While You Were Spying is Getting a New Cover!

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the frustrations of finding images of interracial couples for romance covers. Like with romance covers with white models, there are lots of factors that need to be considered.

I’m not going to repeat them. You can read about them here.

And then there are additional factions that need to consider when dealing with interracial couples, such as picking the correct gender and race for the two individuals, as well as their appearance.

As much as I love the current couple on the While You Were Spying cover (okay, it's his abs that I probably love most about the guy lol), they never felt like Jayden and Isabelle.

Now, this wouldn’t be a big deal (ignoring, for now, the Black Lives Matter movement) except that I see the cover every day. And every time I see it, it’s as if Isabelle is with the wrong man.

Because she is.

And it was frustrating me.

I recently tried searching again for an image to replace the current couple with; however, I still couldn’t find anything on the stock photo sites that worked, and I couldn’t afford an exclusive image from a photographer. Those tend to start at around $800 each.

The current cover is an exclusive image, but I got it on sale, as I explained in the last blog post (it was still super expensive, though).

Fortunately, an author friend knew of my frustrations, and when she saw a premade cover in a FB group, she shared it with me. I knew the interracial couple on the cover was perfect for While You Were Spying (well, as close I could get to the Jayden and Isabelle in my head).

Not only that, I could justify the cost of the photo. It was expensive, but not as pricey as the current cover image (especially since I’ll never be allowed to use the current one for any other book, as stated in the contract).

So even though the cover will end up costing more than I would have preferred, changing the couple felt right on so many different levels. And yes, the pose matches the one that is now part of the series brand (which includes Spying Under the Mistletoe).

Unfortunately, the photographer still has to edit the photo before I can replace my current couple with it. And because she’s going on vacation soon and is popular, the new cover won’t be available for another two months (i.e., late September).

But don’t worry, it is coming.

And then whenever I see the new cover, I won’t feel like Isabelle is with the wrong man. She’ll finally—spoiler alert—be with the man she falls in love with in the book.