More than an actual illustration of a scene from the book, we’re usually looking for something that captures the spirit, the mood, the theme, the tone. Still, that’s something.īut a great cover? A cover that catches your eye and makes you wonder about the story between the pages? A cover that piques your curiosity, starts your imagination? That’s what we all want and hope for when we open that first cover concept file. They advertise that the publisher or author cared enough to purchase a real cover. They are simply code for the content within. The ubiquitous two male torsos locked in embrace is so generic as to be invisible.

These are people who forget that so much of our response to art - including a book cover - is instinctive and unconscious.Įven a competent cover that just doesn’t work for reasons that are entirely subjective can actually delay our purchase of a book we plan on buying. It never ceases to amaze me how many authors think their first attempt at using photo shop will be good enough for their treasured novel. Probably more important if the author is unknown, but even if the author is a known quantity, a good cover matters.Ī bad cover - by which I mean a clumsy, inept effort - sends the message that this is the work of an amateur. I think it is enormously important to the success of a book. One of the best parts of publishing my own work is getting to control things like cover art. She is an EPIC Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), an Edgar nominee, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All-Time Favorite M/M Author award.įind other Josh Lanyon titles at Follow Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. In 2019, Fatal Shadows became the first LGBTQ mobile game created by Moments: Choose Your Story. The Adrien English series was awarded the All-Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list).

Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. Her FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, then the largest romance publisher in Italy.

Author of nearly ninety titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON’S work has been translated into eleven languages.

In Other Words...Murder by Josh Lanyon