About those clinch covers…

I have always wondered about how romance novel covers are created, so I thought I’d ask George Long, a designer at Berkley, and the person responsible for the gorgeous covers on my books, The Heir And The Spare and  The Rogue And The Rival. But first, an exclusive interview…

Tell us about the process of designing a cover: Where do you start? Where do your ideas come from? How many people are involved in the process?

First, there is a cover conference where the book is presented, the storyline and cover content is discussed. There are people from Copy, Promotion, Editorial, and Art departments at this meeting. The Editor is responsible for supplying the description of the subjects on the cover—eye color, hair color and length, clothing and scenery, season, day or night, inside or outside. Once we have all this info, we will decide which artist, or photographer, will do the best job to hopefully make all parties involved happy with the final product.

It would be impossible for you to read every book that you create a cover for. Do you read a chapter or two? Personally, I rarely read the story unless they conferenced it and we still had no clear direction of what to put on the cover. In these rare instances, I have read the manuscript and come up with possible ideas, which I would run by the editor.

Part of the purpose of a cover is to sell the book: are there images that sell better than others? Sex sells. Anything hot and sexy usually does well as long as it’s tastefully done and not over-the-top. Anything too revealing won’t be picked up by some of the more conservative buyers so there is a limit of what you can show on the cover without offending some people.

I heard a rumor that blonde heroes don’t sell well. True or False? Well, you’ve heard of tall, dark, and handsome, there evidently may be some truth to that. I’ve had covers with attractive blondes that have done very well, but rumor has it that the tall, dark, handsome guys might do a bit better. I haven’t seen any documents to prove this so you’ll have to form your own opinion.

How are those clinch images created? When two attractive models are placed in a situation of such close and intimate proximity, you hope there is some chemistry so the shot is believable. Most models are professionals and are accustomed to doing clinch shots. Occasionally there are problems where the two models just don’t hit it off for any number of reasons and it usually shows in the photos. Sometimes the shoot is so hot, that the two models leave together and everyone needs to get fresh air. The artist will used the photos from the shoot to manipulate digitally or as reference to paint.

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get into design? What is the general reaction when people learn that you design romance covers? I was always painting and drawing as a child and by the time I was five I could basically draw anything. By the time I was in High School I was selling paintings of people’s boats at the local marina I lived near. I attended the School of Visual Arts and was a Fine Arts major until I had a painting I worked on for six months stolen. I was so devastated I switched my major to Graphic Design, and ended up graduating with one of five ten-plus grading on my portfolio. I was hired out of school by my portfolio teachers Terry Koppel and Paula Scher. I worked on projects for Capitol and Blue Note records and Magazines like European Travel and Life before starting in Publishing. I design many other genres of covers in addition to romance covers, and I am perfectly comfortable with the fact that I design romance covers.

Anything else to share? Last time we spoke you seemed interested in being on one of your covers. Write it in your next book and I’ll set it up.