I’ve mentioned it before here at Book Cover 101 but it bears repeating…cover trends change. That means whatever we learned five years ago, or even two years ago, is probably already out the window.
It’s enough to drive authors and designers insane.
New Trends in Romance Covers
Since it’s a brand-new year, and since there’s been a significant shift in some genre trends, I thought I’d focus the next few blog posts on specific genres and what’s expected on their covers. First up…Romance.
Romance is a genre near and dear to my heart because it’s what I’m writing at the moment (see The Bellamy Sisters). I spend a lot of time researching what works and what doesn’t in romance both for clients and for myself, so when I see a shift in trend I tend to sniff it out and follow it.
The trend I’ve noticed in Romance over the past couple of years is the switch from photography to illustrated, graphic art, like this:
It used to be that contemporary romance, especially among indie authors, featured a hot man, usually with his shirt off, though sometimes he’d be wearing a nice suit if it was a millionaire romance.
If it wasn’t a hot guy by himself, then it was a hot couple in various stages of undress, staring into each other’s eyes or otherwise engaged in something smexy.
Graphic artwork on a romance cover used to indicate Chick Lit, a sub-genre of romance that is lighthearted, funny, definitely not angsty, and often not steamy. Artwork like that promised a rom-com read, one that didn’t dive too deep. Beach reads, I like to call them.
But now graphic illustrations are dominating not just Chick Lit, but romance as a whole. Check out the top ten romance novels of 2021 according to Goodreads (voted on by readers):
Notice the pastel colors, the use of shades of orange or peach, all the graphic art vs photos, and the way they’re using typography. All of these are listed as contemporary romance, not rom-com, and the people are…well, cartoons.
Alternative to Stock Photos
One reason I think this is happening is the sheer lack of good stock photography. If you follow such things on Twitter you’ve probably seen the debate going on about this. Existing stock photography is incredibly weak when it comes to diverse model representation, which makes coming up with a cover that is true to the characters a tough nut to crack.
More than that, though, is the lack of good stock photography period, especially with so many authors needing covers. You’ve probably noticed the repetition of models and backgrounds. I’ve seen the couple on my own cover used on at least fifty other covers.
One way around that is to hire a photographer to do a custom photoshoot, but that option is out of reach for most indie authors, and even some publishers.
It’s far cheaper and easier to find someone who can do simple illustrations, and no two are exactly alike if you’re having them custom drawn. You can also find a lot more of them at stock art sites.
I understand why this trend is happening, but it sure muddies the waters. The heat level is being lost in this transition. Not every cover you see with a “cartoon” is going to be funny. That seems confusing to readers, to me, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact is, it’s a prevailing trend, for better or worse, and it’s as common with trad pub titles as it is with Indies.
There are certain sub-niches that haven’t fully switched yet, like Billionaire Romance. I can’t imagine it will fully take over Erotica either, but I could be wrong. After all, Fifty Shades didn’t follow the going trend, and see how well that turned out.
What does this mean for you?
If you write romance, and you’re not happy with your sales recently, it means you should seriously evaluate if your current cover fits the current genre expectations. I’m doing that with my own covers right now, and I’m leaning toward shifting them to something with more graphics, even though my book has only been out a year.
If you write romance, it might be worth taking a second look at your covers to see if they fit the going trend because if they don’t, you could be losing out on sales.
Nobody wants that!
What Romance covers have you seen that really appeal to you? How do you feel about illustrated covers? Please share your thoughts with us down in the comments!
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About Melinda
Melinda VanLone writes urban fantasy, freelances as a graphic designer, and dabbles in photography. She currently lives in Florida with her husband and furbabies.
When she's not playing with her imaginary friends, you can find Melinda playing World of Warcraft, wandering aimlessly through the streets taking photos, or hovered over coffee in Starbucks.
Feeling stuck in your book? Bogged down in the middle? Wandering around aimlessly without an ending? Chances are good you have a plot problem. When clients come to me with books for content editing and tell me they’re stuck on Chapter Three or Chapter Thirty, 99% of the time it’s the plot that’s the problem.
