Did I click-bait you properly? Good. I have something to say.
I read an article recently about Elena Ferrante’s book covers in the Atlantic called “The Subtle Genius of Elena Ferrante’s Bad Book Covers” which, to be frank, pissed me off. The thesis of this piece—summarized at the beginning of the article as “Readers complain about the imagery that adorns the author’s highbrow novels. But there’s value in embracing the oft-scorned ‘women’s fiction’ genre.”—is that some marketing genius at her publisher had co-opted women’s fiction covers (or really, worse, chick lit covers, gasp!) and slapped them on literature and presto-bango, we have international bestsellers! Bravo marketing genius!
What the author of this piece missed, I think, is that those very same covers are not some sure-fire way of getting a book onto the bestsellers list, but rather, far too often, the way books written by women get shoved into the “women’s fiction ghetto” where no self-respecting man dares to go. These types of covers tell all far and wide that what is inside the pages is not serious, not literature, something to be digested by a pool and left behind like the dregs in your plastic margarita glass. Which is completely unfair to (a) books written by women, and (b) women’s fiction—which can be as varied and wonderful as anything written by a man. (This should be obvious, but, unfortunately, bears repeating.)
You’ve seen these covers. They have women on them—sometimes headless, sometimes seen from behind, usually with their feet hanging off a dock, or stamping the sand, or hanging in a pool. In one particularly egregious example (apologies to the author, because she wrote a great book, but this same cover got proposed for the French version of Arranged and I turned it down) the woman’s head has actually been erased and replaced by a bouquet. In my view, all these covers tell you about the book is that they are about women. Enough said, apparently.
Compare those covers to Jeffrey Eugenides’ last book, The Marriage Plot, which was a NYT notable book of 2011 and on a number of other best book of the year lists (Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Salon, The Telegraph) and nominated for several prestigious awards. This is the book description:
Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels.
As Madeleine tries to understand why “it became laughable to read writers like Cheever and Updike, who wrote about the suburbia Madeleine and most of her friends had grown up in, in favor of reading the Marquis de Sade, who wrote about deflowering virgins in eighteenth-century France,” real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead—charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy—suddenly turns up in a semiotics seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged erotic and intellectual relationship with him. At the same time, her old “friend” Mitchell Grammaticus—who’s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange—resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate.
Reading between the Cheever and Updike, The Marriage Plot is a book about a young woman who is caught between two men! One who is good for her and one who is bad for her. And she wants the bad man first but realizes in the end (spoiler alert!) that she is better off with the good man (and okay there is one further plot twist that I will not spoil). In short, this is the plot of an Austen novel written to poke fun at Austen and her ilk. With all due respect to Eugenides—whose first two books I loved—if I had written this book, its cover would have looked like this. How do I know? Because it’s my book, Arranged (about a woman who uses an arranged marriage service), which is a send up of the idea that there is a “right” man for everyone, i.e. the central thesis of Austen and all the lesser mortals who have come after her, me included.
Which leads me to the cover for my latest release, Fractured. It’s a domestic suspense novel (i.e. a thriller written by a woman). This genre actually seems to be an exception to the rule for books written by women. Putting aside that many, many, of these books have the word “girl” in the title (when they are actually about women without a girl in sight), their covers are dark and stormy and sans headless women (think Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train). When it came time to design the cover for Fractured, I was super excited to learn that my publisher had hired a male cover designer who had designed covers for, among others, Stephen King. I couldn’t wait to see what he came up with.
And then I got the first set of covers. You can imagine. (You can’t? Something like this.) We went through a couple of (to be honest) increasingly depressing rounds, until I finally asked my editor if she could ask the designer to design the cover he would design if the book was written by a man. And, low and behold, it turned out he had turned in other designs, amazing designs, without a woman in sight. The cover we ended up with—which you can see here—perfectly captures the mood and themes and feel of the book, and is also a cover that is gender neutral. If my name were Connor rather than Catherine, I am certain it would have ended up with the same cover. We picked it and then had to go to bat for it with marketing—putting together a list of comparable titles that didn’t have a woman on the cover. We swayed them and I am happy.
But I cannot help but wonder: would I have even had to fight at all if my name was Cameron?
So, what should you do if you aren’t satisfied with the cover they are slapping on your book?
- Get involved. You may not have a veto over your cover but publishers will usually listen to you.
- Put together a case. If you have comps to show marketing, show them. It can make a difference.
