What's with the simpering come-hither book covers?

[AG31]

Back when I first got involved in reading and writing erotica (reading after a 50 year hiatus), I subscribed to Shameless and Excite Spice and joined Smashwords. I rarely look at the books on offer any more. Almost none are attractve to me, but I do take a peek occasionally. Compared to what people in AH talk about and, presumably, publish, they are incredibly juvenile to my eye. Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

 

[onehitwanda]

It's cheap.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

You don’t find scantily clad women appealing?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382819453i/18624947.jpg

 

[Audiflex]

Back when I first got involved in reading and writing erotica (reading after a 50 year hiatus), I subscribed to Shameless and Excite Spice and joined Smashwords. I rarely look at the books on offer any more. Almost none are attractve to me, but I do take a peek occasionally. Compared to what people in AH talk about and, presumably, publish, they are incredibly juvenile to my eye. Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

Erotica tastes are super personal, what feels juvenile to one person might hit the mark for another. Those flashy, scantily clad covers? They’re often about grabbing attention fast, but they don’t always match the story’s depth. If you’re looking for something more mature or layered, smaller communities or indie authors might have what you’re after.

 

[CyranoJ]

Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

I feel like you can't seriously be asking who finds scantily clad, beautiful women erotic, so I have to assume your problem here is the "simpering for the camera." Which... I also don't feel like there's much question about there being a market for that, as decades of the Playboy brand and other men's magazines have demonstrated, but I can buy that you find something especially offensive about it. So... what is that? Can you point us to an example?

(I'm not a Smashwords frequenter and it's apparently not possible to search Erotica as a genre on there. Searching by "erotic," though, I don't actually see much of a pattern in the covers in the first dozen pages of results. There are a few concepts that strike me as a bit bland and interchangeable, but I can see who they're aimed at and why. The only cover I can see that would actively drive me away from checking out the contents is one that clearly features bad, under-processed Poser art: that always screams "juvenile" to me. Doesn't seem common on Smashwords, though, I only ran across one example.)

 

[lovecraft68]

Back when I first got involved in reading and writing erotica (reading after a 50 year hiatus), I subscribed to Shameless and Excite Spice and joined Smashwords. I rarely look at the books on offer any more. Almost none are attractve to me, but I do take a peek occasionally. Compared to what people in AH talk about and, presumably, publish, they are incredibly juvenile to my eye. Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

The ocean of e-books is vast, and when people are scrolling all they'll see is a thumbnail size version of your cover and a title. That cover better be sexy enough to get them to stop and want to click, and let's face it, some elegantly dressed woman with a guy handing her a rose isn't doing it on an erotica platform, they want to see something sexy.

Just because the cover is sexy/sleazy doesn't mean the story may not have something to it. Just like here where some titles are absurdly 'porno' to get people to click, but the story has more depth than you would think.

 

[AG31]

The ocean of e-books is vast, and when people are scrolling all they'll see is a thumbnail size version of your cover and a title. That cover better be sexy enough to get them to stop and want to click, and let's face it, some elegantly dressed woman with a guy handing her a rose isn't doing it on an erotica platform, they want to see something sexy.

Just because the cover is sexy/sleazy doesn't mean the story may not have something to it. Just like here where some titles are absurdly 'porno' to get people to click, but the story has more depth than you would think.

I guess it's the expressions on the women's faces. Does anyone think that is sexy???

 

[lovecraft68]

I guess it's the expressions on the women's faces. Does anyone think that is sexy???

I doubt its their face people are focusing on.

 

[AG31]

but I can buy that you find something especially offensive about it. So... what is that? Can you point us to an example?

Well, you're certainly right, and that's why I made the post. For several years I've tried to pin down my definite aversion to "simpering" in women and "sissification" in men. When I describe my own tastes I tend to add "dignity." It's a strong enough feeling on my part that I wish I could pin it down better.
As for examples, just about all of the covers on the daily Shameless and ExciteSpice e-mails.

it's apparently not possible to search Erotica as a genre on there.

In the upper right, click on Include mainstream erotica (or all erotica) and then...

.... in the list on the left, click erotica. You can click on sub categories after that.

 

[lovecraft68]

When I describe my own tastes I tend to add "dignity."

You realize more than a few genres deal in lack of dignity as a kink.

We all have our own tastes, and its seems yours are a bit more highbrow than the average porn customer.

I'll take simpering and sissified over the covers featuring women with dogs any day, and there are a lot of those on SW

 

[SmokingFap]

You don’t find scantily clad women appealing?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382819453i/18624947.jpg

Fuck! Look at the wings on that pterodactyl. I bet his cock is HUGE.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

You don’t find scantily clad women appealing?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382819453i/18624947.jpg

This cover looks tame compared to the stuff that Dr. Chuck Tingle has put out there.

 

[CyranoJ]

In the upper right, click on Include mainstream erotica (or all erotica) and then... [etc]

Oh, neat! Thanks for the info.

