Today I am so pleased to welcome Charley Descoteaux to Joyfully Jay. Charley has come to talk to us about covers and her books Buchanan House and The Pinch of the Game.ย She has also brought along copies to give away! Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Every Cover Tells a Story
Thank you, Jay, for having me back! I hope itโs not too clichรฉ to talk about cover art on your blogโI love cover art, and fangirling over the amazing artists I get to work with.ย ๐
Earlier this year I did a lot of research to figure out what to ask for on the covers of my three books on Dreamspinnerโs release schedule for 2015. I probably shouldโve done that a couple of years ago, but we live and learn. Especially after hearing that covers I thought were perfect really werenโt telling the right story.
One article (I want to say it was written by Jordan Castillo Price, but I canโt find it) described the function of cover art as communicating the genre of the book to the reader. This was a lightbulb moment for me. I love a hot and sexy Romance cover but that post got me thinking beyond the sexy hunks, and focusing on the most telling details. Every Romance isnโt created equally, after all.
For my June release, The Pinch of the Game, a paranormal adventure Romance (in that order) I needed a cover that fit the story: enemies to lovers with a heavy dose of magick and mayhem. AngstyG gave me this gorgeous high-contrast cover. Itโs very different from almost every cover out thereโwhich, I hope, says that the story isnโt a typical paranormal Romance. I love that it looks like an art nouveau-inspired pack of playing cards.
Buchanan House, though, is a very different story. Itโs a contemporary Romance, pure and simple. A much sweeter story than Iโve written in the past, the cover needed to reflect that. L.C. Chase did an amazing job capturing the feeling of a relaxing beach holidayโfrom the clear sky and calm waves to the simple font and informal garden surrounding the camp house. This isnโt exactly the way I pictured Buchanan House and its gardens, but thatโs far less important than evoking the right feelingโtelling the right story on the cover. Every time I look at this cover I wish I were sitting at that table, watching the waves (or the hunks). Maybe Iโll get the hang of this after all.
How did I do at choosing covers for these two stories?
I have more books in the pipeline so Iโm going to shamelessly enlist your help to get the best covers for them.
If you could design an M/M Romance cover, what would it look like?
Answer in the comments for a chance to win a copy of either of my new releases, Buchanan House or The Pinch of the Game. If the winner already has both, they can choose an ebook from my backlist.
Excerpt
Eric didnโt realize he was staring at Alex until he heard Mariaโs breathless โOh my good Lord.โ Alex froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. Eric glanced at Maria, who stared toward the kitchen, her mouth slightly open.
โWell, hello there.โ Tex grinned. โAnd who might you be, handsome?โ
Eric followed Texโs line of sight and thought Timโs expression mirrored Alexโs. Nathan and Paulie turned, and it creeped Eric out a little, how quickly their expressions morphed into naughty.
โTim.โ For a long moment, thatโs all Eric could get out. Before Nathan could give him any hell over it, he forced himself to stand and finish his thought. โWe didnโt expect to see you today.โ
โHad the time, so I thought Iโd join the work party. If you need an extra pair of hands.โ
Eric crossed the room, every step a little faster than the one before it. He didnโt want to be anywhere near the horrible people who moaned and sighed and mumbled over that. โThatโs so nice of you. Have some breakfast first. Oh, and meet everyone.โ
The closer Eric got to Tim, the hotter his face felt. Damn Nathan and Paulie and their uncouth natures, making Eric think of Timโs handsโฆ. By the time he turned back to look at everyone, sitting around the table looking like a bunch of fat cats with canaries in their mouths, Eric knew his face was red. โEveryone, this is Tim. Heโs been fixing things around here. Heโs a professional handyman.โ
Eric glared at the people he had so generously mischaracterized as family. The lovely people who obviously wanted to take everything he said in the naughtiest way possible. It wasnโt Timโs fault a dayโs growth of stubble made him even more ruggedlyโ
โThese horrible people are my familyโand I use the term loosely. You know Nathan, and thatโs Paulie, Tex, Maria, and Alex.โ It took a lot of self-control not to stick his tongue out at them, but that wouldnโt have helped one bit.
Tim smiled, as much as Tim ever smiled, which was not much. He nodded toward the far end of the table and said, โGood morning, ladies.โ
Alex, whoโd shrunk a good three inches when Tim appeared, seemed to grow at least five and favored him with a full-blown smile pointed right at him.