- Know when not to pick a fight. You write the inside and experts make the outside. Your publisher has lots of experience putting books into the world successfully. Just because your book doesn’t look like you thought it might, doesn’t mean the cover isn’t the right one for your book.
And if one of the images I wrote about above accurately describes your book, that’s okay! My point, if it wasn’t clear, is against assuming that these types of covers work for all books by women.
What do you think?
Write on.
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About Catherine McKenzie
A graduate of McGill University in History and Law, Catherine McKenzie practices law in Montreal, where she was born and raised. An avid skier and runner, Catherine’s novels, SPIN, ARRANGED, FORGOTTEN, HIDDEN, and FRACTURED, were all international bestsellers and have been translated into multiple languages. HIDDEN was a #1 Amazon bestseller, and a Digital World Bestseller for five weeks. Her fifth novel, SMOKE, was an Amazon bestseller, picked as a Best Book of October 2015 by Goodreads and one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 by Amazon. Her latest release, THE GOOD LIAR, released on April 3rd.
This pisses me off, and I’m not even traditionally published. You have to be livid! The blatant sexism is ridiculous. Thanks for sharing your story. Congratulations on your victory, and best of luck with your new release.
Thank you!
So much yes. Thank you for writing this. And congrats on your book and your great cover!
Thank you!
Catherine-
I’m not sure I can make you feel better today, but may I add some perspective from one who has been through many, many cover disputes?
80% of books are bought by women. Playing to that enormous demographic…well gosh, can you blame them? Put the other way, why deliberately alienate 80% of the potential readership?
Feeling better? Probably not. Okay, here’s another thought: One function of the cover is not to make your novel utterly different but to make consumers comfortable. Remember the Adirondack chair trend? Or the girls with the amputated heads? Right. Such images said, it’s okay to try this novel. Don’t worry. It won’t bite.
Similar look-alike boxes…sorry, packages…sorry, covers, are wrapped around all kinds of fiction. Fake Regency dresses pulled up to the thigh by fake dukes? Battleships in space? Unshaved male faces with monkish cowls pulled low over eyes? Uh-huh. You know what you’re getting.
So what about accurately representing the novel that someone is going to read? No one wants to send a truly misleading signal. A Big Mac is not a quinoa salad. Not every novel written by a woman ought to have a cover with a winsome under-25 woman dreamily looking out a window, staring down a lane, or defying gravity.
Fractured is a case in point. A bit of menace mixed with a signal of domestic setting? Perfect…well, but hold on…that could signal cozy mystery. We need an anti-cozy effect. Tense but literary. Exciting to read but not dumbed down. So…
Hmm. Let’s see…
Thinking…
First of all, a more photographic than painterly effect. Good. Now a concept element, like the Escher wedding ring on Jeffrey Eugenedes’s cover…but what?
How about the title sinking into a suburban lawn? Ah! There we go. But a cover needs an focal image. An Adirondack chair! Kidding. No, wait…an Adirondack chair tipped over! No, wait…a plastic lawn chair tipped over!
Ah! There we go. Got it. The final cover for Fractured is excellent, all the right signals. And woo-hoo, it doesn’t look like a male thriller! No White House! No CIA seal! It looks…uh…hold on…
…like a novel that women might enjoy. Shoot. Back to the drawing board?
My point it, covers are an art form. They have to do multiple jobs: accurately represent the novel, say “quality”, please sales people and chain buyers, and both excite and reassure consumers.
Oh yeah, and make the author happy. No problem, right? Pity the poor art director. Not that authors should roll over and accept every winsome twenty-something looking out a rain dappled window, but do understand the many considerations that go into the design.
In your case you fought, and so you should have. The final look is fabulous. I want to read it. I’m comfortable.
Don
I found a NY Times article from 1997 that states:
“While little publicized and hard to document, it is a widely held belief in the book business that more women buy books than men — perhaps as much as 70 or 80 percent of fiction. And when it comes to novels and stories, what publishers believe women want are either works by female authors or — if the author is a man — then a story with a strong female central character.”
Could you speak to how long this has been true?
OMG, I hate it when anyone professes to know what “women” want. I dislike cozy covers because I like to read edgy. A woman on the cover does not draw me in in the least.
I know, right? I can only think that the images of women put out by Hollywood, magazines and, yes, book jackets are the way they are because they ring cash registers.
They must. Otherwise why bother?
