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The saying goes that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. And while I agree with the metaphorical meaning of this—don't judge people or places based on how they look—when it comes to romance covers, readers absolutely do judge the book by its cover. And they should!
Romance covers tell a reader what type of romance they're about to read. By type, I'm talking sub-genre and steam level, two of the most important factors readers consider when looking for books to buy.
So how do you choose a romance cover that accurately shows readers what to expect from your romance novel? You follow the steps below.
Define your romance novel's sub-genre
For those who don't know (and it's okay if you don't; romance has a lot of jargon), a sub-genre is a specific type of romance that is defined by the story's setting, characters, tropes, or a combination of all three.
There are many, many sub-genres with their own cover trends; below, I've given you a list, organized by what I call "umbrella sub-genres," aka bigger sub-genres under which the smaller ones fit. Contemporary Romance
Amish Romance
Billionaire Romance
Dark Romance
Mafia Romance
Gothic Romance
Horror Romance
Medical Romance
New Adult Romance
Romantic Comedy
Sports Romance
Inspirational Romance
Western/Cowboy Romance
Young Adult Romance
Paranormal Romance
Witch Romance
Vampire Romance
Monster Romance
Shifter Romance
Historical Romance
Ancient World Historical Romance
Medieval Historical Romance
Scottish Historical Romance
Regency Historical Romance
Edwardian/Victorian Historical Romance
Frontier/Western Historical Romance
Gilded Age Historical Romance
Time Travel Historical Romance
Paranormal Historical Romance
Sci-Fi Romance
Alien Romance
Fantasy Romance
Historical Fantasy Romance
Romantasy
Cozy Fantasy Romance
Cozy Fantasy Monster Romance
Once you've figured out where your novel fits, the next step is to figure out where it sits on the heat/steam scale, because that also affects how your cover should look.
Define your romance novel's steam level
Unlike your romance blurb, the language of which will depend on whether your story is wholesome/clean/sweet/closed door; steamy/spicy; smutty; or erotic, with romance covers, there are really only two steam choices: none, and sex on the page. At least right now, there isn't much difference between covers for romances with some sex (open door), lots of sex (steamy/spicy), and loads of sex (smutty).
Wholesome/clean/sweet/closed door romances, depending on your sub-genre, probably won't show your main characters in the classic "clinch" pose, where they have their arms wrapped around each other and their bodies are pressed close. There will be some distance between them—that is, if there are in fact characters on the cover (because some wholesome/clean/sweet/closed door romances have settings on the cover instead). And the characters will be clothed.
Romances with sex on the page, again depending on sub-genre, are more likely to show couples holding each other close, or to show one of the main characters in a state of undress—hence the proliferation of romances with shirtless men on the cover.
Define your romance novel's relationship dynamics
If your novel features a same gender relationship (like f/f/, or m/m) or polyamory (like reverse harem), this will, like your sub-genre and steam level, also affect the way your cover looks.
For example, if you were writing steamy m/f billionaire contemporary romance, your cover should feature an attractive man in a suit, front and centre; however, if you're writing steamy f/f billionaire romance, then your cover should probably feature an attractive woman in a suit/formal work attire front and centre.
Below is a list of all the romance relationship dynamics that affect cover choice:
f/f (aka women loving women, aka lesbian)
m/m (aka gay romance)
f/f/m (aka two women and one man)
mmf (two men and one woman)
mmmf (three men who may or may not also be interested in each other, and one woman; this is also called reverse harem)
mmmmf (same as the above, but with four men)
polyamorous (an undefined number of partners of multiple or the same genders, depending on the story)
Research your romance novel's niche
With all the information from the first three steps, you're ready to do market research, which means looking at books in your sub-genre, at your steam level, with your relationship dynamics, and seeing what their covers look like so you can figure out how to make yours fit in with the crowd, so readers know right away what to expect and why to buy it.
Tools like Kindle Trends and Publisher Rocket make this type of market research a heck of a lot easier—Kindle Trends sends a weekly and monthly newsletter with cover montages from specific categories in Amazon's Kindle store—but you can also just do this the old fashioned way, by hopping over to Amazon, flipping through the categories until you find yours, and seeing what the covers look like.
Search for patterns—are there specific colour schemes and fonts? Do most covers feature a main character on the cover, or all main characters? Or do the covers feature settings related to the story instead? And, most importantly, is the cover photo-realistic, or illustrated?
Decide if you're going to commission a made-to-order romance novel cover, or choose a premade one
Now that you know what your cover needs to signal and how it should look, you're ready to do the fun part: choose your cover!
Well, almost. You have one decision left to make. Do you make your own cover, go for a pre-made cover, or choose a made-to-order one?
The graphic design involved in making romance novel covers is usually pretty advanced, especially if you're writing monster romance, where the covers usually feature illustrated monsters in clinch poses with their lovers, or fantasy, where the standards are high and have to hold up against BookTok expectations. And while you can teach yourself book cover design, it's a length process, and one you're probably better off outsourcing to an expert who knows about photograph and image copyrights and which fonts work best for specific sub-genres.
Pre-made covers are ones you can purchase from designers directly, or from marketplaces that sell many designers' pre-mades. Pre-mades are great if you're on a budget, but they do take some searching, and you might not find one that fits with the details of your book, like characters, setting, etc. Websites for premades include Rocking Book Covers, Furious Fotog, Alt19 Creative, Beetiful Book Covers, and Self Pub Book Covers.
Bespoke or made-to-order covers are unique book covers made by a designer who you give details about your book to (basically, all the ones we just went through) so they can create a unique cover just for you. They are more expensive, but if you can afford it, I recommend getting a bespoke cover, because you get to decide exactly how you want it to look (with your designer's input, of course), and make sure it accurately and beautifully reflects the story you've worked so hard on.
I hope this article has helped you find the best cover for your romance novel, but if you're struggling to determine your book's sub-genre, steam level, or aren't sure if the cover you've purchased or created matches them, head over to my shop and get yourself a cover critique.
Until next post, happy reading and writing!