Eric thought he might cry. โWeโre having Pancakes Alex. Let me get you a plate.โ
Tim sat at the table and ate politely, but he seemed relieved when they all headed upstairs. With Tex and Maria grilling him in a way they mightโve thought subtle, and Nathan and Paulie ogling him in a way that wasnโt in the same zip code as subtle, it was a minor miracle Tim didnโt bolt for the back door. He did keep his face turned away from them for the most part. Even though that little trick of his wasnโt Ericโs favorite thing about his favorite handyman, he could see its worth in the face of the inquisition.
Blurb
Eric Allen, thirty-three-year-old line cook, moved in with his grandmother, Jewell, after a disastrous coming-out when he was in middle school. She raised him, and he cared for her when she fell ill. When Jewell died she left everything to Ericโangering his parents and older brother. The inheritance isnโt much, but Eric and his bestie Nathan pool their money and buy an abandoned hotel on an isolated stretch of the Central Oregon Coast. The hotel isn’t far from Lincoln Cityโa town with its own Pride Festival and named for a presidentโso they christen it Buchanan House after James Buchanan, the โconfirmed bachelorโ president with the close male friend.
Eric and Nathan need a handyman to help them turn Buchanan House into the gay resort of their dreams. Eric finds Tim Tate in the local listings and over the months leading to opening weekend Tim reveals himself as a skilled carpenter with many hidden talents. Eric falls hard for Tim, but before he can see a future with the gorgeous handyman he has to get over twenty years of being bullied and shamed by his birth family. It would be much easier if Ericโs brother Zach werenโt trying to grab part of the inheritance or ruin opening weekend.
Bio
Charley Descoteaux has always heard voices. She was relieved to learn they were fictional characters, and started writing when they insisted daydreaming just wasnโt good enough. In exchange, theyโve agreed to let her sleep once in a while. Charley grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a drought, and found her true home in the soggy Pacific Northwest. She has survived earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods, but couldnโt make it through one day without stories.
Rattle Charleyโs cages:
- Blog: http://cdescoteauxwrites.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charley.descoteaux.3
- Dreamspinner Author Page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=879
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharleyDescote
- Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/aqe7g7r
- Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/charleydescote/
- e-mail: c.descoteauxwrites@gmail.com
Giveaway
Charley has brought a copy of Buchanan House or The Pinch of the Game for TWOย lucky winners to give away to twoย lucky readers (winner’s choice). Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Monday, August 24th at 11:59 pm EST.
- By entering the giveaway, youโre confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- Winners will be selected by random number.ย No purchase necessary to win. ย The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
- If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
- All book prizes are in electronic format unless otherwise specified.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Readers may only enter once for each contest. ย Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
- Void where prohibited by law.
I love the cover of the Pinch of the Game. It looks so art deco-ey and stylish.ย
Thanks, CurlyQ! Isn’t AngstyG amazing? <3
She is fabulous. Many of her cover have made our Monthly Favorite Covers list.
Can’t wait to read this! Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks, Amanda, and good luck! ๐
I would do away with “headless man titty” covers – I hate them because they declare erotica (and nothing else) on more than a few deeply romantic books. I would make the covers more like those published by the big houses like Avon and Harlequin – pictures of couples, sometimes sexy, sometimes sweet, but always romantic and unabashedly advertising a gay romance. The big houses always seem to hide gay romances – when they publish them – behind bland landscape covers (think All Through The Night by Suzanne Brockman) or a plain cover that says “post-50 shades erotica” (Berkley’s printing of the Captive Prince books by CS Pacat). I just want attractive covers that show the couple, with clothing and background to hint at the setting, that declares “this is a love story”. M/M romance is plagued by bad covers, though Dreamspinner has been making strides to improve that a great deal. At least we aren’t seeing awful Poser covers anymore. A story may be amazing, but the cover is the first indicator of quality, imho, and if the cover sucks, I am gonna assume the story also sucks and I won’t buy it.
Thanks for your comment, Heather. I have to agree, very few of those headless torso covers have caught my eye. It’s too bad too, because i’m not against lovely manflesh on covers. ๐
Looking forward to reading Buchanan House. ย Thanks for the chance.
Thank you, Jennifer! Good luck in the giveaway! ๐
I find it easier to say what I don’t want or like in a cover, than how I’d like it done. The number one thing I loath is too much ย bulging muscles, a six pack saying it’s been photo-shopped and/or the model been enhanced with both oil and paint to simulate a more defined shape of muscles.