Quick Chat About Plot
The plot is the framework for your book, like the framework for a house. If you build it with cheap, flimsy materials, the house will fall down. If you forget to put a few pieces in place, the walls will crumble. If you build it with solid, strong beams and posts, atop a smooth, concrete foundation, the house will stand the test of time. Plots work exactly the same way.
Taking that house analogy one step further—if you’re buying a fixer-upper, one of the first things you look at is the structure of the home. Sometimes, you can tell it’s in trouble because you see cracks in the foundation or sagging floors. Other times, it’s not until you buy it and start working on it that you realize there is something wrong.
We once had a house with a kitchen floor that bowed in the center. My ex-husband was not exactly Bob Vila, so it took a while to figure out what the problem was. We eventually realized that the joists were weakening, and so my ex crawled into the crawl space and installed some floor jacks. We had to fiddle with them a few times until we got the floor level. He had to, essentially, reverse engineer the problem.
That’s what you’re going to do with your plot—reverse engineer your problem. Here are ten things to look for:
1. Do You Have a COMPELLING and BOOK-LENGTH goal for your protagonist(s) and antagonist?
Too often, I see books that don’t have good external goals for the characters. The goals need to be
a.) big enough to carry an entire book and
b.) important enough for the reader to give a crap.
If the reader doesn’t care, she won’t keep reading. Analyze books that keep you hooked and movies that you stay with until the very end.
What was the external goal of the main characters?
Why did it matter to the character?
Why did it matter to you, the reader or viewer?
It has to be something more than just buying a car—it has to be a goal that takes an entire book for the character to accomplish, and—this is key—important enough that the character will go through hell, and grow and change, to achieve that goal.
2. Does EVERY Scene Have a Goal, and a Sequel?
Does your main character in each scene have something he/she wants to accomplish during the course of the scene? A scene that feeds into the overall book-length goal (because it has to!)?
Every single scene has to have an external and internal GMC (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict). Every single scene. If you have a scene that just seems to be sitting there, with no real purpose, then nine times out of ten, the lack of a goal is the problem. Or, it doesn’t feed into the main plot and it’s just extra (like an outtake!). Each of the scene goals should feed into the main book goal, and should raise the stakes and the tension. The minute you lose your tension, you’re at the end of your book, because the characters have achieved their goals.
Ask yourself at the beginning of every scene: What is my point of view character’s goal for this scene? Does it feed into the book-length goal?
3. Do Things Keep Getting Worse?
Things need to keep getting worse, both externally and emotionally, for the characters. They need to have tension in their scenes and in their lives. Conflict and tension are two different but related things. Tension isn’t roadblocks (those are conflict); tension is that pit-of-your-stomach worry that things will go horribly awry for the characters the reader has grown to love.
Every action, every interaction, should have an impact, one that creates tension in their guts—and in the reader’s as she’s turning the pages. If they achieve what they want, the book is essentially over. Scene and sequel are all about two possible outcomes—the character either gets or doesn’t get what he wants and regardless, things get worse (and there is a price to pay). Donald Maass’s The Fire in Fiction is a great book for more tips on creating tension.
4. Are the Characters ACTING or Watching?
Passive plots drive me crazy. This is when characters sit around and watch things happen, or moan and groan because things keep happening to them. Think about your “victim” friends. Do you get annoyed with them because they never act on the misfortunes in their lives? Then think about how a reader will feel about a fictional character who does the same thing. Ask yourself: How can my character act upon his/her goal in this scene?
5. Is EVERY Action and Reaction Properly Motivated?
You can make pretty much anything in a book believable if characters are properly motivated. They need to have believable, strong motivations that have the reader rooting for them to achieve their goals. That goes for overarching book goals and scene goals, as well as the internal plot.
There have to be compelling reasons for your characters to act and change. Make the stakes matter. Motivation should be deep and driven by the character’s pasts. If you don’t know your character well or what traumas shaped him into who he is, then you will struggle with motivation. Past traumas drive our motivations and actions.
