#romance series covers

[katkenyon]

Why I Did My Own Photoshoot.

There may be a lot going on in the world, but I'm in the middle of testing new covers for my books and the subject of the photoshoots for my series has come up.

Smart people will tell you to start small. Get a premade cover from the many brilliant designers who do amazing things with stock images.

Hell, that's what I'll tell you to do. And I am doing it for a small project, but for my series, ugh. I'm a bit extra.

For Blood & Iron Warriors I needed the same people on for 7 straight books. That's a lot of images of the same models. Given it's a new adult/college and sports romance/football romance series, that meant getting my hands on images taken at the same time period so they don't age.

7 books, 7 covers + back images. Then looking at any possible recovers, that would be nest to impossible to get from stock and match up. Not to mention the marketing images.

And to be fair, I suck at sharing.

Even as a child there's a legend of me being horrible in kindergarten and getting a bit "hostile" about sharing the cardboard bricks, and not much has changed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to donate to good causes, I give things to others, but in my head those things become theirs. Mine is still mine. I kill every bug that comes into my house because I didn't invite them. It's my house. They need to make their house somewhere else.

I know, I know, it's weird, anyway that glitch in my personality and the difficulty in finding matching images for 7 books, plus the cost...led to me to say.... oooh yeah, an exclusive shoot.

Now, I have an advantage. Before writing I was in law, and before that, I was in marketing for 10 years.

Which meant for me, photoshoots are fun. Don't get me wrong, they're a ton of work, months of it in fact, but they're an amazing experience. Intensively creative, and give you the creative freedom to explore your story in the visual medium. Also, for us control freaks and detail divas, it gives you better control over the final outcome.

Of course I am not a photographer. My talents and experience make me qualified to be an art director, but the first thing I did was reach out to photographers in the industry. Honesty, I didn't want to do the work from front to back. I'd done it back in my marketing days and I knew what it would take to do it.

I won't go into detail about why that path didn't work, but what I will say is, based on what I wanted creatively and legally, and my experience working with commercial photographers, I made the call directly to the agency representing the model I wanted to work with, and a local photographer who, while not having cover model experience, had plenty of experience and charged per hour and gave me a buy out.

That's not something that everyone can do. I've been an art director on a set. I've called agency and know the legal issues. But it worked for me and it was a blast. Keep a fun set, keep it moving, and everyone's happy. It also meant was that instead of paying between $700-$1500 per exclusive image of my model with no merchandising and marketing rights... I paid 2 models for 2 half day sessions, my photographer for 2 from Cleveland, the studio rentals, and ended up with over 1500 images and the right to do whatever I want with images as long as it's for this series.

I'm not going to give the exact amount it cost, but the amount is less than the first round of front covers of the exclusive covers of my model.

And now that I'm testing new covers and working on the boxset, the cost savings is huge.  And keep in mind that many of the exclusive licenses have time limits, and for slow-poke writers like me, I don't lose the rights. Ever.

And bonus, I have so many images for marketing it's ridiculous. I was able to get legitimately meta.

Then there's the copyright. Normally, the photographer owns the copyright. Full stop.

Authors need to understand that and trace the ownership of the images they use in their marketing. Which was hard a year ago, and going to be even harder going forward with AI art. When yo know who owns it, then you have to get the rights, and obey the rights, But, when you do the photoshoot yourself, and do it work-for-hire, it's not an issue.

Which means I own enough pictures to recover for over 20 years with the same people in different poses. I may change the tone of my covers, but the people will be the same. Which saves me money. A lot of money. And the images will never be mistaken for someone else's book.

When the book is a series it makes sense. When you have a primary skill set it makes sense. When you are a child with an inability to share it doesn't make sense, but it's slightly understandable. And when your models are absolutely lovely, it's fun enough that sense flies out the window.

-Kat

[jacqueillustrates]

[kirnet]

An ex-Jedi, and ex-assassin, a steamy tale of romance in Nar Shaddaa's underbelly. Read the TRUE robe-ripping account of the heroes of the Republic and the founders of the new Jedi Order.