I have thing for people’s backsides though (and no, I wasn’t thinking about their butts … but rather the complete picture of shoulders, back, but and legs, clothed or naked doesn’t matter as long as it’s done tastefully). I also love a cover which focus on something other that just the romance (I would already know it is a romance of some sort from reading the blurb) and if the color theme is going toward the darker the better (I love the Dreamspinner press’ Gothika Anthology covers, all three of them. If I could get them as poster I’d frame them and put them on the wall, and oh yes, they all show male backs ;-P).
Those Gothika covers are amazing! They’re on par with the stories, which i love.
I like what you said about the back view of a character on a cover, i haven’t seen many covers with images like that but i bet it could be used with lovely results. Thanks for putting your $0.02 into the discussion, Sara! ๐
Buchanan House sounds like a great read! Can’t wait to pick it up!
Thank you, Sabrina! <3
If I had to design a cover for a novel it would depend a lot on what the book is about. I really love the cover of The Pinch of the Game, it looks perfect for the book. I normally prefer drawings to photographs. I’m so tired of seeing the same book cover models again and again….
Thanks, susana! It’s interesting that you prefer drawings, i think most Romance readers like photos more. It is much easier to have a cover show the author’s vision of the characters with a drawn cover, for sure. AngstyG got Jeffrey and Michael onto the cover of Pinch exactly the way i’d pictured them. I hear you about the cover models–a hot guy is a hot guy, but i was so happy LC Chase found a couple of guys for the cover of Buchanan House that were 1) dressed, and 2) not familiar!
I agree, let’s find some new models. ย And make the cover match the story please.
I’m with you, Laurie–more new hot guys! ๐
I’m not very creative, but I would want the cover to reflect the story. No headless model, please. No campy comic-y drawing either. Something that looks classy. Both covers of these books say classy in a different way. I like the art deco look – that would be great for something historical even. ย The cover Buchanan House say that story is low-angst & and something I would consider a beach read, or a lazy summer day book. Very lovely. Thanks for the excerpt & giveaway.
Thank you so much, Lisa! That’s the exact feeling i hoped for with the Buchanan House cover. I was so lucky to have L.C. Chase do that cover–she’s so talented!
I really like the cover for The Pinch of the Game. Unique. Please count me in. Thanks.
Thanks Karl! Good luck in the giveaway! ๐
I lvoe the covers. ย Much better than ones I have seen.
Thank you, DebraG! I’m so lucky to work with the great artists at Dreamspinner. ๐
I like eye-catching fonts, models who show chemistry together, ย and even drawn or non-representational images. Headless torsos and bad Photoshopping are no-nos!
Ah, chemistry…that’s not easy to find, but when it happens it’s irresistible. Thanks for your comment, Trix! ๐
Sometimes covers can be very misleading, and not represent the story well at all, so I try to take that into account when choosing whether to read or not. However, I will say that I also get extremely attached to covers, especially when they are favorite reads. i have seen some second releases change covers and not always for the better. I love the cover for Buchanan House, btw. ๐
I get attached to covers too, Waxapplelover. If i could, i’d hang my favorite covers all over my walls (okay, prop them up on shelves because i could never destroy a book to decorate with it!). That was easier to do before ebooks but most of those covers weren’t anywhere near as sexy! Thanks for your comment! ๐
Great covers for both books. I like how much detail is in Buchanan House and the simple but mysterious feel of The Pinch of the Game. Great direction to the fans on what the characters are suppose to look like too =)
Thanks, H.B.! I think maybe i’m getting better at it. It’s much easier for me to create with words, though. ๐
Those are very attractive covers.
You asked, “If you could design an M/M Romance cover, what would it look like?” I’d like to see a cover with an old fashioned pocket watch on it. Now you just need to write a book to match!
Thank you, Kareni!
Love your idea for a cover. In fact, i grabbed a pic from a stock photo site a while back–no plan, i just liked it–of an old pocket watch and an hourglass. Maybe i do need to write that book to match. ๐
Some of my favourite covers are from original artwork, or something that gives you a hint/or hints to the story within, and one of the covers I remember was by the artist Steve Walker. If you have seen his paintings, there are full of story potential. At the moment there is quite a lot of similiar faces used on covers, for different genres, and I think they might use headless torso’s so the cover model is impersonal/not recognised. Although you start to recognise the poses and torso’s eventually as well ๐ Thank you for the giveaway.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, August. I love Steve Walker’s paintings too, they’re very evocative. ๐