Harlequin books seeks real men for covers

I saw this article on Yahoo News and thought it to be quite interesting, cause when it comes to romance books, I usually buy them for the cover art, but than rarely ever read the book, all I wanted was the picture on the cover! LOL! Of course all my Harlequins are from the 1970's though, back when they used to sell Gothics on a regular basic, and the covers had big old haunted houses on them, with a girl in a long gown seen in the shadow of the house, running away. Anyone rember those great old Gothic covers? Why don't they make those type of covers anymore, I wonder?

Well, here's the article as seen on Yahoo News:

By Jonathan Spicer Sat Mar 24, 3:08 PM ET TORONTO (Reuters) -

Real men don't pose for the cover of a Harlequin romance. And that's something the publisher wants to change.

Representatives of Harlequin Enterprises, the world's biggest publisher of romance novel series, inspected the assets of about 200 men who lined up at a Toronto casting house on Saturday to prove they could flutter readers hearts better than professional models. We're looking for some guys that are not your usual models, but have that iconic look that women go for — sexy, sensitive, beautiful and fit said Harlequin spokeswoman Marleah Stout, who attended the open casting. We want real men, exactly what you think in your mind when you're fantasising or imagining that ideal man.

Toronto-based Harlequin, a division of newspaper group Torstar Corp., sold 131 million books in 94 countries last year. It estimates that a third of American women have read at least one of its titles. Until now, the publisher relied on modelling agencies to supply bodies for its concupiscent covers. But the readership predominantly female and averaging 42 years of age was upset when slight, young cover models clashed with the brawny, mature heroes described within. Some of the heroes are captains of industry, billionaires, said Deborah Peterson, a Harlequin creative designer and a judge at the audition. A lot of the models were too young, men in their twenties and our audience likes men a little bit older, a bit bigger, than the runway models.

At the Toronto casting, chiselled hopefuls shed their shirts and donned a cowboy hat for the panel while a handful of other judges watched on closed-circuit camera in an adjacent room. Several were asked to return for a book cover shot, where they may earn up to C$250 (110 pounds) an hour, according to male modelling agencies. Others indulged their own fantasies... Read the complete article here.

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My thoughts on that?

Well, this phrase stands out to me and makes me think:

We want real men exactly what you think in your mind when you're fantasising or imagining that ideal man.

hhhmmm you know, I rarely like the men on the covers of Harlequin, they all look like Arnold. Not that that's a bad thing, Arnold was a regular dreamboat as Conan. But for me, I prefer older, more real looking men. They are just so much sexier. When it really comes down to it, I prefer a man who looks more like Sir Roderic from my Twighlight Manor series, as Roderic looked in the late 1800's to the 1970's (the guy is 450 years old, so you'll have to strecth your mind around the dates a bit).

Well for those of you not familiar with Sir Roderic or what he looked like in that time period, just think of David Carradine as he looked in Kill Bill. And for those of you who have never seen Kill Bill, I just happen to have visuals for you. Wasn't that thoughtful of me?

Isn't he just gorgeous? Can you think of a better "real guy" to model for Harleqin's covers? I can't.

Now if Harlequin had more guys like that on their covers, I'd buy more of their books, esp if the guy turns out to be a spooky gothic guy with a big old haunted house. (I just go head over heals for a Gothic!)

I'd really love it if I could get David Caradine to be a cover model for Sir Roderic. What a dream that'd be!

~EK

My original article about this can be found here.

So who else is there?

This whole thing got me thinking: Who else would I like to see on book covers?

First guy to jump to mind is Vincent Price.

Johnny Depp also came to mind. How about C*C*DeVille? or Bret Micheals? Alice Cooper? David Bowie!

I've got to make this lens bigger so I can put up my reasons for my choices! LOL! I think I'll do that. Watch for that to show up here sometime soon.

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Fun Activity: Who would you like to see on the cover of new romance books?

Here's an activity for writers. Let's say you have just finished wrting a romance novel. You have sent it in and it's due to be published just as sone as they get the cover art finished. Your publisher has just told you that you, the author, gets to choose who the cover model well be. There's a catch though, they tell you that first you must write an essay about your guy of choice and convince them that he really is perfect for the job.