6. Internal is Just as Important.
Lots of writers are great at external plot, but completely forget the internal plot. Your characters need an internal goal, motivation and conflict—both a book-length one and scene ones that feed into the book-length GMC.
These internal plots always stem from your characters’ past wounds and issues. These are their deepest fears, their most horrible emotional wounds, and the things that they are most afraid of facing (but eventually will because the stakes are high enough). Let your characters have emotional goals, and emotional ramifications.
A note: if you’re writing romance, remember the romance is never the goal. It is a conflict for the external and internal plots.
7. Does Their Past Impact EVERY Scene?
As I said a second ago, your characters didn’t grow up in a vacuum. They have had moments that shaped their lives and their characters. The hero whose father was hard on him will have residual scars from that. The heroine who was abandoned will have trouble trusting people. These past events should impact how they see the world.
If you’re having trouble seeing how that works, take a character who has been scarred—say, Michael Ohr from The Blind Side. How did his past make him see the family who helped him? See a bedroom? See a shirt? See a meal? Everything he saw, every experience he had was filtered through his past. Too often, writers forget this important part of character development. This will impact their GMC and their reactions to other characters and events.
8. Where’s the Conflict?
Undoubtedly, one of the things that reduces tension and drags down your pacing (and thus, kills your plot), is a lack of conflict. Characters who solve their internal and external obstacles too early end the book too soon. Be sure there is some “but” still getting in the character’s way, forcing them to continue on their emotional (and physical, if you have one) journey before you get to the final concluding scene.
Conflicts are the roadblocks that get in their way—and there should always be one until they reach the end of the book.
9. Do You Have the Right Balance of Narrative and Dialogue?
Do you have too much of one or the other? Too little in one area? Do you have long passages between spurts of conversation, which make for unnatural pauses? It really helps to read aloud at this point to make sure the dialogue holds together naturally. If necessary, act it out to really see the places where your narrative is too long.
Dialogue is a plot tool. It’s used to further the plot and show character, rather than just sitting there, filling up space. It should be unique to that character, and when the character speaks, it should be for a reason.
10. Did You Dump Backstory and Create a Landfill?
Lots of writers feel like they have to explain the character’s past early on so readers will “understand” their characters. Think back to the last date you had where the person you just met droned on for an hour about their past. Did you stop listening at minute three? Yeah, me too. Your reader will do the same.
Backstory should be sprinkled in just enough to intrigue the reader to want to know more. In addition, it should only be brought up if it is intrinsic to that moment. Michael Ohr doesn’t think about the fact that he’s never had a bedroom of his own—until he is given a bedroom of his own. The moment triggers the backstory.
EVERY single word in your book should move the plot forward. Every. Single. Word. If you add in descriptions or scenes that aren’t moving the plot forward, then you are wasting your reader’s precious time. Don’t do that. It’s not cool.Reverse engineer your plot and make it more powerful!
Which of the ten plot points is the most challenging for you? Do you have any questions or tips you want to share?Please join us down in the comments to welcome Shirley to WITS!
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About Shirley
Shirley Jump, author of Writing Compelling Fiction, is an award-winning, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and USA Today bestselling author who has published more than 80 books in 24 countries. Her most recent books hit #1 in two categories on Amazon, and her Christmas novella hit the USA Today list in November. Her books have received multiple awards and kudos from authors such as Jayne Ann Krentz, who called her books “real romance,” Virginia Kantra, who said, “Shirley Jump packs lots of sweet and plenty of heat in this heartwarming first book of her promising new series,” and Jill Shalvis, who called The Sweetheart Bargain “a fun, heartwarming small town romance that you'll fall in love with."
As the owner of JumpStart Creative Solutions, Shirley also does book building, content editing, ghostwriting, and author coaching. She has spoken all over the world about the power of narrative and how to create compelling books. A former reporter, she has a background in all aspects of writing, from hard news to publicity to fiction. Visit her website at www.ShirleyJump.com or see her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn @ShirleyJump.
