The Write Stuff

by Ashley Lister

Cover Story

I was recently discussing book covers with a friend of mine.  He argued that the saying, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover,’ was inherently wrong.  He’d recently picked up a book called, ‘The Buxom Blonde Does Anal,’ and he said that the cover was a fairly accurate depiction of the content.

His comment made me smile because, as a writer, I seldom get to have much in the way of creative input when it comes to covers.  I know this is not true for all writers.  Some writers are heavily involved in the consultancy phase with their editors/publishers when it comes to cover art. 

But I rarely get any input in the cover. 

And, given my ideas of what would sell a book, I think this is probably for the best.  I’m not a very visual person.  I don’t do pictures very well.

I have worked with editors who’ve solicited my opinion as to what I think would work well as a cover.  But, when I make my suggestions, they quietly roll their eyes, give me some crayons, and tell me to draw the nice picture I’m trying to describe.

Because I’m a little bit simple, I usually agree.

Which is why I’ve probably had more cover disasters than most writers.

(This doesn’t apply to my latest release: Death By Fiction.  The cover artist has done a superb job of depicting the content and the mood of the story with some incredibly stylish graphics.  I really do like this one).

But my first published title was a cover disaster.  It showed a woman in an attic, dressed like a dominatrix, but standing as though she was trying to do a pooh. 

A difficult pooh. 

The editor assured me that he and his team had worked hard on the cover.  He even mentioned extensive depilatory work with the aid of Photoshop.  Which was a comment I never fully understood.

If my book had been about a lady standing up to do a pooh in the attic (a difficult pooh) then the cover would have been perfect.  Instead, it remains one of my least favourite of all times.

Then there was the editor who dumped a picture of a bottom on the cover of my novel.  Admittedly, it was an attractive bottom with pert buttocks and all the other pleasingly aesthetic requirements that merit the description ‘an attractive bottom.’  But it was still a bottom.  What sort of message does that send to the reader?  Is this the publisher’s way of saying, “The s**t’s inside!”

“Backsides sell more copies,” he assured me.

I still find this difficult to believe.  And I wonder how they’re collecting this statistical data.  Do they go up to readers and ask them why they bought the book?  Do the readers turn around and say, “Well, it had an arse on the cover and that’s what I look for in a good book…” 

If this is the case, why am I bothering to create a story?  Why don’t I just put a set of instructions on each page saying, “Go and look at the cover.  It’s got an arse on it.  You’ll like that.”

Erotic covers are supposed to imply that the content is erotic.  This seems straightforward to me.  But a lot of erotic covers have to walk a balancing act between suggestive and tawdry.  Flash too much flesh and you’ve crossed the line between erotic and porn – especially if the flesh includes the fun stuff: nipples, vaj-jay-jays or winkies.  But if you simply replace that with a picture of a decorous young woman peeling a banana, the subtlety of the image is likely to go whistling over the heads of many readers.

“Why would I want to read a book about a woman who eats bananas?  I want a book about buttocks.  That’s what I look for in a good book.”

And my point is: we all know that we shouldn’t judge books by their covers.  We repeat the trite phrase as an analogy for relationships and as a caution against being judgemental in so many non-literate circumstances.  However, we often forget that behind every disastrous cover story, there’s a writer cringing at the ignoble wrapping that’s soiling the hard work and industry of their novel.  So, if you truly believe that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, take a moment to look at some of those titles that you consider to be a turn off and read the blurb on the book, or check out the reviews to find out if they’re worth considering.

And, if it’s still awful – then you can blame the writer.

Ashley Lister
October 2010

If you have comments or questions about this column, please send them to Ashley Lister

Find more of Ashley's Write Stuff in ERWA 2010 Archive.

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"The Write Stuff" © 2010 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Email:  Ashley Lister
Website:  www.ashleylister.co.uk

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