The other week I asked my cover artist to do something that I don’t usually do…put naked people on my cover for Njord’s Captive (changing the name for the ebooks from Ægir’s). But being the control freak that I am, I took the time to find the ‘perfect’ characters for Kirsty, Sven, Mikael and Bjorn. And I learned some things…
If finding a sexy, curvy woman is hard, finding a man over 35 without his shirt on and that smoky hot smoldering look…is IMPOSSIBLE. So men take note…after 35 you have to stop being sexy and put your shirts on. I literally got a headache looking for Svein (new spelling too). Thanks to the real Bjørn an online friend who is helping with the Swedish as well as cultural perspectives that will make the ebooks better than the first drafts…he also helped me to find a decent Svein. But note…even he is wearing a shirt…just an open on…WTF?
So here it is…the rough draft of the cover…with watermarks of course…
Then I learned something very disappointing…when it comes to Amazon there really is such a thing as TOO NAKED. And Kirsty is in this photo… Evidently having your bits covered is not enough to keep something from being so offensive that it earns an Adult-Content warning from them.
So folks…what do YOU think? Is that cover too sexy? Do Mikael, Sven, Bjorn and Kirsty (left to right) match what you think of them? And how is Sven for sexy 40?
Tara Cox - Literary Erotica 
nope not too sexy it´s actually pretty tame also very different from the image i had in my head. they all look good but Mikael looks yummier and Bjorn just look like a prince also i thought that Kristy would look like the one you found and posted before like Merida from Brave are you going to have a second cover or is this it? 🙂
Maggie…I am not certain at this point what I am doing about the cover. I LOVE this one primarily because Kirsty is naked and curved just the way I wrote her. I especially love her tummy rolls which is a major part of the story line in terms of her insecurities. I could not go with the original pics because of copyrights…they were not stock photos. There are other pics of this girl in underwear and fully clothed so we may do that or I may put a brown paper wrapper as the cover with just heads sticking out…as a symbol of my protest against this kind of censorship. I am still thinking on it…but wanted your opinions.
Oh ok and yes Kristy is perfect body wise and i’m sorry if i sounded rude but yes i agree that the censorship on this is ridiculous. Can’t wait to see what else you have in store and i’m counting the days until the month is up
Gorgeous cover!! 🙂 They are pretty much how I imagined!! 😀
Try finding a curvy woman of color, let alone a selection…sigh…
The cover certainly grabs attention–in a good way. Personally, I say go for it. Screw Amazon’s Prude Police and make sure you make it available at other outlets that aren’t so uptight and send business their way.
I have tried that one too Jayne. I actually have a friend that I might rope into a sexy photo shoot if I can for my covers…why oh why do we only think young 20-somethings that are unhealthy thin are beautiful?!? What shocked me was finding sexy men over 35…men don’t get good until then.
Girl, I feel your pain. I got several story ideas with characters in their mid-late 30s and 40s. This is a niche that isn’t adequately represented, which is ironic because it’s only going to grow larger.
We may as well get ahead of the curve. 🙂
At the moment the cover looks very Photoshoped, but I think the characters are well represented. Personally, while I don’t think she is to much, I think the overall cover would be better if she was partially clothed. There is so much of herself that she tries to hide, I believe a physical representation of that, besides the meager covering of her hands, would be beneficial.
Thanks for that thought. You made a good point. My cover artist and I are playing with it all (it truly is a ROUGH draft just like the stories I publish on Lit). Perhaps fully clothed in Captive…underwear in Bride and save that one for Wife?
I really like that idea. A great way to show how she starts to accept herself.