So, who would you pick and what would you write that could convince your publisher that this guy is THE perfect model for the cover art on your book?

What Wikipedia has to say about Romance:

A romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, these novels are commercially in two main varieties: category romances, which are shorter books with a one-month shelf-life, and single-title romances, which are generally longer with a longer shelf-life. Separate from their type, a romance novel can exist within one of many subgenres, including contemporary, historical, and paranormal.

One of the earliest romance novels was Samuel Richardson's popular 1740 novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, which was revolutionary on two counts: it focused almost entirely on courtship and did so entirely from the perspective of a female protagonist. In the next century, Jane Austen expanded the genre, and her Pride and Prejudice is often considered the epitome of the genre. Austen inspired Georgette Heyer, who introduced historical romances in 1921. A decade later, British company Mills and Boon began releasing the first category romance novels. Their books were resold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry the books.

The modern romance genre was born in 1972 with Avon's publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower, the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback. The genre boomed in the 1980s, with the addition of many category romance lines and an increased number of single-title romances. Popular authors began pushing the boundaries of the genre and plots and characters began to modernize.

In North America, romance novels are the most popular genre in modern literature, comprising almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004. The genre is also popular in Europe and Australia, and romance novels appear in 90 languages. Most of the books, however, are written by authors from English-speaking countries, leading to an Anglo-Saxon perspective in the fiction. Despite the popularity and widespread sales of romance novels, the genre has attracted significant derision, skepticism and criticism.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Why I don't like most Romance books or their covers:

What do I look for in a Romance story?

You know, this lens does seem to be a weird topic for me. Why? Well, because I'm well known for the fact that I do not like Romance book in general. I'm known for that, because I tell people that often and I've written a few articles for the web about it too. And yet here I am with a lens that kind of promotes them. Why?

Here's the thing: I do like Romance books, I don't like porn and erotica books. Sometime around the late 1970's-early 1980's the two genres became one and the same. Romance instantly means smut, porn, and blantent sex. In fact it's almost impossible to find anything but in the romance genre anymore. And so, until there is a return of the classic Romance style, I'm not likely to be buying to many new romance books. The old Romance books never had any sex in them, the new ones have nothing but, and because of that, you won't find me buying the new ones, while you do find me in search of the old ones.

I like Romance to have a plot, a story, a beginning, a middle, and an end. I'd like the hero to have a goal and a story that tells us how he/she reached that goal. I like the story to be fun, scary, emotional, adventurous, in other words full of feeling.

I like the days when heroes in Romance books were men that you could root for, men you could look up to, men who would protect and defend their woman/wife/girlfriend.

I like big old haunted houses, spooky forests, men in black, heroes on horseback, Victorian ladies, and dark brooding anti-heros remenicent of Jane Erye's Rochester or Sence and Senciblity's Col. Brandon.

My faves Romance heroes are the eternal romantics who will stop at nothing in be true their dearly beloved: such as Eric from Phantom of the Opera or Poe's many unnamed characters who brooded over dead wives in books such as Annebelle Lee, Fall of House of Usher, or Morelia. As a general rule if it screams Gothis, Aghast, or Horror at the same time it screams Romance, than I'll love it.

I also like the romantic heroes who are not even in Romance books, guys such as Zorro or Long John Silver.

So there you have it. What I don't like about the new Romance books and what I do like about the old ones. When new stories start being written, that are like the way the old spooky ones were written, than I'll start buying Romance again.

Books for Romance Writers

On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells

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Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies

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The Romance Writer's Handbook: How to Write Romantic Fiction & Get it Published

by Rebecca Vinyard

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Romance Writer's Phrase Book (Perigee Book)

by J. Kent

Amazon Price: (as of 05/17/2008)

You Can Write a Romance (You Can Write)

by Rita Clay Estrada, Rita Gallagher

Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 05/17/2008)

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Harlequin books seeks real men for covers

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