 

[SimonDoom]

I guess it's the expressions on the women's faces. Does anyone think that is sexy???

If the expression says, "Yes," then I think the answer by many, if not most, is also, "Yes."

 

[SimonDoom]

That cover reminds me of the cheesy 60s movie One Million Years, B.C. with Raquel Welch as a cavewoman running around in a loin cloth bikini. A completely absurd movie that mixes humans and dinosaurs, but she does look good. I don't recall her simpering, though.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

The scantily-clad-beauty formula obviously works. Playboy magazine seldom strayed from it on their covers, and that’s a financial decision.

I agree the look on their faces can be off. Maybe their lustful look becomes more like ‘Hide the Pain Harold’ after a long photo shoot?

The romance category is even more consistent with their covers than ‘spicy’ erotica. If it isn’t Fabio, then it’s a couple embracing.

View attachment 2517228

For info, the pictured cover is not a romance book, it’s a comedy, but there’s plenty of silly romance covers out there.

 

[AG31]

I don't recall her simpering, though.

Precisely.

 

[lovecraft68]

Dr. Chuck Tingle

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I think we need more hot pterodactyl stories on Lit, just saying

 

[Britva415]

I think we need more hot pterodactyl stories on Lit, just saying

I wonder what the rules are regarding extinct animals. Doesn't say:

"Bestiality - sexual activity between humans and real-life animals will not be published; human sex with fantasy characters, monsters, furries, anthro, etc. are allowed."

 

[ChloeTzang]

The scantily-clad-beauty formula obviously works. Playboy magazine seldom strayed from it on their covers, and that’s a financial decision.

I agree the look on their faces can be off. Maybe their lustful look becomes more like ‘Hide the Pain Harold’ after a long photo shoot?

The romance category is even more consistent with their covers than ‘spicy’ erotica. If it isn’t Fabio, then it’s a couple embracing.

View attachment 2517228

For info, the pictured cover is not a romance book, it’s a comedy, but there’s plenty of silly romance covers out there.

LOL. You try to find one featuring a centaur and an Asian girl for an erotic romance cover. So hard! I might have to go the AI route for that one.

Back when I first got involved in reading and writing erotica (reading after a 50 year hiatus), I subscribed to Shameless and Excite Spice and joined Smashwords. I rarely look at the books on offer any more. Almost none are attractve to me, but I do take a peek occasionally. Compared to what people in AH talk about and, presumably, publish, they are incredibly juvenile to my eye. Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

Part of that is the cost. You can DIY, but most of us (well, me for sure) aren't any good at graphic design and designing book covers. I did try doing my own using stock images and Canva, but they weren't even okay for the most part. Mostly what I do now is I use the pre-made book covers from a couple of the book cover sites that specialize in these things and they're, I think, quite good. I mostly use bookcoverzone.com and goonwrite.com but you really have to search to find good ones, even with them.

Just some examples below - the first three I did for novels I'm finishing of now, I got them from bookcoverzone, and the last is a custom one I had done by James from goonwrite - I haven't written that one yet but I wanted the cover in front of me for inspiration..... the last couple are ones I did myself.

I suspect the thing with the simpering covers is a combination of time and cost. You rip something out, it's short and fast and you don't want to invest much time or money in a cover - you just want it out there so you go with whatever looks okay and isn't going to cost you anything much. On the other hand if you want a good cover, you have to spend time looking, and then working on it - and it's going to cost you more. The bookcover zone covers are priced at $USD99 each - the Hammered one was a custom one from goonwrite but cost a bit more - James is charging 250 Euro's for a custom cover now. And the last couple are ones I did myself just to try out a few ideas. I have to replace the images tho, because both were from movies.....

I find the real challenge is to find a slightly erotic image that matches the story a little and titallates, so that when you see the thumbnail you want to click on it. The standard stock images very rarely do that and there's also very little to differentiate your story from every other one out there - they just merge into the mass which is why its worth spending a little bit of time looking for something a bit more individual that's not quite standard.

James from goonwrite has a pretty good writeup on what makes a good cover.

Anyhow, just my thoughts and a few images to go with it.

 

[TheArsonist]

The romance category is even more consistent with their covers than ‘spicy’ erotica. If it isn’t Fabio, then it’s a couple embracing.

I don't think that's really true any more. For example, here are the books on the front page of the Romance category on Goodreads at the moment:

 

[Rob_Royale]

they are incredibly juvenile to my eye. Scantilly clad beauties simpering for the camera. Who finds that erotic????? What is the appeal??

I'm sorry, but have you ever met a man? If you have, then you have to realize how pointless your query is. The scantily clad beauties are there to try to grab the male eye, when most sites only offer a thumbnail. It goes right along with the Busty Babes of Bikini Beach sort of title, full of suggestive keywords rather than something a little more mature like Bolton Beach Adventures, that we might get away with here. When you are trying to get people to pay money for something they can likely find for free elsewhere, you have to set being artistic, aside. Or so my publisher tells me.

 

[yowser]

 

[YmaOHyd]