a woman who once dreamed of being Cinderella.  I think most women who hanker after this kind of storyline will migrate to romance novels or romantic comedies (Ever seen Pretty Woman? Maid in Manhattan?)  Women endure a lot of ribbing from their men for liking this sort of thing…..but I still say a healthy chunk of men’s action movies are simply Cinderella for Guys.

Splendid Libraries: Edith Wharton’s Private Library

Elizabeth Camden Splendid Libraries Leave a Comment

Last week’s library entry on Mark Twain’s Library got me to thinking about what other writer’s library’s look like.  I started prowling around the web to see what I could find.  As expected, it tends to be the very rich and famous writers whose libraries have been preserved.   Possibly the grandest of them all belongs to Edith Wharton, who chronicled of the Gilded Age so well because she lived the life.

 Her home in Lennox Massachusetts was known as The Mount.

And here is a picture of her library, which is as elegant and formal as you might imagine for someone of Edith Wharton’s stature.  Lovely, but not particularly comfortable?  I can imagine enjoying this room to browse the shelves, but as soon as I found something, I think I would scurry away to find a more cozy place to enjoy the book.