The Cover Quandary

We all want authenticity in our writing, right? Author Sandy Curtis thinks so. At fourteen, she wrote a story about a pickpocket stealing a wallet from an off-duty cop then wrote to Police Headquarters and asked them about fingerprints. Perfectly okay. Not so perfectly okay was her mother receiving a call wanting confirmation the query was genuine and then almost having a heart attack thinking her daughter was in trouble with the law! So began Sandy's writing world where crime and passion collide. Welcome, Sandy!

It's true.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

But readers do, and that's why authors cringe when their publisher sends them a cover that they instinctively know won't work. Or why indie authors spend days searching on-line for the perfect cover shot they can use or at least work into something that attracts readers and hints at what their story is about.

It's a lesson I learned the hard way. Many years and lots of naivety ago, I was lucky enough to be offered a three-book contract with a major publisher. At that time, no Australian author was published in romantic suspense in Australia, but US romsus titles were being sold here.

My publisher showed me some covers their graphic designer had come up with for my first book, Dance with the Devil, and said that there were only two that she liked and had chosen one of those. It wasn't the kind of cover I had envisaged, but I went along with it as (in those days) I always assumed the publisher knew best. That was my first mistake. My second was in suggesting that in order to show it was an Australian book and to have a motif that would go on each cover to represent the series, a small Cooktown orchid could be placed in the top right-hand corner.

Things seemed to be going well, especially when my publisher said how impressed the sales rep for a bookstore chain was with my story and had ordered a very large number. Wow! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face (See how naive I was?)

Months after launch, I received a call from my publisher. Returns were big. Unfortunately, booksellers didn't know where to place my book on their shelves. I should have realised this when I had discovered it in the horror section of our local Target store.

My publisher told me that I would now not be classified as a romantic suspense author but as a suspense author, the orchid was going, and book two would have a different style of cover. She was true to her word and the cover for Black Ice was a standout. Problematically, Big W didn't buy it as the first book's sales figures hadn't met their future purchasing criteria.

Luckily, sales in bookstores for book two surpassed book one, and book three sales increased again. Then my publisher told me it was difficult to 'grow' an author in mass market paperback so book four, Until Death, was coming out in the trade paperback. At last, I thought, a chance to recover from the calamity of book one's cover.

Alas, it was not to be. My heart sank when I opened the email showing the cover. It was beautiful. Truly beautiful. Unfortunately, totally wrong for the story. It depicted a young woman wearing only bra-top and panties, sitting on the floor, head on drawn-up knees, looking like someone contemplating a major life decision or resting between dance practices. With a title like Until Death, it could even be assumed she had just been given a serious medical diagnosis. The shout line, which would have given a clue to the story's true nature, was so tiny a reader would have had to pick the book up to be able to read it.

I argued against this cover. My publisher held firm. It went to print. Sales slid down.

The following year my publisher said, "I think we have it right this time." And they did. Dangerous Deception was a Book of the Month in A&R and sales flew up.

My sixth book, Fatal Flaw, fell victim to the global financial crisis when my publisher did not renew my contract. They said they were sorry, they loved working with me, and sent me flowers. I felt like crying. They had become like family.

Several years later, when another publisher picked up this book, I was impressed by the cover, but we still don't agree on the cover of book seven, Grievous Harm. This publisher also contracted my previous five novels as e-books, but making new covers for these went smoothly.

It's a tough challenge for both author and publisher to create and agree upon a cover that captures the essence of a story that has taken the author many months of love, sweat and inspiration. I know many authors who have bemoaned covers chosen by their publisher, but all we can do is hope that readers will turn a book cover, read the blurb, take a glimpse inside - and find a story they want to read.

If you love stories where crime and passion collide, you can find my books at:

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3ASandy+Curtis&s=relevancerank&text=Sandy+Curtis&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1

https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/search?query=Sandy+Curtis

https://books.apple.com/us/author/sandy-curtis/id684339786

Love to love: family, friends, animals.

Love to laugh: at funny cat videos, humorous books, and my grandchildren laughing.

Love to learn: about everything in this wonderful, fascinating world of ours.