Writers need a lot of persistence. “Work-life” balance? As a writer I’ve never managed it. Oh, I try. It just never seems to happen. There’s always something else to do: chores, work, cook, write, edit, chores, edit…maybe some sleep. Without persistence (and a hefty dose of caffeine), I’d fall behind on everything in life!
Writers also need a lot of endurance—specifically, emotional endurance.Dr. Spencer from Triathlete Magazine defines emotional endurance as “how clear someone’s mind is and how much space they have for physiologic stressors.” In other words, mental and emotional stressors can impact how much you can physically do.
Hitting the Wall
In endurance sports, when your emotional tank is empty, whatever internal drive you have left to cross the finish line can suddenly run dry. What happens next? Athletes slow to a stop. In triathlon, we call this “hitting the wall.”
Even a professional athlete with an empty emotional tank can find the day ending early, as we saw with Simone Biles' unexpected early departure from the Tokyo Olympics. Clearly, she was physically ready to compete. Emotionally, her tank was running on empty.
Many endurance athletes take their tank to near empty before their races, a culmination of hours away from family, squeezing in ridiculous amounts of training around work and life, life events themselves, and fighting periodic setbacks from injury.
Stepping up to that starting line, whatever emotional reserve is left can make or break the day. I saw this firsthand at a recent Ironman triathlon. After the 2.4-mile swim, eager athletes headed out on the 112-mile bike course. But hours of exhaustive headwinds left many athletes on the side of the road crying, leaning over their bikes in defeat, unable to finish the race.
Hitting the Writing Wall
Personally, I think this quote sums up endurance training best:
“You’re training to get to that point of depletion and breaking,then finding a way to operate in that space for as long as you possibly can until you either pass out or get across the finish line.”
(Dr. Spencer, Triathlete Magazine)
Notice I didn’t say it sums up endurance sport training the best. This quote also sums up the endurance lifestyle of working parents, full-time entrepreneurs, and yes…writers.
We often fit writing around already full lives, pushing to finish that screenplay or manuscript, despite the multitude of commitments that can’t wait. This can leave us emotionally fatigued, just when we need to push through those final edits, hit submit on that query, or handle critiques on our precious work.
We can hit the proverbial wall, with writer’s block, ambivalence toward our story, self-doubt, depression.
(Re)Filling Your Emotional Fuel Tank
The best time to deal with your emotional endurance is before you get close to hitting that wall. But if you’re reading this today and had an “ah ha!” moment that your own tank is already running dangerously low, it’s not too late to dig in and start refilling the tank.
With a few assessments and targeted behavioral changes, you can be on your way to not only a bigger emotional reserve, but a more fulfilling lifestyle. Keep in mind, change takes practice, so allow yourself some time to improve and don’t expect perfection.
7 Steps to (Re)fueling
1. Be Honest
The best way to gauge your emotional endurance reserve is to check your current fuel tank level. Only you know how many competing obligations you have or how little sleep you’re getting. And don’t forget the emotional impact of losses, whether a loved one, a job, or another query rejection.
To do: Determine your emotional reserve tank level. This is not an exact science, but will get you started.
Full tank: You wake rested, raring to go, excited to dig into projects, and laughing off the little unexpected setbacks.
Half-full tank: You wake a bit tired, but fair well during the day. You have begun to notice a little fraying at the emotional edges, when handling stressful situations.
Needle on or near empty: You oversleep your alarm, feel overwhelmed by your lists and deadlines, snap or tear up easily.
Where does your fuel gauge sit?
2. Depressurize
Take a load off your emotions by making choices to de-stress your lifestyle. Actively take control of your obligations, instead of just making your way through the never-ending list.
Prioritize- Quit feeling like you absolutely must do everything. Learn to make lists of obligations and find a system to identify those that absolutely must be done today, tomorrow, etc. Be prepared to move some items to the “sometime later” or the “trash” bin. Be honest here.
To do:
Need help prioritizing? There are many resources on effective time management. To get you started, check out thisquick read from Psychology Today or this course on the famous Dale Carnegie Method.
