Headless Heroes

This morning I picked up the June 2009 issue of Romantic Times magazine we received last week during the 2009 RT Convention in Orlando. As I was thumbing through the issue, there was an interesting reader letter regarding "Headless Heroes" submitted by Paula L. Brummel from Victorville, CA.

Ms. Brummel's letter addressed the current trend used by many publishing companies to decapitate their heroes heads. Considering all of the novels I've read -I once read over 200 the summer before my senior year in high school -I never really thought about this. But Ms. Brummel surely did and she was particularly ticked off by what she called a publishing gimmick.

Even though I loved the heroes on everyone of Johanna Lindsey's novels back in the early 80s(I've collected all of them), which were painted by cover illustrator extraordinaire Robert Mcginnis , it really doesn't matter to me if I can see the heroes face or not.

(Covers like this ruined me to ordinary love)

A hot male model body is still a hot body with or without the body. But of course, I'm not the type of reader who makes their buying choices by the cover. In fact, I hardly notice a cover since I immediately turn the book over to read the blurb. If the blurb doesn't draw me, then the book remains on the shelf or in my case it isn't downloaded to my computer.


Ms. Brummel's desire to see the hair, eye color, and lips of the hero must have intrigued the RT magazine's editors as well because they wrote a feature story called "Decoding Book Covers" to address the issue. They interviewed Janice Rossi, artistic director for Kensington to get the down low on the creation of a romance book cover.

According to Ms. Rossi, publishers only have 3 seconds to catch the reader's interest. And supposedly there are certain non-verbal cues on every book cover that places it in a particular genre. For example in paranormals, publishers use the moon, foggy streets, or mist.

But why are publishers putting their hero's head on the virtual chopping block?

Even though I would love to spill the beans, especially since the answer is rather simple, I will have to defer to Elissa Petruzzi who did all the leg work for this article:) Romantic Times magazine can be found in most bookstores.

In the future, I hope a reader will write in and ask why the heroine's backside is always front and center.

Headless Hero: Love Him or Hate Him?

TAKE THE POLL!

• Love Him! Not seeing everything gives him a bit of mystery
• Hate Him: I want to see the WHOLE package
• Doesn't Matter: The cover of a book doesn't influence my buying decision

View Results

Koko Brown
www.kokobrown.net
http://cocobuttr72.blogspot.com

Frozen In Time Top 4 Bestseller @ All Romance eBooks

Forever I Do Top 10 Bestseller @ All Romance eBooks

Hot Topic - Heroines with more to love

If you've read any of my books you'll know that I'm a fan of the plus sized heroine. That means size 14 and above, not the Hollywood ideal that a size 10 is plus sized.

I wrote my stories with these heroines for a specific reason -- I'm writing what I want to read. Real women - no I'm not saying fat is 'real', just that a sz 14 is more realistic for the average woman than a size 4 or 6 - meeting real men who fall in love with them just as they are. Outside of Chicklit - where, face it, they usually get 'skinny' to get their ideal guy - it's damn hard to find women of size battling the bad guys, solving the crimes and saving the day. I like to write stories about women doing exactly that. (Well, saving the day maybe, suspense and crime drama storylines seem to be eluding me at the moment).

Why am I rambling on about heroines with more to love? The ladies over at Smart Bitches, of course! They had an interesting topic up over the weekend: The Plus Size Heroine - the one who's well adjusted. A topic near and dear to my heart.

Frankly, no woman is ever happy about her shape. If there's not too much, there's not enough. If the weight is right, the proportions are not. It webbles, it wobbles, and horror of all horrors... it all falls down! It's universal - fat, thin or in between. Seriously.

As a plus sized woman I don't want to read the 'I'm so fat, and he's my gorgeous gym instructor and he will only love me when I'm thin' story line. I also don't want to read the story that is 'my life is so bad because I'm fat' or the 'I'm fat so I don't deserve any better' either.

I want to read stories with kickarse heroines who save the day, who worry about all the same things every woman worries about and finds a lover who thinks a bit of junk in the trunk (or hood in my case) is just what he needs keeping him warm on a cold winters night. NOT A STORY ABOUT A FAT WOMAN.

There is a difference. A really fricking huge one (no pun intended). Confidence.

People don't like to read about size 4 Mary Sue whining her little head off about not being pretty enough, and they sure don't like reading about Mary Sue's size 18 sister Debbie Sue whining about not being skinny enough. But they do love reading stories about women who have confidence, who get on with doing what they have to to succeed/live to fight another day/beat the bad guy/save the world -- so why not have that woman be a size 18, or 16, or 20? Make your heroines as diverse as the world live in, embrace all the different sizes and colors of women the world over. Variety is the spice of life!

Romance novels are a fantasy, an escape, it's said. Well my fantasy includes a size 18/20 woman, in some kick arse, sexy as hell 3 inch heels beating the fuck out of a bad guys goolies (with the aforesaid heels), before reapplying her lipstick and making out with the hunky geek neighbour who's in absolute awe of the beautiful Amazon next door - not one of the Olsen twins on a 'fat day'.

What do you all think about Heroines - and Heroes for that matter - that don't meet the societal norms of what everyone should look like? Love em, hate em, don't really care?

PS... how much do I love Loose Id that they have a separate Full Figured Heroine Category!!