Last week on the AAR boards a little scuffle took place over the picture on the back cover of one of Nora Roberts’ latest books. One poster expressed her opinion that the picture was meant to meld Ms. Roberts with her character. Ms. Roberts corrected her. To be completely honest, I can’t imagine any author trying to be confused with her character–we get that plenty as it is. People seem to have a really hard time believing things are purely fiction.
Anyway, this got me to thinking about covers and pictures and the authors connected to them. Here’s what I realized. I do at times get them all mixed up in my brain. What I mean by that is, if an author has an edgy book with a sexy cover–I expect the author to look that way too. And, if instead the picture of the author shows a round little grandmother surrounded by crocheted bunnies, I am set back. I don’t quit reading the books, but it stops me for a minute.
For example, I love the new covers that show just a woman’s leg or lower body garbed in leather and high heels. And darn it, I expect the author to look like that too. Or how about Gena Showalter’s cover that showed a woman’s stomach with a tattoo peeking out between her shirt and pants? Well, in my subconscious mind, Gena Showalter is sporting one too (along with that lovely flat tummy). Now I have to admit, the male-dominated covers throw me a bit. Maybe the author’s husband? And, of course, there are the cartoon covers, but even those build an expectation for me–not of pen and ink people, but a fun, happy author who gravitates to cheery colors, and nice shoes.
Now, I’m an author, and I should know better than all this. My own cover is pretty darn cheerful, and my shoe wardrobe is pretty darn limited, but I just can’t seem to shake this perception from my brain. Am I the only one?
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lol… I don’t think you’re the only one. I’ve heard lost of comments along similiar lines.
I don’t really pay much attention to author photos, but that’s just me.
And i only WISH I looked like some of the heroines I’ve had on my books.
Especially my June book~if only if only…:roll:
I have yet to get my cover art for my upcoming novel with Samhain, but I know what I would like to see. Furthering that thought, I have to chime in with Shi — if only I could look like my heroine!
I like the body shot cover’s too, they are more suggestive, leave more to the imagination rather than ‘force feeding’ an image to the reader. I like to let my mind wander…
Umm… Sorry, Lori. I’ve never once associated the characters on the cover with the author. On the other hand, I would love to have the figure of the heroine on my second book. Not pencil slim by any means — definitely some ‘junk in the trunk’, but shapely and sexy.
No, I don’t imagine authors as their heroines. Personality? If they have heavy online personalities, it’s very likely that some personality traits will show up in their books. I mean there is an author who always say, to an effect, “Hugs and bugs!!” and so do all her heroines.
I don’t imagine them as female models on their covers. Otherwise, I’d imagine them as Poser-styled people who pose in stiff, unnatural positions or a bunch of women with heavily botoxed faces, huge rubber lips, massive breasts, long arms, short legs, and an ability to have their mile-long unnaturally coloured hair to hang in the air the way they want.
OK, that’s me back to a world of boxes of tissues, cough mixture bottles, and a few dark thoughts about the existence of a cold.
Having sat in on photography sessions and later been charged with “processing” the images to appear in the company’s annual report, I can safely say that not every wonderful picture starts out as “sexy” as the final finished image.
That said, my hat is off to the image makers responsible for the back cover of J.D. Robb’s latest book. The photo of the woman on the back cover certainly looks dynamic and, well, hot.
While I would never personally mistake a styled photo on the back cover for the protagonist, I can certainly see how a full bleed photo on the back cover of a book without noticible attribution (”Nora Roberts writes as J.D.Robb and lives and writes in upstate [wherever]“) could easily mislead those not familiar with the author’s face. That’s a trick of the marketing team at the publisher, a marketing hook no more tricky than a cut-a-way cover would be(such as a fake torn cover). The concept of making the author appear as dynamic as the lead character is a great hook, and I applaud them for doing it, and doing it so well.
The fading out of the J.D.Robb name and the boldness of the Nora Roberts name on the front cover is also a great marketing ploy. I’m sure the amount of fade of the name J.D.Robb on the cover is probably a talked about variable, discussed and decided upon before Ms. Roberts ever sees the finished cover.
The irony that one pseudonym has taken over for the other pseudonym is probably best discussed elsewhere.
Don’t think I expect the author to look like the heroine/hero. I am inclined to wonder though, if that round little grandmother has a Past.
I would LOVE the stomach Gena’s character has for sure.
I will say, a lot of people expect that I have DONE the things in my books.
I usually just smile and keep my mouth shut!!!
I never really thought about that before – when my cover came out for my knew book w/ Samhain, my 9-year-old said, “she looks just like you, mom.” {snort} I wish – but isn’t he sweet.
But I tend to remember the covers, though and not the titles of books so I do assosciate that w/ the author bunt necessarily as the author – make sense?
bunt necessarily
but not necessarily
oops sorry….
Hi Lori,
I have tended to assume that the back cover autor photograph is meant to project a marketable persona, not reveal character. For instance, the merits of a supposedly hard-boiled thriller might be called into question if the author photograph shows a bespectacled, little old lady with her grey her in a bun and dandling her grandchildren on her knee. While it is very possible that warm scene is part of her true, everyday life, the image is not one easily reconciled with the blood, gore, and violence of the book she is trying to sell.
For that reason I would expect it is in an author’s best interest to be photographed in a style that is consistent with the tone or type of her/his book. Also, why should the fact that an author may be interested in exploring a particular type of character, for instance, automatically mean that she herself is like that character? Would a reader only read novels that contain characters who are like mini-portraits of her/himself? Not this reader.
Websites, too, tend to reflect the type of books the author is selling, in order to capture the interest of the target audience. The same look would not, I think, work with equal success for a writer of medieval romances and a writer of contemporary thrillers. Why should it be any different with cover photographs? They are, ultimately, a marketing tool, too.
I surprised at the other comments. I totally do the same thing! Even though I know better. I would LOVE to look like the either of the heroines on my first two books
I think the author has really done their job if we love the story enough to associate them with their characters. That means their characters are alive and living within our memories 
I read that Gena Showalter book. I really enjoyed it, but interestly enough the heroine is supposed to be a little on the plus side, but I suppose the flat stomach is more attractive. The tattoo is what caught my attention.
LOL I don’t think I really associate the author with the covers, but then again, many times I’ve met the authors before seeing their books, so maybe that’s why. I’d certainly love to sport a sexy leggy with fishnets, stilettos and a gun, though.
Camy
I do check the author photo, and, if there is a resemblance, I can’t stop myself from wondering if the heroine is a Mary Sue. Or, if like some actors, their similarity of characters portrayed across movies is less the result of typecasting than the inability of the actor to suppress an essential truth about who they are in the world.
There is one very famous author whose historicals I *love* even though her heroines have certain core similarities.
SamH, I hadn’t read the book. Hmmm, maybe it is Gena Showalter’s tummy! (I hope Gene Showalter doesn’t mind me starting this rumor.):grin:
Molly, I am an author photo junkie–I don’t know why, but it is one of the first things I do–flip to the back to get a gander.
Lori, I managed to buy and read completely Memory in Death and never saw the author picture on the back cover until the AAR post. Goes to show how much I care. *g*
Personally, I just thought it was a good author photo and fitting of an author who was writing gritty futuristic police thrillers (with a lot of good romance thrown in).
It took a LOT of photos to find one I didn’t look CUTE in! I settled on mischievous. It’s as close as I can come to sexy and mysterious…