(It occurs to me y’all might wonder if that’s a typo and I’m going to ponder whether advertisements sell books, but no, I’m talking abs. Naked and totally ripped male stomachs.)
Mrs. Giggles put up an interesting blog post that y’all should go read in its entirety. Very interesting stuff. But I especially like this one:
6. Readers love covers with naked men. Okay, so online readers are too intellectual for that, but let’s face it, those covers sell. Authors have reported again and again that their naked men covers sell much better than their flowers and scenery tasteful covers.
My strongest selling story to date:
Now, it’s not necessarily the naked man (although he’s certainly not hurting the eyes). It’s a paranormal shifter novella and part of a collection also featuring Mandy Roth, Michelle Pillow, Sydney Somers, and Jaycee Clark. So was it the very fine and talented company I was keeping…or hot naked Khail on the cover? Maybe the blurb?
Death is a collective—an unkindness of supernatural ravens with the power to take the form of men and to decide which humans live and which humans die with a mere touch.
When Khail lays his fatal touch on his next victim and she doesn’t die, he’s faced not only with a human immune to his deadly power who has seen him shift forms, but he’s able to have physical contact with a woman for the first time in centuries.
Falling for a shapeshifting messenger of Death wasn’t on Bridget Sawyer’s agenda, but things are about to get even more complicated. The Unkind is determined to claim her.
In contrast, my story with the least strongest sales:
“Why?” she wailed pitifully, because she happened to really love that book.
Anyway…both are tagged as paranormal romance. KMD is a darker story with a shifter. ITS is a lighter story with a ghost. Is it the lighter aspect? Is it the ghost? How about its sharing a release date with one of Samhain’s bestselling authors and a Red Hot bondage menage story? Maybe the blurb?
When a holiday-loving ghost tries to rock around the Christmas tree with a Grinchy guest, will they both wind up on the “naughty†list?
Even though Zach Roberts died in an incident involving a string of lights and an inflatable Santa, he’s determined to deck the halls in a big way. But being trapped in a rental cabin with the Ghost of Christmas Overkill isn’t on Jessica Newton’s bah-humbug agenda.
Together they discover it’s nice to be naughty, but can he help her find her holiday spirit?
Or should I have asked for naked Zach?
Who knows?
I can’t say with 100% certainty that readers love covers with naked men, but I absolutely know they don’t hurt.
Comment
Well here’s a comment to throw a monkeywrench in your ponderings…my favorite book of yours that I recommend often didn’t have any body parts on it…
:nod:
Forever Again
Yea I love those abs but that’s not always what will grab my attention. I love all your books but Forever Again is still my favorite and I loved the cover… :heart:
Comment
I buy books with abs! I likes abs.
Comment
I don’t want to insult anyone, but the KMD cover is just compositionally more attractive. That probably helps.
I have many half-naked-men covers, and the story that has sold the very best via my publisher is the one called “Institutional Sex.” Some of my worst sellers have bare torsos. And the story that sells the best at Fictionwise is not erotic, has no people on the cover, and is more akin to ItS than KMD, comparatively speaking.
So…who the hell knows? LOL
Comment
My experience so far:
1 naked man = good sales
2 naked men = really good sales
2 named men + 1 half-naked female = great sales
Comment
I’m with Kelly, “Forever Again” is one of my favorite covers and one of my favorite stories. As for the Talons cover, it doesn’t do a thing for me. I loved Zach in “In The Spirit”. I laughed all the way through the story! The upshot of all of this is: You can’t tell a book by it’s cover!
:shrug:
Comment
I love all your books but Forever Again is still my favorite and I loved the cover…
Thank you. :heart: I’ve been tinkering with a…well, not a sequel, but a story similar to Forever Again. Perhaps after DG3 is done I’ll get more serious about it.
And I LOVE Forever Again’s cover. I had filled out the cover request, mentioning the characters and the inn and basic plot points, and Scott just blew my socks off. The three Adirondack chairs came from him, and it’s amazing how perfect it was for the book.
I buy books with abs! I likes abs.
Me, too. And I also wish I had my own. (Well, I’m sure they’re in there somewhere.
I don’t want to insult anyone, but the KMD cover is just compositionally more attractive. That probably helps.
It is rather bright. Probably wouldn’t want to browse its page with a migraine. *g* It might be challenging for them, though, because I usually make a note to downplay the sexuality so as not to mislead the reader.
And the story that sells the best at Fictionwise is not erotic, has no people on the cover, and is more akin to ItS than KMD, comparatively speaking.
So…who the hell knows? LOL
Who the hell knows should be the official slogan of this business.
My experience so far:
1 naked man = good sales
2 naked men = really good sales
2 naked men + 1 half-naked female = great sales
Several years watching sales reports and bestseller lists says DING! You are correct! :nod:
Two translucent hands + Christmas gifts = not so much
I’m with Kelly, “Forever Again†is one of my favorite covers and one of my favorite stories. As for the Talons cover, it doesn’t do a thing for me. I loved Zach in “In The Spiritâ€. I laughed all the way through the story! The upshot of all of this is: You can’t tell a book by it’s cover!
Thank you! Not only for enjoying Forever Again, but for loving Zach! I enjoyed writing that one so much, and it’s a thrill that others found him as entertaining as I did.
An interesting cover tidbit—I faced a little bit of a dilema with Taming Eliza Jane. The original version showed more of the heroine’s torso and there was visible boob squeezage. After much back-and-forthing with myself, I asked them to crop that bit. While it might have sold more copies, I felt readers might expect something erotic, which TEJ is not. (None of my recent releases have been, although I’m tinkering with a pirate story that would be my naughtiest story yet. We’ll see.) It’s important to me that my covers don’t lead my readers to expect a more explicit story than I’ve written.