When I started reading romances, I started with contemporaries. When I started writing, I also started with contemporaries. So while the books I’ve published have been historicals–my first love–the urge and the need to write a contemporary has always been there.

Suffice enough to say, last year I started writing a single title contemporary romance (I had tried writing strictly category romances before).  This book has all the emotional angst, sexual tension and heat as my historical romances except now my characters now have cell phones and iPads. Yippee!! But then I started thinking about covers and this is where I got completely stuck. What kind of cover do I want for this book? I’ve been so focused on historicals for so long, I’m not sure what kind of cover will convey my story.

So what do I do when I want readers’ opinions. I took to Twitter. And I did receive several cover suggestions. Now I need your help. Given what I told you about the book I’m writing, what type of cover do you think would best suit? Below are some of the types of covers suggested. Oh, and I’m also going to give away each of the books to random commenters.

So sexy it hurts
The Clinch - Flirtatious
The Clinch - Seductive
Picturesque and Scenic

[poll id=”42″]

contemporary
By Fun Stuff, Giveaways71 Comments on Contemporaries and their covers

71 Replies to “Contemporaries and their covers”

  1. While I’m a big fan of the man titty, to me that says more erotica than romance. I like my romance covers to have both a man and woman on them. With the picturesque covers, that to me says more of a sweet romance, light on the heat levels. Hope this helps!

  2. I like a cover of a man and woman in a tangle position and they are staring to each other or just touching each other. It’ll look that there’s raw emotion and unsatisfied hunger

  3. I don’t like the too suggestive covers–no naked body parts. Embrassing to read in public.

  4. Going by your book description, a couple on the cover is the best way to go. I love it when the man’s arm is held protectively around the woman with him standing behind her. It coveys masculinity and is just plain sexy! I also think partial faces is good, I like to imagine my own image of the h& H. Good luck! 🙂

  5. I think you should go with either “So sexy it hurts” or “The Clinch – Seductive” for the cover. “So sexy it hurts” — to me — says sexy and intense. “The Clinch – Seductive” says the same and hints at conflict. “The Clinch – Flirtatious” makes me think it will be humorous and contain less or little emotional angst. And the “Picturesque and Scenic” cover for some reason makes me think there will be more emotional angst than anything else. These are all first impressions, of course, but I hope it helps. 🙂

  6. While the Dane cover is gorgeous it makes me think “erotic” versus contemporary romance. The Gibson cover is more “chick lit” to me…fun and perhaps fluffy. The Blake one…well, the cover doesn’t convey how steamy her writing can be! I love the James cover…I usually like her covers. I also love the covers from Susan Donovan’s latest trilogy (starts with AIN’T TOO PROUD TO BEG), the colors and textures are gorgeous.

  7. I’m not getting “sexy” or “emotional” out of the Gibson or the Blake covers. To me the Gibson cover is only slighly less annoying that some of those cartoon covers and the Blake cover says chick lit rather than “sexy”. I LOVE the cover of Insatiable (def getting sexy contemp vibe from that) but idk if it says “emotional” to me. I think A Lot Like Love brings all of those together- though the misplaced hand never fails to make me smile!

  9. I personally like the Lauren Dane cover or Julie Jame’s cover. A hot sexy man flexing his muscle or a hot couple on the verge of kissing close to one another is always a winner in my book! Make sure the colors grab readers as well. I know anything red, purple, or emerald green makes me take a second look.

  12. Anything but So Sexy it Hurts… I want the dialogue to be so sexy not necessarily the cover.

  13. I like James cover but it doesn’t really say emotional…the most sexy, emotional of the group would have to be Dane’s. Very hot and would definately make me pick it up to check it out!

  14. I’m not really a fan of naked guy covers, but I also picked Dane’s, as the only one that conveyed “emotional.” The Toni Blake says “chick-lit” to me, the other two say “lighthearted romance.” Contemporary covers really don’t go for the angst, do they. A shame, because I do. 🙂

  17. Although Insatiable is a hot cover and easy on the eyes..I think a cover more like A Lot Like Love would suit what you described your book as better.

