Monday News: Tilt Shift Photography; Changes in Romance Covers; YA Self Censorship
Covers / Publishing NewsComics / cover-art / digital publishing / Intellectual Property Issues / self-published / Young-Adult26 Comments
30 Tremendous Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography – “Tilt-Shift photography is an amazing part of talent in which photographer utilizes his skills and technique of photography that develops tilt-shift lenses to beat the boundaries of strength of ground and outlook that normal lenses present” Bloggs 74
Let’s start the day out with something cool. I love tilt shift photography images. Some photographers even use their iPhone cameras to create tilt shift images. This is an image taken from the top of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
Explaining ‘Fifty Shades’ wild success – “If so, much of the success of the “Fifty Shades” trilogy may simply reside in its packaging. After acquiring English rights in March, Vintage Books released digital editions of all three books, followed by print versions in April featuring relatively tame covers compared with bodice-rippers of yore. Where one might expect two milky bodies intertwined, the covers of books one and two feature a gray silk tie and a bedazzled face mask. … The formula seems to have paid off, and since then, the romance industry has been keen to reap the benefits of judging a book by its cover. Not long after the series took off, Harlequin and other publishers began reissuing old titles with toned-down covers.” cnn
The Lora Leigh makeover really blew my mind for some reason. What I think is so interesting about this is that man titty has dominated romance covers since the 1970s (see our cover article here) and we’ve lamented the man titty cover in the past and what it says about the genre and us as readers. I’m not entirely opposed to “stuff from the top of the dresser” type covers. The biggest concern I have, though, is that publishers believe that it is the sex in the story that is selling and not the emotional conflict that ends with a committed relationship. Plume, for example, is trying to repackage Anne Rice’s erotica trilogy and sell it to the 50 Shades crowd. For anyone who has read the 50 Shades books, they know that the BDSM in the story is quite tame.
Digital Imprints Take Root – “Traditional trade publishers have been testing the digital-first/digital-only publishing waters for more than two years now, and the pace is accelerating. This month alone, Penguin is reviving the Dutton Guilt Edged Mysteries line as a digital only imprint, Kensington has launched eKensington as an e-book only imprint, F+W Media is moving its Crimson Romance e-book imprint from a beta test to full launch coinciding with the rollout of its newest e-book subscription site, this one for romance books, while HarperCollins’s Impulse imprint will double its output from one digital title per week to two this fall and will add William Morrow and Harper Voyager to the Impulse line, which began with Avon.” Publishers Weekly
Novel standards- Grub Street Reads – Grub Street Reads launched earlier this month and seeks to encourage higher readership of self-published and indie authors by providing a quality standard for self-published and independently-published novels. The Grub Street Reads endorsement seal is given to those books that pass an evaluation process based on the fundamental qualities of good storytelling. Grub Street Reads
According to the site, the author submits the book for evaluation and if the book does not meet the evaluation criteria, it will not receive an endorsement. The evaluators look at plot, characters, pace, accuracy, grammar/layout, and an overall assessment. I will be interested to see a) how many authors participate in this program and b) how readers respond to it.
James Dawson: why teens in books can’t swear – “The reason the gatekeepers are so primed to sex and swearing is obvious. The gatekeepers are as aware as any of us that teenage readers have potty mouths. However, they have also cottoned on to a universal truth of children’s marketing. Children do not have money. Parents do. While parents are pulling the purse strings, it is they that booksellers must appease. Not being a parent, I cannot say with certainty, but I envisage that most parents do not want to be seen encouraging their kids to use four-letter words. After a recent school event I heard back from my school contact that a parent had complained that a “Christian school” had allowed me to come in and pedal an evil book featuring witchcraft. Parent power must not be sniffed at – without them buying books for their children, every part of publishing suffers.” Guardian UK
Gatekeepers like retailers, schools and libraries are censoring books based on content suggests this author. Perhaps this is the why we are seeing a resurgence of young adult books in self publishing that are rife with the dreaded topics like sex and foul language. I do question this though. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist had both sex and swearing. Kody Keplinger’s books are full of sex. Perhaps it is the UK publishers that are shying away?
Image Comics Is Having a Creative Renaissance – “IN this industry, creators have been losing control of their characters for years. It started back with DC’s Superman, created in 1938 by the writer Jerry Siegel and the artist Joe Shuster, and continues to Marvel’s Fantastic Four and the X-Men, who were co-created by Jack Kirby. These cases for ownership continue to go through the courts. Image has not been immune to these issues: in February, Todd McFarlane and the writer Neil Gaiman reached a confidential settlement regarding royalties owed to Mr. Gaiman for characters he helped create in Spawn. That same month, Tony Moore, original artist on the Walking Dead, filed a suit contending that he is owed more for his contributions. Robert Kirkman, who created the series, described the lawsuit as ridiculous.” NYTimes
An interesting look at the three major comic powerhouses and the mid level upstarts.
