[Need to catch up? Read The Dark Side of Romance Covers, Part I]

Case study: sci-fi romance book cover art

The evolution of science fiction romance cover art is fascinating. Back in the day, one could barely determine the genre from the cover. If a sci-fi romance came from an SF publisher, it tended to have an SF-style cover. If it came from a romance publisher, it tended to have a traditional romance cover (e.g., a bare-chested man, which at one point was the signature cover design for paranormal romance). Rare was the cover design that united both the SF and romance elements in a way that cut across publishers.

Catherine Spangler’s Shielder is a good example of how much the sci-fi romance cover trend has changed. The original cover, pictured below, has romantic island getaway vibes, whereas the rebooted cover has a strong futuristic vibe.

Beginning in the late 2000s, SFR readers and authors (including yours truly) advocated for covers that more accurately reflected the genre, especially since SFR included aliens, cyborgs, futuristic characters such as soldiers and mercenaries, and BIPOC characters. Up until then, sci-fi romances had either been masked behind standard romance covers like the original version of Shielder or ones that made the stories look like paranormal romances. Even the main characters against a starry background would signal SFR better than a man’s naked chest or a couple frolicking on an Earth-like beach.

Many SFR fans wondered what publishers had to hide by not embracing the genre’s various elements on the covers themselves. Of course, the nature of SFR itself was evolving at the time, so the cover issues might also have reflected publishers’ struggle to market this newish, blended genre.

Then again, SFR wasn’t that new and marginalized people of all kinds had been a part of both SFF and romance fandoms for decades, so what was the problem? Did the diverse and sometimes political nature of sci-fi romance threaten publishers in some way, to the extent that they tried to distance themselves from the very SFRs they were releasing?

To wit: The Science Fiction Romance That Harlequin Doesn’t Want You To Know About. Susan Grant’s Sureblood is an SFR about space pirates and yet the white, bare-chested man on the cover looks like he’s stepping out of the shower. Fine for a contemporary or even paranormal romance, but nothing about it indicates the story is a future-set romance.

In cases like these, publishers do readers a disservice by masking what type of story they’re selling. If I’m in the mood for a fantasy romance with magic and swords, the last marketing tool I need is a bare-chested man cover that signals a supernatural paranormal romance.

Not only does the publisher risk losing a sale, as a consumer I have to wonder what message this relentless marketing—bombardment, really—of bare-chested white heroes is sending. Muscular white men reign supreme, is that it?

After extensive online discussion in the romance community, a distinct style emerged for SFR covers. Epublishing was on the rise and someone, somewhere decided that they could risk making cover designs that blended a story’s SF and romance elements (e.g., couples holding futuristic weapons or couples against a spaceship background). Photoshop and stock images made this combination possible, easier, and, of course, cheaper.

Compare the cover of Susan Grant’s Sureblood to that of her later book Star Champion, which had a cover that clearly broadcasted the story’s SFR elements right out of the gate:

The original cover for Linnea Sinclair’s Games of Command was illustrated because it came from an SF publisher. Great if one loves action and tech, but the romance vibe is nigh undetectable.

After a new style of SFR covers was established, Sinclair’s publisher re-branded the covers to more effectively market them to romance readers:

Yet even when an SFR cover does reflect the genre, the results sometimes work against an author’s book. The problem with stock image covers isn’t the images—it’s that some folks just don’t have the skillset to make quality covers with them.

In Can This Technically Flawed Cover Be Saved? I analyzed the issues surrounding the cover for Elizabeth Lang’s The Empire. Seeing the original cover broke my heart because small press authors put a lot of work into their books, so they deserve best practices regarding cover design. (I know Elizabeth Lang did because I read The Empire.)

Authors need every competitive edge they can get and flawed cover design won’t do them any favors. The case of The Empire cover exemplifies why sometimes an author or publisher simply has to spend a certain amount of money for any kind of return on investment. Otherwise, they risk sending the message that they don’t respect their authors and readers.

But given the huge pool of talented cover designers, there can be a happy ending for a cover with questionable efficacy—it can be remade. Here are the before and after covers for Lang’s book:

The difference is astonishing, isn’t it? I think we can all agree on which version would do a better job of convincing readers to buy the book.

Here ends part two. To keep reading about the unsavory underbelly of romance cover art, read The Dark Side of Romance Covers, Part III.