  18. To me, A Lot Like Love strikes the right balance for sexy and emotional contemporary romance.

  19. I love covers with man candy for a sexy contempory romance. I think that the cover to A Lot Like Love would work too.

  20. I don’t like suggestive covers either and really dislike bare-chested men on covers. I prefer the Toni Blake cover. Classy is the name of the game.

  21. You had me at bare chest and jeans. I have never read your books before but it seems to me, that if you are going to do a contemporary romance, the eye automatically pulls to a hot sexy body. The other covers are too blah. The last cover is (gasp, dare I say it?) old lady-ish.

    The Insatiable cover is so simple yet is screams hot and sexy. Hands down, it’s the better pick. Good luck choosing a cover!

  22. while I think the sedective clinch relays what you want, but I do like that so sexy it hurts for looking at 😉

  23. I like the Rachel Gibson and Julie James covers. I like the covers with a couple on them. I like them either holding each other or gazing into each others eyes.

  24. I like A Lot Like Love and Nothing But Trouble. I really think they convey the idea well.

  26. I love my man candy on contemporary covers. I hate scenic covers. They remind me of books my grandmother used to read.

  27. Before I even looked at the examples, I was going to suggest you look at Julie James’s covers. It suggests romance without being too suggestive. As others have said, I’m not crazy about scenic covers.

  28. Although you can’t go wrong with a nice male torso, a cover like “A Lot Like Love” may serve your purpose best.

  30. I like all of the covers shown. The covers I don’t like are those “cartoon” covers. It might be the best book ever, but I won’t buy it with that type of cover.

  31. Love the man cover. I have been reading romance so long these covers do not embarrass me when I read them in public. Have had more than one person ask me about the book and who wrote it.

  32. I love all of Julie James’ covers and I also like the cover for “Nothing But Trouble.”

  33. I voted for the Julie James cover. I think that one suggests more of a sexy AND emotional story. I couldn’t stop staring at the Lauren Dane cover but I think that one suggests a more erotic story.

  35. Julie James cover conveys both sexy and emotional and is a bit more angsty. The Rachel Gibson cover is more romantic comedy. And the Insatiable cover, while VERY inspirational, makes me think more erotic. The Toni Blake covers screams women’s fiction, which is fine, but that isn’t what you are going for.

  36. If I had seen these in a store, I would have picked up the Julie James book first. I like the sexy part of the book on the inside!

  39. Nothing But Trouble is good; but both title and cover suggest humor in the story, which wasn’t highlighted as part of your book. The cover for Insatiable is eye-catching, but it seems applicable for a number of genres—erotic, contemporary, suspense, and UF (which is what the novel is.) One Reckless Summer looks sweet and friendly—not bad, and not what you’ve described for your book. A Lot Like Love is great at representing contemporary romance. It looks emotional and sexy, with attraction but not submission or complacency among these two. That’s your winner.

  40. I like the cover of A Lot Like Love – I think it best conveys sexy, emotional contemporary romance. I like Rachel Gibson’s Nothing But Trouble too. I just think you need the couple on the cover, not just one of them. Although Toni Blake’s cover is lovely, it doesn’t really say sexy or emotional to me.

  42. I like the two together but I like them provacative and leaving some things to the imagination. I started out with historicals as my favorite and they still are.

  43. I like the cover of ALOT LIKE LOVE but INSATIABLE really jumps out at me. I’ve not yet read Lauren Dane…but that is about to change!

  44. I love all four of the covers, especially INSATIABLE who wouldn’t. But the cover that conveys a sexy, emotional contemporaray romance to me would be A LOT LIKE LOVE.

