Have you ever found yourself wandering your favorite bookstore, or haunting an ebook website, hunting for that elusive book that never seems to be released soon enough? Wondering if you will have to settle for rereading your old standby again for what seems like the millionth time? When you come across a book that just snags your eye and you think, “Hum… well I have never heard of that author before but the book looks interesting.” You peruse the blurb on the back cover and decide, “Oh well, what the hell, it is better than nothing” while heading to the checkout.

Have you ever thought what made you look at that book? It wasn’t the author; you had never read any of their books before. It wasn’t the blurb, unless the back of the book snagged your attention. So what could it have been? Do you ever consider that it was the cover? You know that little piece of art on the front that you just usually give one quick glance at and then pass by. If you are like most people out there you are probably thinking, “Get real, it is only the cover. Of what importance could it be?” You know I thought that too. I didn’t believe that a cover could make that much of an impression. I knew that I like them, but did others? That is the essence of the question that intrigued me. I wanted to know, did the cover make a difference?

After talking to many people I have found that the cover did, does, and will make a difference, sometimes a huge difference. Janet said: “To me, the cover is as important as the inside, because it is the first thing I see.” M Leigh stated: “Covers definitely influence my decision. The better the cover, the more likely I am to give the book a whirl. That doesn’t mean I won’t buy a book that doesn’t have a good cover, but it will

probably be harder to get me to turn the book over to read the blurb (or in the case of ebooks, click to read the blurb and excerpt).

While Rita wrote: “If an author has a nice cover, a good blurb and an interesting topic, I’ll usually buy it. If the cover is done poorly, I think, hum… the author didn’t do anything extra to make me want the book. Or the publisher issued a cover and the poor author is suffering in sales because of it.”

That response got me pondering again. What did authors think about their covers? Did they believe that the cover on their book could make a difference? They must have some opinion about the matter. So I hunted some down in cyber space and made them confess.

“Absolutely! I don’t usually have the joy of having the cover first, but for Prator: Redemption and Arda: Captain’s Fancy, I had that pleasure! It’s outstanding. I wish I could always have the cover first!”

My last casualty was Lora Leigh. I asked her one of the most important questions when it comes to covers. I wanted her to tell me what attracted her to a cover artist?

“Their ability to put emotion or a sense of the story on the cover. I love Scott Carpenter’s work just because of that. I can almost feel his covers, even before he started doing mine; I knew what I wanted for my own. He has an ability to give the cover itself emotion I always thought.”

Ah… the heart of the matter, the elusive cover artist. I always wondered who came up with those little masterpieces, and I now had a lead. Scott Carpenter and Christine Clavel. Two artists that have designed some of the most memorable covers I could remember in the recent past. I love both of their styles. Scott’s seems to be more realistic and gritty while Christine’s are little flights of fancy. Yet both grab my attention and make me yearn to get my hands on that, soon to be mine, book.

I of course, basically wanted to know everything. You know the standard “why, what, where, when and how” questions. But I tried to keep my enthusiasm in check and get to the basics. I guess dealing with wonderful, unconventional authors had given them the patience to deal with me. God bless them both.

I started with the most fundamental question, why.

Why did they decide to design covers? Like their covers their answers matched both of their styles.

Scott, being the guy, was strait forward: “Because I like to think that with me being a
writer I understand how a cover can set the tone and mood for a book. I am a creative person and like to think I find an image to convey the author’s story.”

While Christine, being a woman, was more artistic: “I wanted to try to make commissioned images, create things from another imagination… A writer’s imagination… I thought that it could be a good experiment… and it is one indeed!”

I then got to the heart of the issue, how do they get their ideas for the covers they design?

I guess I should have known, both their answers were similar. They get the ideas from the authors of course.

Most of the authors send them information about the story, what it is about, what the characters look like, and what time frame the story is set in. And then they let their creativity flow.

Christine described that these elements would help “launch” her imagination and help her create the designs. That must explain the dreamy look to her covers that tends to take the reader to another land. Scott meanwhile, uses models in his covers. He explained that he was very picky though, the models had to match the characters described in the book and they had to help set the right mood for the design.

Yes! I loved that answer. I know one of my pet peeves as a booklover is to find myself reading a book where the heroine is described as being brunette and green eyed and having the picture of the standard blond haired, blue-eyed bombshell on the cover. That just yanks my chain. Grrr….

I concluded my questions wondering did they have any other artistic endeavors in the works.

Christine is in the process of developing a whole line of clothing… 3D clothing for Poser characters, these are the 3D character tools she uses in her designs. She will then be able to sell her clothing designs to Poser artists on specialized websites. While Scott is, of course, writing wonderful erotic stories for Ellora’s Cave Publishing and humorous tales for Creed Press Publishing.

Well I had come to the end of my mission. I had achieved my goal. I had found out that the cover art of a book does made a difference, not just a small difference, but a huge difference to readers, authors, and designers alike. And you know, I found out that it makes a difference to me too. It made me really appreciate the talent and time that a designer puts into creating the perfect cover that will relate the true spirit of the author’s story in just one quick glace. And it also made me realize that I have to find my coasters. I can’t in good conscience set my drinks on them anymore now that I know all the time and effort that goes into creating them. Ah well, that will teach me to start on another mission again.

I would like to thank Scott Carpenter, Christine Clavel, Lora Leigh, Cheyenne McCray and Annie Windsor for all their help during the writing of this article. To see more of Scott Carpenter’s work visit his website at www.slcarpenter.net. Visit Christine Clavel’s website at http://christine.clavel.free.fr/ to view her beautiful art. All the information on Lora Leigh’s books can be found at her website www.loraleigh.com, this site is a must. Cheyenne McCray’s website at www.cheyennemccray.com is definitely worth a visit. While Annie Windsor’s site at www.anniewindsor.com is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon surfing. And of course, please remember to support all your local cover artists and writers. They need it with all us fanatical, wonderful readers out there. LOL!!!

© Raven Jackman - September 14, 2003 Issue of the Just Erotic Romance Review Newsletter

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