(Newswire.net — September 10, 2013) Portland, Oregon —
As you scroll through the pages and pages of romance novels available for Amazon Kindle, what jumps off the screen is skin – lots and lots of skin. Some is decorated in tattoos, while other skin is clad in skimpy lace. There are heated embraces and a lot of touching that appear on a romance cover too. But if you take a look at the covers of AJ Harmon’s ‘First Class’ series, you’ll notice there’s not much skin at all. In fact, AJ doesn’t believe in the stereotypical romance book cover. She’s breaking with tradition.
“I’ve read romance novels for years,” AJ admitted. “And the worst thing about them is the cover. There were times I was too embarrassed to read them in public, on my work lunch hour or on an airplane. I didn’t want people thinking I read that kind of trash. And it’s sad because so often the story that is behind the cover is everything I want to read in a story and all the cover does is depict garbage. I didn’t want that for my books.”
The ‘First Class’ series is the story of a family; a mother, a father, and seven sons. Each son has a story and AJ was obviously very proud of her covers as she pulled the paperbacks from the shelf.
“There are nine books in the series, so nine covers to be designed. Each cover is very personal and each cover gives insight to the story the pages contain. For example, my husband and I stood in the pouring rain for hours to capture what I believe is the perfect photo for the ‘First Class toPortland’ cover. Yep!” she stated proudly, “We took that photograph. Then we handed it over to our brilliant graphics guy and he turned it into the cover.”
When asked if she felt the covers didn’t represent the romance genre she had chosen to enter as a writer, AJ animatedly defended her choice.
“I hope that my stories give the readers everything they are looking for in an escape. After all, that’s why we read right? To escape form the day to day humdrum into a world of fantasy? While my novels contain sexual intimate moments, that is not the whole story and if it was, then it wouldn’t be worth reading, at least not for me, anyway. I like love and romance and courtship and emotion, and sex is just a fraction of that, but when I see a cover that looks like a still shot from a porn movie, I’m not really expecting there to be much substance in the pages. At least, that’s what my experience has shown.”
One of the most personal covers is on First Class Hero, book number five in the series. It is the story of Paul Lathem, a Navy Seal.
“The photo is of my soon-to-be son-in-law, who serves his country in the Navy. I thought it was perfect to have him on the cover, not some model who’d never given a day in service of yours and my freedom. I think the cover depicts his courage and his commitment to the military and that is what the story is all about. Yes, it’s still a romance novel, but if it just had two naked bodies on the front would it depict the depth of emotion I was trying to deliver? Not in my opinion. I know that there is a science to building a cover and I’ve heard the statistics that say more books are sold the more provocative the cover is. I felt like I really stretched as far as I could go on First Class Rescue, and even that made me a tad uncomfortable and you know what? The sales are about the same. I believe I can write a good story and keep my integrity with the covers I am comfortable with.
“I know there are people who have a hard time picturing images in their head. That’s why realtors stage homes so that potential buyers don’t have to work at all to imagine themselves living in the house. But if a reader will only buy a novel based on the amount of skin exposed on the cover, my stories are probably too deep for them anyway. If its smut and no substance they’re looking for, they should just skip my books and go find a cover with Fabio on it.”
To Learn More About First Class Novels by AJ Harmon Visit Her Website At: http://FirstClassNovels.com