...Maybe there's a nugget of truth in there. Somewhere.

[tanlotts]

Detectives 🖤

[sunflowerofchaos]

Okay enough time has passed for me to throw my two cents into the Bridgerton discourse. Many are displeased with the season and part 2 specifically. I have been trying to piece together what my issues were with it and I hope that someone can find this and maybe find something that clicks as to why the season may have been disappointing.

I am a big polin stan. In fact I started watching for and because of them. Totally believed in the supremacy of their story because of their adorable friendship and the long build up ever since the pilot.

I loved part one. That will be controversial but I truly did. Was the pacing a bit off? Yes it was!

But did it give us the romcom atmosphere, the yearning, the love? Yes definitely! I'll even argue that part one, the going from "friendship to love" is done more beautifully in the show than in the book. People said one kiss is all it takes for Colin but that's really not true in the show. If you take account of the history we have because of season 1 and 2 it doesn't feel that way.

And the funny thing is that despite part one having a bunch of side plots, it worked. It was walking on the edge of being too much but it didn't cross the line.

Not yet anyways... so here are my 6 big errors of part 2

Like everyone I was way too hyped after the carriage scene, which leads to..

Error number 1: The break after the carriage scene set the bar too high. The long break filled with press and interviews further hyping up part 2 after that high consequently did damage to the reception of part 2. I believe that almost anything after the carriage would appear as a let down due to the wait. That's kind of unfair to the show I know, but it also makes sense as we, the audience would have abnormally high expectations that are difficult to please.

Part 2 is flawed and there is no arguing that. The beginning of it felt like a let down due to the split right after the carriage scene aka the climax of part 1 (pun intended) but fine objectively speaking episode 5 and 6 are nice. But then comes error number 2, the fact that we have 2 episodes where their love is clouded by the secret of lady whistledown. I feel like that was problematic to the pacing of part 2 (which is a problem in itself). The tension in episode 5 was necessary but also so much. So much that Colin literally questions her feelings. Then episode 6 instead of lifting that cloud sooner, continues to sour the polin scenes until the very end of the episode. The reveal should have been earlier in episode 6, so they have time to properly heal and be happy. (Seperate errors that I will adress)

Error number 3 is how the wedding fell under the dark cloud of the angst. I was wishing it would be the happy wedding of bridgerton and it was happier than Daphne's or Anthony's (not that we saw the real one) but the queen disrupting the wedding felt like another punch. One more time we were close to seeing their happiness but couldn't. (Something we barely get to see at all)

Then error number 4 (my personal enemy). The pacing of the conflict and healing. The way Colin was hurting was amazingly portrayed by Luke and I even understand how Colin wanted to hurt Pen with the entrapment comment and unlike many I won't hate him for it at all. But one thing where the writing really failed me is how polin shared a number of scenes that could've had a bigger role in their healing but ultimately didn't. I will list the scenes and how EVERYTIME we think they are a step closer to healing, they go back to square one and how that effects the scene where they eventually do "heal".

Exhibit A: The modiste scene. Beautiful confrontation and it really set up the possibility of them talking through it more but then it ends abruptly with Colin shutting down (however I'm inclined to give this one some saving grace because at least they talk)

Exhibit B: The wedding. Colin once again gives us hope that perhaps they're closer to making up but when Colin walked away with Pen and they had a second confrontation where she states that she is lady whistledown, I expected Colin to at least accept that statement and not revert back to being in denial about it afterwards and shutting down again. This could've been the scene where Colin starts to accept them as one. (Not to take away from the letters scene but it would have been a great foundation for it)

Exhibit C: The bedroom scene. Ah my personal nominee. This scene could've been so much more and no I don't mean a sexy scene. This scene could've been thee scene where they talk. It would've felt more powerful to have the talk that they have in Bridgerton house in their bedroom instead. I can't stress how it would've fit perfectly and been book compliant. If they had utilized this scene better, then polin being at Fran's wedding the next day would've have felt more emotional and helped convince us of them gradually solving the conflict. Netflix, that wouldn't even take from your running time. Pen could've confronted him there as she did in the book. Colin could've faced his jealousy right then and there instead of having Cressida point it out for him and still not facing it.

