Illustrating the African-American Romance
by Wayne Jordan
Cover art is one of the important marketing strategies of the book industry, and like other genres, the face of the romance novel has shown a definite change over the years -- from the sexy "bosom" cover of the eighties and early nineties to the more sedate chocolate box cover of the mid-nineties. With the recent surge in popularity of the African-American romance, readers have noticed a definite change in the covers of this growing genre.
When
Kensington's started their line of African-American romances, romance readers
began to devour the books as soon as they appeared on the shelves of
bookstores. The original Arabesque cover were definitely not attractive
and lacked sensual appeal. They were definitely not sexy. Like
others, I bought them because I wanted to read books with heroes and heroines of
color. Fortunately, what was under the covers were wonderful stories from
talented black writer.
Because of the growing popularity and
the fact the the books are selling
,
big publishers, like Avon, St. Martin's Press, and Harper have jumped on the
band wagon, and are now giving these books excellent covers. Vivid bright
colors have now become the hallmark of the African-American romance.
In June 2000, BET/Arabesque made an innovative move by highlighting their lead title by using an artistic cover instead of the usual "clinch" of the hero and heroine.
Genesis Press has also improved their covers. One of their best cover appear last year on Gwynne Forster's AGAINST THE WIND. A simple but effective cover of the hero and heroine silhouetted against a beautiful sunset. Efforts by St. Martin's Press, the publishing company that has become the star of the African-American anthologies, have given rise to lovely covers like ROSIE'S CURL AND WEAVE, DELLA'S HOUSE OF STYLE and ISLAND MAGIC.
| Genesis | Genesis | Avon | St. Martin's | Harper |
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Avon has also started to publish in this genre. Books by Beverly Jenkins and Eboni Snoe. Robyn Amos is expected to join them at Avon in 2001. I'm also looking forward to Robyn Amos' November Silhouette Intimate Moments, HERO AT LARGE. It'll be interesting to see what Silhouette's art department does for the cover. Suzanne Brockmann's HARVARD'S EDUCATION lingers in my mind as being one of the most stunning covers on a series romance. Ms. Brockmann was adamant that her hero and heroine were as close to her description as possible.
Recently Kayla Perrin guided me toward the cover of her first mainstream, IF YOU WANT ME, to be released by Harper Press new line of African-American romances. The cover is stunning, and one of the loveliest covers I've ever seen...HOT, HOT....
Regular visitor to ROMANCE IN COLOR, Lori Edwards, loves all the covers of Beverly Jenkins' books, and finds them all beautiful with gorgeous eye catching colors. Like me, INDIGO, with its simply beautiful cover, is her favorite of Ms. Jenkins' book.
Reviewer, Gwen Osborne's favorite cover is TOPAZ by Beverly Jenkins. Special too is AGAINST THE WIND, a book whose cover she considers color-blind. She also loves, Brenda Jackson's SECRET LOVE, UNTIL THERE WAS YOU, VIOLET ARE BLUE, OPPOSITE ATTRACT, and A BITTERSWEET LOVE.
Nathasha Brooks-Harris, a RIC reviewer, had a lot to say about the AA romance cover art. She does not like the cover art for Arabesque books because the models rarely depict the characters in the book. She has observed that the same models are used over and again on the covers, and considers this unprofessional and something she believes bring down the quality of the books. She wants to see the same people depicted in the book outside the book on the cover!
She, however, loves Genesis' s covers because the models usually match the characters inside the book. That company's covers are always well done, as are St. Martins Press's covers with the lovely drawings. Their covers are always colorful and as such, draw people to buy their books.
Nathasha loved the new artistic cover because they look as if some time was taken to create them. She believes that they are Arabesque's forte and they should stick to them. "They are wonderful!"
Her favorite covers are ALL of Beverly Jenkins' books. Those covers show romance in a typical, cliched way that works. Readers pick up books many times because they're drawn to a cover. Nothing attracts a reader to a book more than a handsome couple engaged in a clinch and looking longingly into each other's eyes.
I'm sure that in the months and years to come, the covers of romance novels will continue to change.