The Interracial Romance Cover Conundrum

If you have read While You Were Spying, you know that the hero, Jayden, is a hot Black man. However, the cover model is white.

By white, I mean he gives Snow White a run for her money.

There’s a reason for this. A frustrating reason.

When I designed the cover, I had a specific image in mind because the story is a romantic comedy. Most of my books have man-chest covers and feature only the hero.  I wanted to do something different this time.

I wanted the series to have a couple on the covers. In retrospect, that was probably a dumb idea for several reasons (which I’m not going to get in to).

Since the book is a steamy romantic comedy, I wanted the cover to be light and sexy but not overly sexy.

I didn’t want the man to be big and beefy. I wanted him to be on the athletic side, but not a bodybuilder.

I wanted an image that had plenty of white space around the models (i.e., not cropped too close, with parts of their heads and bodies missing). This would make it easier to brand the covers in the series.

And the last requirement?

I wanted the couple to be isolated on white so I could easily change the background. I could have removed the individuals from a regular background, but it’s harder. Plus, having them initially on a white background meant the lighting on the models would be similar between the covers. That wouldn’t be the case if some of the images were shot outside.

Now, let me tell you, finding a white couple that fit these criteria was hard enough. Locating a picture that matched these requirements with a pretty, dark-haired white woman and a hot Black man was impossible.

Nothing worked—and it didn’t matter if the couple was white or interracial. I was so frustrated that I was tempted to leave the cover blank (other than the title and my name).

I gave up searching on the photo stock sites and tried my luck with exclusive photos. But they’re super expensive, and I’m not one of those lucky authors who can afford them. This also meant that hiring a photographer, models, hairstylist, and makeup artist was out, too.

The other issue with the exclusive images that are shot against a plain background is the females are often only wearing a bra (with panties or shorts) and the lighting is dark. Neither of these matched what I wanted when it came to my rom-com cover.

Eventually, I stumbled across the image (by Regina Wamba) that is on the cover of the book.

As soon as I saw the exclusive photo, it was love at first sight. The way the female gazes at the guy and the emotion in her eyes instantly sold me on the picture. The pose and lighting were perfect for the cover, too. However, the man was white and blond. The only thing he and Jayden had in common was the athletic body.

Because I was taking one of Regina’s cover design courses at the time, I received a fifty percent discount on the photo of the couple (the background was a separate image from a photo-stock site). It was still expensive, but nothing like it would have been.

Now, you might be wondering, “Stina, why didn’t you just have someone create an illustrated cover? Then you wouldn’t have this problem.”

True.

But here’s the thing. I’m not a fan of illustrated covers. I don’t buy romance novels with them. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

I do, however, love object covers, but they aren’t used for romantic comedies.

Next year, I’ll be re-releasing I Need You Tonight (Pushing Limits #3), once I get the series rights back from my publisher. Mason is Black. He’s Black on the current cover (at my request). He will be Black on the new cover. The updated covers for the series will still only have male models on them, which will significantly increase my options when it comes to images. Plus, my requirements for those covers are different compared to my rom-com ones.

So there you have it. If I could afford it, I would love to hire a photographer to shoot the cover for While You Were Spying, using the pose on the current cover and models who are similar to my hero’s and heroine’s descriptions. 

But alas, that’s one of those dreams that will never turn into reality.

For authors who write sexy interracial romances, the lack of good stock photos for book covers and marketing graphics is both a real problem and disappointing.

I’m hoping the Black Lives Matter movement will not only end racism, it will lead to an increase in stock photos of hot Black and interracial couples. Sexy stock photos that romance authors who write steamy interracial romances will be able to use on their covers and marketing graphics.

Stina

PS If you’re reading this and you’re a photographer, I hope you got the hint. Romance authors are starving for these images!

(Note: since I wrote this post, I’ve found a great photographer with the perfect interracial couple image for the book. So While You Were Spying will be getting a new cover late September. For more information, check out this blog post.)