Exhibit D: Bridgerton house. Yes they do talk here and you can see that scene as the one where they settle things prior to the ball, BUT one it is too close to the end and it feels cut short which frankly doesn't seem enough for the viewers to believe that they now have joined hands. This scene was personally not enough for me. I think if you expand the conversation it would be much better or again if you put this dialogue in the bedroom scene it would have been powerful and helped the pacing as the bedroom scene was in the first half of the finale and this one way too close to the ball.

You'll see that every scene post reveal is following the same frustrating pattern of them brushing over the problem. You in turn get your hopes up for it to develop further into forgiveness, then voila Colin shuts down and goes back to square one. That was extremely frustrating for me as a viewer as it happened multiple times, especially since it seems ridiculous to leave the conflict in the air till the last 10 minutes when they have had several opportunities to solve it sooner. Colin's peace at the end comes too suddenly as those previous scenes don't see him gradually make peace with the matter but always shutting down and running. Those scenes could have been used to show the steps of him gradually getting over it, forgiving her and facing himself.

Error number 5. The side plots and overall pacing.. As I said part 1 walked the fine line but part 2 crossed it. What do you mean that we get more scenes of secondary characters than polin getting over their conflict and having some time to see their happiness. That messes with the pacing, making part 2 seem to want to cram up as much plot as possible. You have Francesca's love match, Benedict's exploration, Eloise's general conflict and dynamic with Cressida, Cressida's own story, Violet's arc, lady Danbury and her brother's conflict, the Mondrichs arc, the solicitor, queen etc...

This season was simply TOO ambitious for its own good. It tried to do too much. Suddenly it didn't feel like polin season but rather the season to set everything up for the next season and that really hurts as a polin fan.

Finally error number six which is by far the most famous error. The lack of happy polin. As I explained episode 5 and 6 while showed some happiness it didn't feel real because of the secret constantly hanging around. They were happy but you as a viewer might have felt more worried and had a more bittersweet feeling. Especially when you see Colin get more and more anxious and insecure during those episodes. Then episode 7 and 8 sees them miserable most of the time. That sucks even though it is necessary it still sucks. Sucks because after all that put together we don't get to see it pay off. 4 episodes of angst and they give you one scene that suddenly heals it, 10 seconds sexy scene and an epilogue scene where they suddenly have a baby. It is simply not enough to balance out the dark vibe of the entirety of part 2. That is why thousands of people are hanging onto the petition to release the deleted scenes. So we can finally see the pay off of the angst and can properly balance out the emotions that came with it and move on.

Not to mention the absolutely wasted confession of Colin Bridgerton.. when he said I love you at the end of episode 8 I was already thinking "with everything that you are, everything you have been and everything you hope to be????!!!" But then he didn't say it and I was confused as to why they would possibly not use THEE love confession??? Since that's Bridgertons thing??? Having incredible confessions... And it's not like it didn't fit in fact it would have fit so well. At this point if you squint you might imagine hearing luke continuing the line for God's sake. That remains a mystery that makes no sense to me.

So by now I don't think anyone got that far and I can't complain because I wrote this for me. To structure my thoughts and make peace with it. And so to sum up these errors: the split, the structure of episode 5/6, the wedding sadness, the way the conflict/healing was handled, the pacing with the side plots and the lack of happiness to counteract the angst. I will revisit part 1 happily and just stop after the mirror lol. I will look forward to seeing polin happy in 2 years I guess.. and I do believe that when season 4 comes out and they're happy and are hanging around we will accept season 3 way more and come to hopefully love it.