BTW, reading supposed male-centric fiction can be as eye-rolling for men. I suspect most men don’t recognize themselves in pages of romance novels, either. (“Christian Grey is me!” Uh-huh. Never heard that.)
Sorry if I sound like an apologist for publishing, I’m certainly not. I’m all for taking risks, both on covers and inside them.
Hope, I ditto that. I understand about playing to the bulk of the market, but as a woman, if I see a woman on the cover I just bypass and keep searching for something else.
Randy-
I don’t know if it has always been true, as in going back to the Eighteenth Century, say. But it’s certainly been true over the course of my career.
However, consider that until 2000 or so mass-market paperbacks were dominant and 50% of those (it was said) were romance fiction.
Also consider that big best sellers (The Girl on the Train, say) can only become that big if they sell across many demographic lines. Thus, it may be true that women buy more books overall but that doesn’t men that men don’t ever. Au contraire.
In publishing, as in so many arenas, the truth is never simple, plain or black-and-white.
Thanks Don
Thanks for your comments, Don. I guess I simply reject the idea that woman only find covers with women on them appealing. I find all kinds of covers appealing and read widely across genres. There must be a way to appeal to women without alienating men. Glad you like the final cover!
Oh, certainly. Covers can appeal in all kinds of ways to all kinds of people. I too read widely, even novels with winsome twentysomethings or fake dukes pulling up fake Regency dresses to thigh height.
So, yeah, it’s not only women who find women on covers appealing. And women certainly go for covers lacking those safe and supposed female-audience tropes.
Sometimes you have to tell publishers to do better, as you did. They’re risk adverse. However, I have noticed this: When a “risky” cover approach works well…huh, go figure…it’s no longer risky. Suddenly everyone is doing it.
Which may mean we’re going to see more tipped over plastic lawn chairs on covers. If we do, at least you’ll have been first.
As a traditionally published mystery author (a woman who doesn’t write a cozy mystery, imagine that) with a press that publishes a lot of women’s fiction, romance and cozies, I fully understand. When it came time for my covers, I had to state I wanted a man’s cover, not a woman’s cover. I was afraid to say “not feminine” or “no pastels” because I was afraid the little say-so I had would not be construed properly. So I said a “man’s cover.” Thank goodness I have the covers I do. Six books later, the covers focus on setting and scenes in the books. You have to almost over-compensate in your effort to remain genderless.
This is spot-on! I had the exact same feelings about the woman-with-the-bouquet cover when I spotted it in the bookstore … which is too bad, because, if it’s the book I think it is, it turned out to be one of my very favorites. (And, for what it’s worth, the cover for Fractured has attracted me since I first saw it and made me want to read it before I even knew what it was about!)
This is spot-on! I had the exact same feelings about the woman-with-the-bouquet cover when I spotted it in the bookstore … which is too bad, because, if it’s the book I think it is, it turned out to be one of my very favorites. (And, for what it’s worth, the cover for Fractured has attracted me since I first saw it and made me want to read it before I even knew what it was about!)
I sooo agree with you. My publisher asked me what I wanted on the cover. Why bother? It was totally different than my request. Another girl showing the back of her head. The story is set in winter, so I asked they at least put a coat on her. But I was berated, and basically told to shut up and be grateful for what I got. Now that being said, it is a beautiful cover, but certainly not what I envisioned. My answer to this ? Self publishing.
I LOVE this post. I so agree with you.
This is my biggest issue with my traditionally-published book, my debut novel about a woman turning 50. The cover I got was all sweetness and light – pastel colors, with my name in pink (pink!) and a picture of a cupcake with a gazillion candles. Cute? Yes. Perfect for a YA novel. There’s not a cupcake to be found anywhere in the book.
I worked to get it changed to something more sophisticated; something that would reflect the seriousness of the story, and the only concession I got was my name changed to blue.
I believe the cover limited the audience of my book. There could be many reasons it didn’t sell well; lack of promotion, unknown author, bad writing (I hope not!), etc. It’s tough for a debut author unless you get very lucky. But I know that that cover didn’t help.
I am ever so grateful to be published by a company like St. Martin’s Press, but I think they did my book a disservice by putting that cover on it.
Anna Quindlen had a book come out the same time I did and her cover was a sparkler, for Pete’s sake! Elizabeth Berg had a book come out the same time also, and she got a teacup! But they’re well-known so I’m sure those covers didn’t affect their sales.
