Judging A Book By It's Cover Contest

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by R.G. Alexander

on Mar 29th, 2010

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The Smutketeers have been blessed by the cover fairies. A fact I’m eternally grateful for. :)

From Regina in the Sun to Piercing the Veil to our Wasteland series coming up in May-even my Berkley Heat debut Possess Me.

Yum. I lurve my covers. And no one can deny that a good cover attracts the reader’s eye. I know it attracts mine. 3 men and one woman? Ooh lala. a sexy chick in leather with a gun? Sounds exciting.

Kittens…um…cute?

I love My Shifter Showmance cover, don’t get me wrong. But it doesn’t scream dirty sex in the pantry. There is no drool-worthy mancandy. On the outside anyway. I still love it, but it got me thinking.

Crystal Jordan’s Unbelievable series is full of her special brand of super awesome down and dirty nookie, but by the covers I will admit my first desire is for a hot cup of coffee-not a cold shower. Luckily, I know her-and I know she is a guaranteed steamy read.

Now I remember going to the store and hoping the cover was innocuous. I mean, I had to take it to the young, gum chewing girl at the counter and the awkward teen bagger standing beside her. E-books freed cover artists and authors alike to let all the wild inside come out to play. Thank goodness :)

My question is-do misleading or funny covers affect readers? Especially erotic romance readers? And what is your favorite book with the most misleading or innocent looking cover?

THE CONTEST: Answer my questions in this post. Go to my personal blog and take a look at early reviews and an excerpt of My Shifter Showmance-then go out and share. The book will be on sale this evening at MBAM-spread the news and tell me about it. The winner-whom I will pick on Thursday April 1st-will receive a $10 gift certificate to the new and improved MBAM, and a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.

ALL FOR SMUT AND SMUT FOR ALL!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 8:33 am. You can feed this entry. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

12 comments to “Judging A Book By It’s Cover Contest”

1	Oh i shared ( too good to keep secret) http://meandicorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/rg-alexander-has-new-release-coming-out.html by jennifer mathis March 29th, 2010 at 1:44 pm

2	I love your books. I got hooked with Adrienne. I can not wait to read more of your books. I especially love the cover of Possess Me by Desiree March 29th, 2010 at 1:48 pm

I just posted about your new book on my twitter page @jone402 at….http://twitter.com/jone402/status/11270838549

I posted about the new book on my FB page at….http://www.rgalexander.com/blog/?p=474#comments (Jody F)

And yes, covers do have a small effect on my purchases. If they’re truly hideous then I won’t buy the book. It also gives me an idea as to what the book is about and if I pick it up at first. Yours have been pretty good and ones I’d be happy to own.

by Joder March 29th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

LOL, RG! While I do love those gorgeous, smoking hot covers, I admit that they’re a bit harder to buy in person. On the other hand, I like the feel of the cover to match the feel of the story–if the cover is sweetly cute and/or fluffy, I’m expecting a cute lightweight story (possibly funny), and if the story ends up a dark heartbreaker, then I’ll feel misled! On the other hand, if the cover’s got a hunky hard-body on it, I’m expecting a hot story! I do know that authors don’t have final say on their covers, and don’t buy books only based on their covers!

by Fedora March 29th, 2010 at 2:59 pm

I really don’t mind funny covers. Sometimes they just amuse me and I enjoy the story in spite of the cover. However, misleading covers can really bother me because they’ll have me thinking I’m getting something other than the book I pick up. Of course, I usually don’t purchase a book solely based on the cover but read a few random pages or the excerpts available online before I make any purchasing decisions. The misleading cover is really only a problem for me when it comes to erotic romance. If it’s a sweet cover, I would be a bit surprised to find an erotic work contained within. I don’t really have a favorite book with a misleading cover.

I don’t really have anywhere to post about your book, but I have told a few friends about it.

by Karin March 29th, 2010 at 3:34 pm

Of course the cover affects whether or not a potential reader will look at it.

I was going to get all philosophical here but figured that you already knew about the women over at http://eroticacoverwatch.wordpress.com.

The kitten doesn’t turn me toward thinking cutesy stuff is going on. Since the cat is black, there’s that possible witch thing; or you’ve got the stereotypical cat woman stepping outside her comfort zone.

What I don’t like are covers where the cover model is obviously the same guy as the book sitting next to it on the screen. Hello? How can you be the hero in more than one book at a time? Busy much?

I honestly cannot think of a misleading book cover–mostly because I’ve moved over to the school of “the book cover may have nothing to do with what’s behind it.” But I’ve got to get me my own copy of Possess Me. Yum.

by Milinda March 29th, 2010 at 6:42 pm

I definitely think that a misleading cover can affect a purchase. I also understand that an overly sexy cover can backfire on a book….I think it’s a hard line to draw between what readers will find interesting and sexy and what can come off as …well for lack of a better term..porn…so I do think it’s a hard balance.

I did tweet about this at my page @crazymidwestgal:
http://twitter.com/crazymidwestgal/status/11346125379

by Maria D. March 30th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

I would say I cover will affect whether a book is purchased or not, I hate to say it but the cover is usually one of the first things I look at when buying a book although I’m trying to stop that.

The second thing I look at is the blurb on the back of the book, so far I’ve only bought one book where the cover sort of mislead me. The book doesn’t have to have a hunky guy on the front to interest me just as long as it’s well interesting!

by Gabrielle Jones March 31st, 2010 at 5:03 pm

YES! I think covers have a big impact on readers. People tend to be visualy driven more so then by the price or name of things.
I personaly have always gone to a seperate store to purchase erotica books (not the same one I purchase the kids books at, lol). My favorite erotic book so far with a very misleading cover is Abduction by Varian Krylov (NOT for the faint of heart)

by Dawn March 31st, 2010 at 6:07 pm

Covers have a huge impact. They are especially important for an author that is new to me. A great cover will draw me in and get me to read the blurb. I really like My Shifter Showmance’s cover, while it’s not as overtly sexy as the rest of your beautiful covers it is hot it it’s own way. Her legs, those shoes, a sleek black cat, I love it! I love it so much I pimped it on my blog. The book I’m reading right now, Little Red and the Wolf, had a “misleading” cover. I didn’t expect for it to be as hot and steamy as it is, but trust me, I’m not complaining. Congrats on the new release!