Look Ma, No Boat!
The first thing everyone who is familiar with Mills & Boon covers said to me when they saw The Santorini Bride's cover was, "You've got a boat!"
This was said with varying degrees of astonishment, envy, chagrin, concern, worry -- all of the above. Received wisdom (though I'm not quite sure who it was initially received from) has always been that "boats don't sell."
Exactly why that folk wisdom has been passed down I don't know. And I don't know if it's true, either. But, having seen The Santorini Bride's cover in the UK M&B edition, I hoped not.
Apparently the Presents people have decided to hedge their bets. Same pic. No boat.
Well, presumably the boat is there, but it has been neatly whited-out by the Presents standard cover design. All you get is Theo and Martha, a smudge of Greek hillside and a couple of ropes. Lines, I suppose I should call them. And a heart. It's a February book. Someone has remembered that and put Theo and Martha in a heart. Cool.
So, thanks, art! Thanks, marketing! And thanks to all the people who don't buy books with boats on them, because I actually like the close-up better. I did think, though, that since H
ugh Jackman (remember him?) is on the cover of Men's Vogue this month -- on a boat -- that perhaps marketing was reconsidering. Apparently not.
I feel swept along in my first draft of Flynn and Sara by these gung-ho Aussies who are goading me to greater word production. I've discovered, though, that there is a certain joy in being a day later than they are (almost). I'm allowed to lag behind in word count as well -- as long as I've caught up by the time they're up the next morning!
This was said with varying degrees of astonishment, envy, chagrin, concern, worry -- all of the above. Received wisdom (though I'm not quite sure who it was initially received from) has always been that "boats don't sell."
Exactly why that folk wisdom has been passed down I don't know. And I don't know if it's true, either. But, having seen The Santorini Bride's cover in the UK M&B edition, I hoped not.
Apparently the Presents people have decided to hedge their bets. Same pic. No boat.
Well, presumably the boat is there, but it has been neatly whited-out by the Presents standard cover design. All you get is Theo and Martha, a smudge of Greek hillside and a couple of ropes. Lines, I suppose I should call them. And a heart. It's a February book. Someone has remembered that and put Theo and Martha in a heart. Cool.
So, thanks, art! Thanks, marketing! And thanks to all the people who don't buy books with boats on them, because I actually like the close-up better. I did think, though, that since H
ugh Jackman (remember him?) is on the cover of Men's Vogue this month -- on a boat -- that perhaps marketing was reconsidering. Apparently not.I feel swept along in my first draft of Flynn and Sara by these gung-ho Aussies who are goading me to greater word production. I've discovered, though, that there is a certain joy in being a day later than they are (almost). I'm allowed to lag behind in word count as well -- as long as I've caught up by the time they're up the next morning!
posted by Anne McAllister at 4:27 PM
2 Comments:
Hmm... truthfully? I still prefer the boat. Although, your name is the real selling point for me. It doesn't matter what's on the cover, I just know it'll be a great read.
Sue :-)
P.S. Even though I'm not visible as often as I'd like to be, I wanted you to know I still regularly read your blog.
I'll hopefully have a completed first draft of my Med by the end of November (thanks in part to eHarl's NaNo thread). Which reminds me, I'm not supposed to be here... *scurrying back to the cave*
Thanks, Sue! And I hope you do think it's a great read when you get it. Also glad to know the boat was a plus for you. Could marketing be wrong???
Delighted to know you're stopping by the blog. Thank you. And good luck on the book draft in November. I'm doing an offshoot of the NaNo thing with Anne Gracie, Marion Lennox, Trish Morey and Bron Jameson. They're keeping me on the straight and narrow. Hope we all get good drafts done by the end of the month.
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