Still…let the cover reflect the interior. People DO judge a book by its cover.
I was fortunate. I do write cozy mysteries and my independent publisher asked what I’d like to see for the cover of my first book – and I got what I asked for! :-)
I now have three books all with beautiful covers designed by Marla Thompson and they all reflect the stories within. You’re welcome to have a look at them at my website https://www.pearlrmeaker.com/books.html. If you are self-publishing and looking for a cover artist, you might want to check out Marla’s website.
I don’t know if my covers have hurt my sales, since they aren’t the typical cozy mystery covers, but I do know that many people have said they love them.
Your covers are fabulous, Pearl!
Thank you so much, Samantha. :-)
I was dreading it when I got the email with the first book’s cover attached, I’d read a lot of cover horror stories, but when I opened the attachment it took my breath away. Marla is fantastic!
Now those are quite tasteful covers. Without being “women-y”. Nicely done! Draws me right in.
Awesome covers. LOVE them.
Those are gorgeous covers! Pick me up books :)
Being self-published, I read with interest, curiosity, and a bit of a sense of dread: did I do it wrong?
Because you’re looking at the back of a woman who looks like one of my main characters.
But she’s looking at a sunset – which fits the bittersweet end of the first book in the mainstream trilogy. She is the right age – with a visual representation that emphasizes many things I don’t say outright in the book. The setting is the deck of her mountain retreat in NH, not a beach or lake. She is barefoot – but fully clothed – it is summer.
Phew. I still love it. It is still exactly what I wanted.
In these days, one of the author options is to create our own covers. So the novel and the cover are a combined statement of the writer’s intentions – of a piece.
Not everyone has or wants to acquire the graphics chops to do their own cover; fair enough, and the SP author can still tell a designer what is desired.
But the option of the cover being part of the author’s work is breathtaking.
I hate to be contrary but as both a marketing person and an author I don’t agree these covers are wrong.
The numbers in the post above are right – over 70% of all books are bought by women and there are over 2000 books published a day!
We have to use the cover to telegraph immediately what the book is as well as what it isn’t.
After years of fighting for gender neutral covers in suspense, I asked for and got female oriented covers and sales skyrocketed. People who looked at the book new what they wanted and saw it.
And then there is the name factor – once an author is a brand name everything can change and covers become almost irrelevant – a Dan Brown or Danielle Steele or Jodi Picolt or Lee Child cover just needs their names – the images are background.
M.J.
Would you know how long this has been the case (over 70% of fiction is bought by Women)?
No but at least since 2000.
Thanks
M.J., see my comment above in answer to James. It was definitely true *before* 2000! Probably is still true today, of course.
It is true that women most often choose books by the cover. I’ve many girlfriends who love the covers so much, they will even frame them and decorate a library wall in their home. Go figure.
Women rule the roost when it comes to creating that book cover!
Some authors don’t want to be involved in the book cover. Some are well aware of their graphic inabilities, as the case may be, and are quite content to leave it entirely to the designer. HOWEVER. Some authors are quite talented in the area of design, and should be able to work WITH the artist. Something you would have to hash out in your contract negotiations. Unfortunately, most newbies are so thrilled just to be picked up by a publisher, the book cover is an afterthought.
And as far as becoming a brand name, that’s a pipe dream for most of us, or rather the majority of us these days. (The industry needs an overhaul, but that’s another topic of conversation.)
Yes, you may have to wait years to fight for your gender neutral covers. Or you can self publish, hire a kick-butt professional graphic designer, and work together to create the book cover of your dreams. Just be sure the work inside is as good as the cover. Self publishing isn’t cheap when you hire a professional editor. But the rewards are certainly appealing.
I have nothing to back me up but this: I’ve met with well over 150 book groups–brilliant readers (Yes. Women.) representing every culture, profession, etc. I love asking them about covers. To a group, they prefer NOT to buy covers with the traditional headless woman, etc.
I’ve had to fight repeatedly not to have my covers represent sugar and spice, even when writing about domestic homicide, traumatic brain injury, infidelity, etc. Men have written to me, surprised, how much they liked this ‘women’s books.’
Men buy books written by men. Women buy books written by men and women.
The covers are part of this.
It is only with my new book–my fourth–that I was able to finally get a non-pastel cover. And readers are reacting to it with great gobs of enthusiasm.
Good job, Catherine.