I hate it when books that had awesome covers in their early printings change to fit a trend (and note that usually, while I like the covers, I haven’t already/won’t ever read the book itself). I know publishing companies want to sell as many books as they can and have people who observe the current best sellers, but changing covers is frustrating and comes with unfortunate implications sometimes. One series I began reading didn’t keep me hooked book-wise, but initially had the most beautiful/intricate covers I’d seen in its sub-genre and yes, those covers would’ve drawn me in. Midway (?) through series, the company changed the covers to feature a generic, indistinguishable-from-both-YA-and-adult- novel model. So what, the company is telling readers that “Oh yeah, we were proud of our original covers, but generic sells so deal with it”? Ugh! Then again, there is something to changing/publishing books with covers that look like the most popular books’ covers. When I’m looking for self-pubbed books on Amazon, the first things I check out are books with trendy covers. I also end up rejecting those books because the plots are trendy as well and I’m looking for something a bit more unique.
As for the subject of teens not swearing in books, I have some mixed thoughts on that. I didn’t swear as a teen. I tried it once, and it was totally because of peer pressure and didn’t sound genuine at all. Apparently, these people I hung out with thought you were more mature if every other word was swearing, but I would definitely disagree. On the other side, some teens do it and you don’t even blink because it fits so well into their style of talking. If books for anyone (yes, adults as well) use swearing, I personally think it should be used a) for character development (as in, that’s how they talk and it makes them more real to readers) and b) when the situation warrants it. Some authors make non-swearing teens sound more ridiculous than anything to the point you might think “Okay, just say the word!” Other times, I think it’s smart writing to avoid loads of swears. A well-placed, situation-appropriate swear makes the situation seem as dramatic/dire as the author intended it to be if the rest of the book is relatively clean.
I don’t necessarily mind “stuff from the top of the dresser” type covers either, but I am going to miss actual color if this “50 Shading” of cover art thing gets too out of hand.
With the covers they are doing pretty much the same thing that was done to even classics when “Twilight” was “the” thing, remember “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre”? Everyone is jumping on the “bandwagon” which is pretty much par the course now. It is all about the quickest way to make a buck. I can’t say the cover changes bother me. I can’t recall when was the last time I bought a print book. A few years ago, when I was still buying print as well, I can say covers did factor in in my buying tendencies when I went browsing in brick and mortar bookstores. Now, not so much.
Regarding the YA sanitizing. The logic is understandable, however, good luck to the parents trying to get their kids away from “evil” books, I don’t think I need to go into further detail as to why am I wishing them luck on that endeavor.
M.
I highly doubt that those books would be selling without the sex. Yes, the emotional conflict is equally important and I don’t want publishers to forget that, but the reason the 50’s trilogy was such a success among adult women is because it was Twilight + Sex – Obvious Romance Label. But then I’ve never understood the community’s vehement objection to the “porn” label…I hate the “mommy” part, but, for me, if Romance didn’t have sex it’d be no different from YA and “chick-lit.”
As for covers, I’ll admit that if they weren’t copied from such a lousy written set of books I’d be fine with them. Sure, the lack of creativity sucks but when have Romance covers ever been creative?
Most readers aren’t impressed by “Rita winner” on the cover. Nobody will place any stock in one of a hundred no-name endorsement givers. I’ve been getting an email in my inbox every week for at least two years from one service or another offering their “seal of approval” for self-published books. It’s hardly a new form of squeezing a buck out of writers desperate for an air of legitimacy, especially those who confuse a $65 crit with a pricey professional editor and think they’re getting equivalent service at a bargain price. There are far better ways to invest that money.
I am very very tired of all these services designed to separate authors from their money. Actually, tired isn’t the word.
On tilt-shift photography: a while back I found a photo of the Church of the Holy Cross outside Segovia, Spain, that I absolutely love. Being a terrible photographer, nothing I’ve attempted has come out looking like anything I’d share, but I love what it does to colors and perspective.
@Carrie: Having just given up on a self published book that was amazingly badly written– with a good cover, a good title and a tolerable sample, I am probably in the mood for a seal of some sort. However, I think a “Don’t bother” seal would be more useful to the reader.
Thank goodness I did not spend any money on that book.
When I bought the 50’s Shade trilogy (before all the craziness started), I found the covers quite attractive (still do). A bit different and slightly more sophisticated. I think Sylvia Day’s answer on her website about why the cover was changed for “Bared to You” says it all:
“The blue cover with a naked woman being embraced by a man was one I commissioned for the self-published edition of the story. When Berkley acquired the rights to publish the book, they chose to use a new cover that was less provocative and therefore easier to place with retailers.”