  50. It looks like I’m with the majority – I think A Lot Like Love is the best of this group for what you are looking for, although it doesn’t really convey emotional intensity. What it conveys to me is a sophisticated romance with lots of banter – from what I’ve heard of Julie’s book, that sounds perfect, but I don’t know if it would be quite so right for yours. From a wallpaper point of view, I love Lauren Dane’s cover, but in general, I prefer couples on my romance covers. The Gibson cover definitely says light comedy, and the Blake cover says women’s fiction to me.

  51. No need to enter me in the drawing – I went with A Lot Like Love as my favorite. I also like Toni Blake’s – the colors etc, even Rachel Gibson’s cover is cute, but I don’t like the weird kissy faces the models have. I’m even okay with the yellow. Lauren’s cover yes is awesome, but… I’m pretty over the half naked man covers and have been for a while. I do, however, like it a lot because of how he’s standing, the font, background colors, and all that. If he were in uniform or something – to fit with the book – that’d be fantastic.
    I love the purple though, on Julie’s color – the font, colors, couple, placement, and… “branding” – it’s so like all her other covers. You know it’s one of JJ’s books.

  52. I voted before seeing you had labels under the covers. It wouldn’t have changed my vote, A LOT LIKE LOVE, but they fit perfectly. Even though I voted for it, covers with articles related to the story or scenic covers are my favorites.

  53. Julie James “Alot Like Love” looks perfect for the kind of book you are describing. It’s a real stand out. Sexy and classy.
    There are so many covers with men’s chests lately (not that this is a bad thing) but they are all starting to look the same to me.

  54. Oh, I adore the cover for A Lot Like Love! I think it is very Don’t-stop-touching-me-y 😉

  55. I think the trend of headless or half headless people is kind of creepy. However voted for the Gibson, felt most modern. I also like Blake’s Destiny covers.

  56. I adore covers like A Lot Like Love, it just is a classy sexy cover – it reaches out and grabs me when there is a cover that features both male/female in clutched poses where she seems to be melting into him – whereas the Nothing But Trouble cover doesn’t say ‘sexy’ to me, it looks (and maybe it is) as if it would be more of a cutesy romance. I think the colors have something to do with it too…purple sexy, yellow fun and bright…Insatiable, well that is just hot, but I think erotica when I see covers like that, and while that won’t preclude me from buying it, it does preclude me from taking that book to work with me…

  57. I would pick one of the books with a couple on them. I agree with the other commenters that the picture with the half-naked man would indicate erotica.

  59. The first 3 are sexy and the last one emotional perhaps. My choice is: A lot like love. I love the purple dress.

  61. I voted for Insatiable but IMHO none of the covers conveyed the emotional part of your description. #1 is flat out sexy, more to the erotic; #2 leans to the humorous (is there any comedy?) and would pick up on the cell phones & iPads #3 reflects sexy sophistication and #4 is more sweetness and light.

  65. Just to let everyone know, Nothing But Trouble and One Reckless Summer are sexier (heat-level wise) than A Lot Like Love. I was really hesitant to read Toni Blake’s book because of the cover. Boy was I WAY wrong. She writes ’em HOT! Same with Rachel Gibson. Julie James writes a lower heat level–more sensual. Haven’t read Lauren Dane yet.

  66. Nothing But Trouble got my vote, I thought the cover and the title made this book really hot looking. One Reckless Summer not so much, but I read this book and it is one hot book and awesome read.

  67. This was hard… I went with Julie James. Now don’t get me wrong I’m all for Lauren Dane’s but I dont think that portrays the emotional depth that you want to convey. Oh and Toni Blake’s cover (even though I know the heat level is there) doesn’t make me think that its hot. If I didn’t know better I wouldn’t pick it up.

  69. That was a hard one. My favorite is the Lauren Dane cover but; I picked One Reckless Summer cover as the other 2 the people are too dressed up if that makes sense.

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  71. When I look at Toni Blake’s cover I see more of a women’s fiction series, or maybe something like Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. For the book you are writing that is more emotional I think something like Julie James is perfect. Rachel Gibson’s does look more flirty, and I only like men alone on a cover when it’s more of an erotic romance.

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