It appears that today's publishers have decided to go after the huge female audience for romance by turning speculative fiction covers into mimics of romance covers. As Alex Cavanaugh stated in the comments yesterday, they also seem to want to place supernatural stories in the fantasy section rather than in the horror section where they belong (though I would imagine that the brilliant Anne Rice is quite happy not to have these books shelved next to hers).
I call these new covers Romantasy, which I define to mean a cover that at first glance looks like a romance but turns out to be a speculative fiction book. The very first shelf I saw in the fantasy section the other day had nothing but these books on it. Here are the first six I saw on the shelf:
For those of you who love such work, more power to you. I am not trying to offend you. I just cannot for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to see such covers when you could have great covers instead. Check out the Frazetta covers for the Conan novels, or Alan Lee's work on McKiernan's Iron Tower trilogy. How about the art for Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books? Awesome. Only one cover stood out to me on the shelves when I looked today. It isn't the best I have seen, but it is head over heels better than those above:
The book is Ghosts of Ascalon. See, it is still paranormal in style, but it is actually interesting and immediately conveys the fantasy setting. I would buy this book and hope that the story inside reflects the care that the publishers took on the cover art. The others? I will never get the chance to see if they have a decent story inside, because I would never buy such a book.
One last thought that strikes me as interesting (completely scientific, of course, based upon my own long life of reading speculative fiction). I have found that the quality of covers alone actually does tend to predict the quality of the work inside. I have never yet encountered a great cover that did not end up having a great story inside, and conversely I have never been surprised by how good a book is when it has a terrible cover. Not once, ever. There is a gray area, though, in those books that have mediocre covers -- these ones I have found can range from great to awful. For instance, I thought the George R.R. Martin covers for ASOIAF were very mediocre, but the story is fantastic.
Posts
I enjoy all these covers actually- I can appreciate both sides of this. I agree they probably are attempting to reach out to the female audience, I think its because females tend to read more, but I could be wrong on that- but from my side it would make sense that way and its actually an interesting smart move marketing wise. Do I agree with it- not always, but can I see how it comes to this point- yeah.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time for a new genre clasification - what do you say, Ted?
ReplyDeleteYes, Alex. These should be put into their own section!
ReplyDeleteRomantasy, I like that. I believe Mr. Cross the reason the fantasy books all have covers like that is because romance is still the biggest selling genre in the world, and sex sells, whether it's true in the inside of the book or not.
ReplyDeletePublishers want to sell in the uncertain market and they know they need to get women to buy, so if they put a cover with a hot guy in a steamy embrace, well, ka-ching.
The covers with the hot babes are trying to convince the 17-29 year old male audience that the babe in the book is the girl of their dreams.
It's not fair, but that's how publishing works these days. And I agree with you and Alex, there should be a new genre classification.
I hear you, Anne, but I think they are misjudging the male audience. I suppose the male audience doesn't matter much to publishers these days. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteman alive those are terrible. speculative fiction? i would have guessed smut. i think a couple of those backgrounds would have been better served if they kept the models out! and seriously the good one is heads and shoulders over the smut-looking ones. i'm a woman and i wouldn't want to be seen with any of those covers in my hands.
ReplyDeleteyou make a good point about the opinions of the male audience in publishing. why aren't they seeking out the male readership? and there seems to be way fewer male aspiring writers than female... i wonder what's going on there?
I couldn't agree with you more, Ted.
ReplyDeleteRomance may indeed be the biggest selling genre, but in my humble opinion steamy semi-clothed men/woman on the cover of a fantasy just doesn't do it for me either.
Some say 'You can't judge a book by it's cover'. Rubbish ...
I too agree with Alex. There should be a new genre classification.
Wendy and Victoria, it is a relief to see that I am not alone in this opinion! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI live in fear of getting one of those steamy couples shots as a cover one day.
ReplyDeleteTiger, I hope I would have the willpower to refuse and make them do a good cover, but I can't say until I am actually in that position.
ReplyDeleteHey, I think I will read that red hot fury book based on the fact that I think the person on the cover is attractive.
ReplyDeleteNo, that got me into serious trouble with Kushiel's Dart. What was I thinking with that book. I got 100 pages in and realized it wasn't going to stop being not for me and took it back to the library.