I’ve done focus groups with well over 20,000 women at this point and our stats don’t back up yours Randy:) I know how much we as author don’t want those covers – but in the 2 seconds a reader has to chose to pick up a cover we need it to be fast. Sometimes its best to go with safe -sometimes its not -each book has to be judged on its own.
What a fantastic post, Catherine! When I initially saw my cover concept I was sad. I’d told my publisher, “no women” and “no photographic images”. And what did I get? Exactly that. I wanted something more literary, more obscure. The publisher didn’t bend. Now that the book is on shelves, the first thing people tell me is that they love the cover. It’s been chosen in contests as a finalist for best cover and I think it got placement in airports simply because the cover was appealing to the right person at the right time…because there’s no way it’s a best seller (yet…ha ha).
My take? First…I don’t really know what sells. My second? My reading leans literary and my writing to women’s fiction. I own it. And I guess I don’t get to pick my covers.
Now the difference between an obvious women’s fiction novel written by a man and one written by a woman chaps me to no end…because those covers…those are more appealing to me.
This was one of only two points I addressed with my publisher when it came to cover design, and they heard me loud and clear! In fact, they came back with what I thought was a brilliant tables-turned cover – a quarter-section of a *man’s* face! So happy with the result.
We do tend to judge a book by its cover, don’t we? I sure do. I like Catherine’s cover and the ones Marla designed for Pearl, but then I prefer mysteries to other types of fiction, including thrillers and suspense, so I tend to look for covers with no human figures on them.
I love my covers but it’s often crossed my mind that my rather unconventional covers might scare off women readers. However, I’ve always been somewhat of a nonconformist and I value the uniqueness of them. I gave my cover designer free rein and liked what he came up with. (You can see them all at once on my Amazon author page at
https://www.amazon.com/R.E.-Donald/e/B0064XAL92/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 – you’ll see why a woman reader might not give them a second glance.)
Once past the covers, I like to think my stories aren’t slanted either way i.e. they appeal equally to mystery fans of both sexes and anything in between (except readers who can’t stand any profanity whatsoever).
So I guess my situation in regard to covers is opposite to that of most women writers. It’s a very interesting discussion. Thanks for posting about it.
Ruth
Yes, the cover matters. Catherine, congratulations on a beautiful cover that reflects the mood of your book. I don’t like the decapitated women on cover, but I also get it — if the model doesn’t reflect the character, there is a dissonance. But there’s nothing wrong with women’s fiction appealing to women. LOL. I like reading in all kinds of genres and the cover helps to judge what the book might be.
Amen! Say it again. I’m glad they listened to you.
I have a different take on this conversation–I do see some other naysayers above doing a great job of speaking about metrics and marketing.
I would also add that the titles whose covers you don’t like were each authored by smart women and most likely packaged by smart editors who worked as a team with smart agents. All are successful pros who had agency to influence cover development, just as you did, and made decisions in the interests of their own publications–and their careers.
Cover trends come and go, but as for the reduction of fiction written by women authors, I don’t think we can lay it at the feet of a two- or ten-year-old marketing trend. I find the arguments about the lack of reviews in major outlets and the disparate awarding of literary prizes to be more compelling signifiers of inequality.
My covers haven’t had women on them yet, but they are decidedly feminine. And I love them. They attract the readers I write for. Women.
Your point is well taken because assumptions suck.
I’m not going to assume that the authors were unhappy, or didn’t ask for covers like the ones they were given. In which case I’m sorry they were singled out as examples and I hope they weren’t upset.
I’m a voracious reader, but I will admit I’m often a little gun shy about readying a book with a cover that is obviously geared towards a female audience. It’s really interesting to hear a writer express her frustration with being pigeon-holed into a ‘girly’ cover.
I’ve wrestled for years with the term “women’s fiction,” and wonder whether it’s more useful within the publishing industry than with readers. For instance, whenever I tell a man my books are women’s fiction, I cringe and wonder whether I should’ve said book club fiction or relationship novels or something less girly.
Last year I spoke at a library event with two other women’s fiction authors–Holly Robinson and Maddie Dawson. We brought up this dilemma about the name of our genre. And we showed our covers. The backs of women–Maddie and Holly’s books, and domestic pics in the vein of a Country Living magazines, mine. I can’t say we exactly came to a conclusion. But I LOVE my covers, and I’ve always felt they accurately represent what’s inside. Would another sort of cover get men to pick up the books? Would they then check out the back cover blurb and put them down? Or would they feel like a more neutral, less girly, cover would make it okay to enjoy a relationship novel written by a woman?