I would be very happy to see the end of mantitty covers, personally. Though what I would really like to see is more creativity, not a whole host of 50 Shades knock offs.
Could it just be a cost saving measure to have model-less covers?
But actually, the original covers for Anne Rice’s erotica trilogy had something in common with the 50 Shades covers. No, they didn’t feature ties and masks, but they were also very discreet and didn’t indicate the books were erotica. I once read an interview with Rice in which she specifically credited this aspect of her covers for making the Sleeping Beauty books bestsellers. At the time, she said that her erotic trilogy, taken together, outsold Interview with a Vampire.
(I’m not keen on Rice’s erotica but was a huge fan of her earliest vampire books, so I read a lot of interviews with Rice when I was young.)
Personally, I’m in favor of covers that don’t scream sex. I just wish that publishers would be more creative with them.
@Janine – plume has re released the series and is marketing them for fans of the 50 shade.
@Jane: Yes, I know, and I agree there’s a good chance the books won’t appeal to the same readership. My point is just that the same lesson publishers are taking from the 50 Shades covers — that discreet covers have a broader appeal than overtly sexy ones — could have been gleaned from sales of Rice’s trilogy 25 years ago.
I’m all for the new book cover trend, personally. It might mean I can read my romances in public without embarassment. I hate clinch covers, mantitty covers, etc. I am not ashamed of reading romances, but I am deeply annoyed that publishers think I need to see half-naked people on a book in order to buy it.
@Hannah E.:
Personally, I’d like to see more book covers in the speculative fiction genre (which in my mind includes romance because romance novels tend to answer the question “What if…?”) feature scenery with no people/people-like entities. Sometimes I think location plays almost as important a role as the characters and I’d like to have a physical representation of a place the author describes.
Argh, I feel so dense as I’m struggling to make sense of tilt-shift photography. Wikipedia isn’t helpful. Am I right to think it’s to do with an ability to make an actual location look like a toy miniature? Or is it about manipulating depth and space to fit all in one specific area?
@Ros:
Quote of the day.
Covers can never reflect content but, although they’re actually whiter than all those bare-chested white guy covers, as eye candy goes, I prefer the new trend of Vanity Fair/House Beautiful-inspired artwork.
Yes! Toy miniatures! That’s exactly what those photos look like. They kinda creep me out.
@Hannah E.:
Covers are important! I saw a guy in a tire store reading 50-shades – if that book had the usual category cover he certainly wouldn’t be reading it there. I heard that romance sales are up a lot due to ebooks wrapping the guilty pleasures for public consumption. Hiring models to do covers is pricy for traditional publishers when the independent authors are nipping at their heels so expect more of this trend.
Not a fan of the e-book only imprint trend. Impulse has print on demand I think, I wish some of the others would as well. Nothing I hate more than finding out about a book, deciding I want to read it, and then finding out it’s e-only.
I haven’t read the 50 shades books, but if they can bring about an end to man-titty covers I will be eternally grateful to the publishing house employee that chose the cover. I hate man-titty covers, mostly because they are posed by heavily muscled models and, while I know this is very unfashionable, heavily muscled bodies gross me out.
@Jaili
For tilt shift photography, you take your lens off the body of the camera and hold it at a slight angle over where it would normally be firmly attached. This can result in a range of distortions.
Here is a way to tilt shift with any photo for free (uses gimp.org software)
http://www.danielveazey.com/gimp/tilt-shift-simulation-in-gimp/
I despise man-titty covers, swoon covers — anything that screams, “Look at all the stereotypes I am pretending to enforce!” Not only do they all look ugly and the same to me, but they tell me nothing of the plot. Some romance readers may want more or less interchangeable characters; for me personally, it’s all about the plot, and it does nothing for me if I can’t tell what the story is about besides the romance. Also, I love pretty art, and man-titty isn’t pretty (IMHO). I feel just as strongly about bad fantasy covers as well, and really ugly author fonts for mystery titles with clashing colors, and mythoughtsonyaoiletmetellyouthem, and…
That was one of the reasons I loved buying ebooks when they were first available. I was able to concentrate on the story without the covers distracting me.
A cover conveys a visual that keeps me interested in a book. What is so interesting about a nondescript pair of dog tags? Not a thing. Every person that has served in the military has them and contain vital information pertaining to that particular person.
I for one despise the trend that FSOG has brought to the covers: boring and colorless.
I shall cling to my print editions of Lora Leigh’s Elite Op’s series. Along with all the other man-titty, the clutch, et-al, that are on my book shelves.