[ghostpunk79]

This is so beautifully hot <3

[moonpaw]

Fighting DEMONS rn trying not to get invested in one piece to figure out wtf you're posting about!!!!

come here cyber.... we have this thang

‎

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Our Lady Of Mysterious Ailments & The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle

books 2 & 3 in the Edinburgh Nights series

paranormal mystery set in a climate-ravaged future Scotland, plagued by ghosts and magic

follows a 15yo Black girl who’s finally gotten an in to learn scientific magic properly - but it turns out to be an unpaid internship, so she has to take more jobs delivering ghost messages and investigating mysteries to take care of her gran and little sister

in book 2 she’s investigating a strange illness centred on a magic school for boys

and in book 3 she’s attending a global magician conference held in a creepy castle - when someone’s murdered, and they’re locked in until she figures out the culprit

Zimbabwean magic, friendship, disabled characters, no romance (so far)

[lauraagrace]

It's almost a new month which means it's time to share the "shoujosei calendar" of all the releases coming out this September!

Hope you see one of your favorites releasing a new volume or discover a new series! 🥹

Please note that all dates are subject to change and that almost all information (dates and covers) are directly taken from the publisher's website!

[eli-am-confused]

Young Eddie catching a young Howard reading a romance book.

Part 1/3

This had to come out in tree parts because Tumblr said I drew too much. (Could I have stopped here? I mean yeah. But I didn’t write all those words in my notes planning out this comic for nothing)

As always, the words are after the cut.

Picture one

Howard: Oh Collin. You’re so dreamy <3

Picture two

Eddie: Hey Howie! Dinner’s ready! We’ve been callin’ ya for like an hour!

Picture three

. . .

Picture four

Eddie: Whatcha readin?

Howard: NOTHING!!!

[grapejuicegay]

Okay, friend

[solvicrafts]

I can't get over this new cover for The Last Threshold

[tricorderreading]

Jesus fucking christ, Spock: Messiah! is the weirdest fucking one yet, which is saying quite a lot

I clarify that this is not necessarily a bad thing. However, i just completed it and it felt like climbing the hill of a roller coaster slowly but steadily then a 90 degree vetical of amount of crazy action with a small peak and immediate drop to everything back to normal yaayyy which is only like 3 pages so it's the hardest break you can pull after going 100mph???

(Not to mention that I would rate this book at least an M, maybe an E just for the amount description of gore and sex stuff there is, fuckin hell. If I do another post looking deeper at the plot I will need a readmore not just because it's gonna be long but also because of what will be discussed)

Also! There are some very creative science concepts explored, and the twist at the end was actually pretty interesting. Gotta say tho, if you look at things from spock's perspective of this book instead of Kirk's, it is actually terrifying and would be extremely traumatic!!! but they play it off at the end with their usual kicks!!!! 🙉

[maybemockingbird]

Since my cozy horror, paranormal boys love romance web novel The Night Farm's first season is finally done on both Patreon and Tapas, I wanted to share the full wrap (small changes pending) to the physical edition with cover art by the amazing K. Lynn Smith! This series is perfect for fans of Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and other cozy slice-of-life games and webcomics/manga, titles like Welcome to Night Vale, Gravity Falls, and Love Tractor. Pre-orders will open for the public on the 17th and include a small pre-order discount, a bundle of fun goodies, and you can upgrade to a coffee mug bundle, too!

I'm SO excited to share the physical edition with everyone, and I urge you all to check out the series on my Patreon (the book is available for $1 a month and season two will be coming along shortly) or my Tapas (on a several week delay). I ONLY sell my books through my website, so you'll have to buy directly from me if you want a physical copy, but I ship quickly and send goodies with every package!

[lamonnaie]

hello soundwin?? 👀

[fitzrove]

Started watching a "problem with greek myth retellings" video and it began with a blurb montage like "Condemned by the misogynist guys of history, this is the true girlboss feminist story of [A WOMAN]" and like. brb writing one of those about crown prince rudolf. It's ok he's like a misunderstood girlboss to me<3