Heh! No apologies necessary, Ted! Those first two definitely look like romances—kind of hilarious ones, but then all romance covers make me laugh—and I can't imagine why they'd be shelved in fantasy! But as I said, photo covers can be done poorly (which you've noticed) and they can also be done well. Patricia Briggs' covers all start with photographed models; so do Jim Butcher's and Harry Connolly's. Check out The Black Prism cover, which came out last week or so and definitely doesn't look romantic; Patrick Rothfuss' next book, The Wise Man's Fear, is going to be a photo cover too. The good stuff is there (or should be) if you look for it. :) But I can sure see how the icky stuff can jump out at you!
ReplyDeleteBut it really looks like a trend to me, as this is just a representative sample. I saw an entire shelf of just these types, and there were more scattered throughout the section. I think Romance is invading speculative fiction, and for now they are winning the war!
ReplyDeleteJust looks like more Urban Fantasy to me (except that first one, that one really does look like a romance).
ReplyDeleteTed, welcome to the new Urban Fantasy. This trend has been in place for several years now. These books do have their strong points; they feature strong heroines, contemporary settings, and lots of action. Personally, I feel that the push toward sex (I won't call these books romance, since to me, their "romance" is just lust) drives out the sense of wonder that I want from reading SF. The plots/heroines tend to feel a bit cookie-cutter after a while, though.
ReplyDeleteBudd, I did read Red Hot Fury, but didn't care for it. I liked the idea (unlike vamps or werewolves, this story focuses on Harpies), but the world-building feels rushed and not explained very well. I think the author was trying to pack too many types of supernaturals into her first book. (The secondary characters include a slew of other races.) I also found it a bit predictable in spots.
A brilliant observation, and I completely agree with you. I'd definitely give Ghosts of Ascalon a go based on the cover. I feel that the Romantasy genre has become so saturated and naturally sells so well these days that there's no real need for good quality cover art or any kind of marketing, and you're right that it usually reflects the sub par quality of the novel inside. Let's just hope that the trend begins to die down soon or else it'll become the speculative fiction Mills and Boon...
ReplyDeleteAh Ted, I have to confess when I saw your blog update pop-up on my dashboard with these pics - I immediately had to click onto it. LOL. Not sure if thats a good thing or not but these images do catch the eye which I guess is the point of the cover art-marketing. I can't attest to the quality of writing within though. If i'm honest, they remind of me Fabio meets Barbarella 60's style covers. Truth is, there is a market for these books.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Ghosts of Ascalon' looks completely on a whole other level, agreed. Perhaps, we can judge a book by its cover art after all.
I noticed that most of the writers of those titles are women. I don't know if that's a factor. I do know that I hate all covers of Richelle Mead's books, although I love - love - love her Vampire Academy series. I just don't understand why she won't go for better covers. I'm guilty of buying books based on their covers.
ReplyDeleteRomantasy is a good name. I would use it, without being pejorative.
ReplyDeleteThe invasion of romance readers into fantasy has been going on for ten to twenty years now, and it's not likely to end soon. Romance fans are such voracious readers that they act like a gravitational force, pulling the whole genre into orbit. You should be glad the covers look like that, because, for the most part, they accurately reflect what's inside. A romance-focused, character driven story, usually with less complex or original world building and a smaller cast of characters than traditional sf or fantasy.
What do you think makes a cover appeal to male or female readers? I have my own theories, which I started to write here, until I realized it was yammering on rather long for a comment. :) Think I'll have to blog about it.
But tell me what appeals to you in the book covers that you do like?
ReplyDeleteI suspect the publishers know what they're doing. The books with the idealized hetero embraces on the cover probably have enough romantic/erotic content to tip to the Romance side of the scale. The ones with the idealized babe on the cover by herself probably belong to that new genre of the tough-but-sexy heroine, which tends to be known as urban fantasy--a strange euphemism. It should be called kick-ass babe fantasy. Either way, it's stuff slanted to a very specific audience, and many fantasy fans won't care for it, myself included. So the covers serve not only to attract those who like that sort of thing but to repel those who don't. Imagine, Ted, how disappointed you'd be if you picked up a book with a more traditional fantasy cover and found out it was all about werewolves and fairies getting it on. These covers probably do their job very well.
ReplyDeleteRomantasy is a good name.
Vivian, I agree that they are going after something they believe will sell well. I wouldn't mind so much if they were just adding these books to the mix, however I see them adding these at the expense of more of the real fantasies that many of us want.
ReplyDelete