The Scandal of an Illustrated Cover

It always amazes me how the romance genre gets to bear the brunt of the morality of the general population. The latest “accountability push” on the genre is the illustrated covers that could be luring children into reading overtly sexual scenes which would pervert their brains into contemplating a world where women have thoughts, opinions, and dare I say, options <gasp> for sexual partners outside of the first guy that says “Hi, I like you.” 

Illustrated covers and illustrated novels have been a thing since the actual binding of novels that are either paperback or have a book jacket in the case of hardcovers. Printing illustrated covers is easier to do than to have an entire photoshoot. Most of the time, you pay a favorite artist, give some artistic direction, and VOILA! You have a book cover. Formatting is also pretty easy because you give the specifications to the artist as well. Also, if you are a non-white author, illustrated covers are a great way to ensure your characters aren’t completely white-washed, especially if you have creative control.

I’m sure back in the day when artists had to hand-draw everything, it was more complicated. With digital artistry, things can move a lot smoother and faster. It is amazing what some of these artists can come up with. I follow quite a few and their work often makes me want to write something just so I can pay for them to design a cover for it. The availability of ebooks makes their work even better. 

Anyway, enough of the fangirling for now. The point is that illustrated covers have served a purpose since having printed books in your home was a thing. Everyone expects a children’s book to be illustrated, right? However, romance novels have always had illustrations in them, including the erotic ones. That is one reason why some of them weren’t widely available. So why is there so much of an issue now? Honestly, it’s like every other reason to ban books. Controlling information (typically) means controlling minds. 

I remember reading excerpts of Fahrenheit 451 as a kid and being told that this was a dystopian future that would never happen for us. Children never know when they are being lied to, so I didn’t know about the hip hop artists of the 80’s and 90’s that were banned. I also didn’t know about the banning of writers like Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, etc. I remember watching Toni Morrison’s documentary “The Pieces I Am” (review coming soon), and Morrison talked about the first time her book was banned. She actually saw it as a compliment. Honestly, I kind of see it as a compliment as well. I don’t think I will ever be at a point where my novels will be my sole source of income, so it wouldn’t bother me that much to have a book banned. 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

This may seem extreme, right? How could a simple contemporary romance author be banned? Well, it doesn’t always have to manifest in an official ban. Bookstores, libraries, etc can just not stock your books. People can write really bad reviews that result in the loss of sales. Someone could tear you down on GoodReads or TikTok. No, it’s not an official ban but still effective. 

I actually started reading romance novels around age 12. I mostly read the contemporaries that had one sex scene in it. I would sneak and read the more steamy ones when I could though. I also remember being passed my first Zane book while in high school. Let’s not even get into what I watched on television throughout the days I was home. My parents were far from negligent when it came to the content I consumed. There was just an abundance of things to go through, so my parents knew what to be more lenient with. Books were fine most of the time because I was an avid reader. Mind you no one had an issue when some of my classmates were passing around Mein Kampf for sh!ts and giggles. Yet, I digress. 

I didn’t pick up a romance novel because it had an illustrated cover. Most of them were photos that were altered. I read some older Harlequin novels and duets that had illustrated covers, but I always knew what I was reading. People forget that children that know how to read also know what they are picking up because they read the covers. If you are a reader of chapter books, you are especially going to read the covers because why else would you invest the time in completing a chapter book. 

Also, if parents are upset that their children are reaching for these books, maybe they should stop reaching for them as well. I didn’t have my own debit card as a child, so I wasn’t buying my own books. I would have to ask an adult to buy them for me. I bought books secondhand and went to the library and found other books, but none of them were books my mother knew nothing about. Parents that like to project their child neglect on individuals that would never associate with them are hilarious. You suck as a parent, and it’s now a romance author’s fault. Fantastic. Make sure you tell them that they should blame those same authors when they are paying for therapy later. Or just start parenting better. 

Anyway, that is enough rambling for the day. Hopefully, next week I can get another review up, but…

Until next time…Later babes…

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash