I recently got my box of author copies of HERS TO DESIRE and did what I always do -- open it, grab a copy, smile, then check out the back to see what's there (picture with bio? Check. Website URL? Check. Ads -- who and what?) and then I go back to the front, gazing on it fondly and look at the inside art, if there is any.
The cover itself is lovely -- I really like the color and font. I love the heroine's dress. To be honest, I was a little taken aback by the hero's striped vest, but not enough to cringe.
The special bonus was the inside picture. Very nice! Especially since Bea and Ranulf are larger. I only wish it wasn't covered up by that gigantic bar code, but we can't have everything. I've already uploaded it to my site.
I wouldn't be surprised if this picture winds up on the cover of foreign editions, either of my book or somebody else's -- the same way I get Helen Kirkman's gorgeous sexy male torsos on some of my foreign editions.
Here's Helen's cover. And here's mine for the Italian edition of THE VIKING, which was originally published in North America in 1993. I notice that I get more of the hero's face. He's got a wonderful chin! And you just gotta love that staff and the cuffs and the hand... In short, I love this cover.
Not that I don't find "my own" covers being "reused." Here's my cover for THE ROGUE'S RETURN (Harlequin Historical, 1997) and Paula Marshall's PRINCE OF SECRETS (Harlequin Historical, 2006). I'll confess the first time I saw this done, I was all "Heeey! That's MY cover!" But it's not like I own the art work. Or as if my book is still in print.
Here's the wackiest, most unexpected place I've ever found a version of my cover art: on an episode of the Highlander TV series, the one about the romance writer. There was my cover supposedly on her book, albeit with longer hair on the hero to make him look more like Duncan. And the story, as told in flashbacks, was certainly nothing like mine, which was a medieval, and the Highlander "romance" was most definitely not. If you're a fan of the show, does this look familiar?
2 comments:
I had no idea covers were so obviously reused... I guess it makes sense economically for the publishers and if it's normally in different markets, I guess it doesn't hurt the authors... Huh... Learn something new every day!
I don't think it hurts sales since my books are out of print, but it does give one a strange sort of feeling -- kinda like showing up at a party and finding out somebody's in exactly the same outfit...
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