Some of my favourite authors are women, but I do hesitate to buy a book with a cover that labels itself as not ‘for me,’ if that makes sense. I suspect I don’t know exactly what a relationship book is, but if I was told it is a story about a family in conflict, there’s nothing in that description that makes me lose interest.
Good to know, Geoff!
This is a real sore spot with my but my problem is the opposite. I was so excited to sell my novel that I didn’t go to bat for what I wanted. The novel was set during the black plague and a scene from the painting ‘Triumph of Death’ by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, was chosen as my cover. I realize it was a pretty grim time but I would have preferred a cover with a bit of hope. If you’ve ever seen the painting you’ll know what I mean. Despite my misgivings I was too unsure of myself to suggest anything different.
When the novel was nominated for a young readers choice award by the Ontario Library Association an OLA representative told me she was having trouble convincing girls to read the book because of the gruesome cover. To this day I could kick myself for not discussing that cover with my publisher.
I love my covers, all five of them. Two came from small publishers–they queried me and worked with me to create covers I love for the women’s fiction I write. The last two are full of suspense, and the covers speak to that.
Women, men, I don’t care. I want them to be beautiful. http://www.normandiefischer.com
I wonder where it’s written that men won’t read books written by women. I read them all the time.
What exactly is up with all those missing female faces, Catherine? Is it really that, as Mr. Maass seems to suggest, they give potential readers a “safer” feeling? (And if so, what the hell does that suggest.)
This discussion has been fascinating and timely for me – thank you. I had several cover styles for my first series, several editions by different publishers , but nothing really clicked. Now, I’m with a major publisher for my new series and don’t care for the draft of the cover they sent. But I understand they have a marketing plan, ambitious sales goals and perhaps a better sense of my audience than I do at this stage. I’ve asked for some adjustments but, honestly, I don’t know as much about selling books as they do so I decided not to make a big fuss. If it doesn’t draw purchasers and good display places, I’ll push back with the second book.
Way too much generalizing here about what “women” respond to, despite the statistics. Or maybe I am just a traitor to my sex, having been wired long ago to passively accept the defamation of “women’s fiction.” Still, I have tended to immediately dismiss books with covers like the ones pictured above since my twenties. And I find the use of “girl” rather than “woman” both graphically and in the title an immediate turnoff. Having said that, you have opened my eyes to the grave sin I have been practicing for decades on “judging a book by its cover.” Thanks for the illumination. BTW, this discussion nicely ties in with an op ed piece in the NY Times today about the terror induced by the prospect of a “distaff Clinton presidency.” Good old gender bias. Of course there is a distaff marketing strategy. I get it. And it’s good if it gets some women to read higher quality literature. But it’s depressing. Kudos Catherine for your insistence on a more suitable cover. Great post.
I agree with the above comment – I strongly object to the word “Girl” in the title of a book when it really means “Woman” (as in “Gone Girl” and “Girl on a Train”) and I would think twice or three times before reading such a book, never mind buying it.
Also – if you walk down the street on an ordinary day (in England) only about 10% of women and girls wear skirts – but there are very, very few trouser-wearing women on book covers – please could publishers try to keep up! OK, historical novels are excused, but for modern novels this is ridiculous.
This is a fantastic, fascinating, and rightfully infuriating post. I feel for you, but I’m so glad you fought and got a really wonderful cover in the end. I think the lack of control writers have over covers is one of the scariest aspects of traditional publishing. After all, as you illustrate, a limiting cover literally limits the audience of a book. How heartbreaking to go through so much work to write something great and then have someone else cut your market in half.
Far too many book covers for novels written by woman, often about women as main characters, have either a woman’s silhouette in the background with a man in the foreground, or a headless woman, or just a few body parts of a girl or woman— and the covers do not even remotely match the content. Worse, the romance novels have bare-chested men with wolves or bears in the background (yeah, I don’t get it either). The worse I have seen is one release of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES which showed a young blond woman smirking erotically.
If a woman writes a murder mystery, we get a cover that shows a basket of flowers with a bloody knife in the foreground. If a man writes the exact same book, I suspect the cover would have exploding bombs, a swastika, bald eagles, blood spatter on the cover and spine, and a sweaty unshaved scar-covered man with his shirt torn open.