I like designing covers. But creating covers for dirty books is still a challenge I’m not sure I’ve solved. I’ve done a number of covers for other authors in various genres, but when it comes to dirty books, I struggle to find a balance between compelling, sexy, and related to the content of the book.
Here’s a gallery of my covers (for my own books). For some of them I tried to go with typical genre covers (brorotica for example) while for others I wanted something more subtle. With Hana I tried a clever (well, I thought it was clever) text only version that is made from the first page of the story. I can’t say it worked, although I like it. Simply Smut is supposed to be simple–like the title. That books did do better once I simplified the cover. Pill X is supposed to just feel like porn, and I suppose it does. Personally I think Babysitter is probably the prettiest, sexiest, and most accurate cover (they fuck on a white couch).
I like most of these, but I still wonder what it would take to create a branded, sexy, distinctive, and compelling series of covers. Could I come up with a distinctive Guy New York cover style that would sell more books?
What do you look for in a cover for a dirty book? Do you have favorites that just compelled you to instantly buy the book? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
ps. As a side note, I changed Camping With the Boys to Camping with the Guys, because it was getting hidden on Amazon. I suspect “camping” and boys” brought up too many boy scout related things, and they decided it shouldn’t also bring up a dirty book. It’s much easier to find now.