Assembly line-Look for repetitive tasks that can be grouped or pre-done for time efficiency.
For example, if you cook a dinner every day, buy that time back by making Sunday evening your cook-ahead day.
Make several dinners ahead and reheat them in the evenings.
Let Tupperware be your friend! Meal prepping doesn’t have to be time consuming or hard.
I turn on the music and start cooking.
I find slow cookers, pressure cookers, and 3-4 ingredient meals to be the most time friendly.
You just can’t do it all. Keep from overfilling your commitments so the ones you do are still enjoyable.
To do: Either learn to say no to some tasks or learn to ask for help. Reaching out to let someone else help can be a huge stress reducer. For help, trythis quick read.
4. Learn Coping Skills
Yes, this can take a little time, but the rewards you reap will help refill that tank. Think you don’t have time for this one? Go back to Depressurize or Just Say No (above) to carve out time in your life for you.
To do:
Find something that helps you defuse or relax. You may need to try a couple of different things until you find what works.
For example, commit to taking one yoga class a week or learn meditation for 10 minutes a day.
It's also important to gain the tools to cope when under duress. To do this, consider listening to a podcast or read a book about stress reduction and coping skills.
5. Develop Support Networks
Getting to know other writers can help you refill that tank. When you’re struggling, dealing with life challenges, or just needing some direction on next steps, writing groups can be there for you.
Years ago at a Writer’s Digest Conference, I got connected with several writers from across the US. We still meet weekly online. We each bring different experiences to share about getting through this thing we call writing. And some days, we just chat about life—having teens, places we’ve visited, instruments we play.
We learn we aren’t alone in a writing silo of stress, and we have people to reach out to when life gets tough.
To do: Find a social networking group (online or in person).
Groups like Facebook and Meet Up can be great for finding local groups that have similar interests.
Contact your local library—many have writer’s groups lead by the librarian.
6. Change Your Inner Dialogue
Self-talk is a powerful tool—it can build you up or weigh you down. The Power of Positive thought can’t be understated: if you think good thoughts, you're more likely to have positive feelings and handle difficult moments with a bit more grace.
Walking around with negative thoughts can have the opposite effect. Negative self-talk is also a habit that grows unless it's tamed. It can be the lens through which you begin to see the world.
To do: Spend a day listening to your inner thoughts (or what you say out loud to other drivers!).
Do you use negative, derogatory, or angry words (that was stupid, I’ll never get this manuscript done, my writing really stinks)?
Or do you use more positive words (you know, those edits were hard, but I got them done)?
No, you don’t have to pretend to be fake-happy. But learning to restructure negative thoughts into positive views can keep the stresses from further weighing you down. For more information, see here.
Final To Do: Re-Check the Tank
Like a follow-up visit to the doctor, take the time to periodically reassess your emotional endurance tank.
Decide if you want to give yourself two weeks or a month before checking back.
Set a reminder.
When the day comes, look at your tank. Has the needle on the tank moved? More importantly, has it moved in the right direction?
Assess what you’ve improved and what still needs work.
Decide what has helped and what hasn't.
Use that information to revise your approach, then dive back in for another few weeks.
Final Thought
If you haven’t made a lot of progress, don’t get frustrated. Behavioral change takes time. So, be patient while you work on your emotional reserve. After all, it probably didn’t get empty overnight! And be prepared to periodically need a refill, even after you’ve filled the tank, because life happens.
Have you worked on your emotional endurance? What coping mechanisms have you found that help? We’d love for you to share your ideas in the comments.
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About Miffie
Miffie Seideman has been a pharmacist for over 30 years, with a passion for helping others. Her research articles have appeared in several professional pharmacy journals. When not training for a race, her writing projects include a (soon to be announced) writer’s handbook and a fantasy adventure that started as “What if Romeo and Juliet didn’t live happily ever after?” An avid triathlete, she spends countless hours training in the arid deserts of Arizona, devising new plots. Miffie can be found hanging around her website https://miffieseideman.com/ examining the intersection of triathlon and writing and on Twitter @MiffieSeideman…you know…tweeting.
