Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Conflict of Hearts

Occasionally, one of my early books is reissued in a Large Print library edition. This time, it's Conflict of Hearts, one of those ingenue/sophisticated hero books so much loved when I first started writing.

Noah Jordan was the most sophisticated hero I'd ever written and, since the story centred around a marriage of convenience, I was hoping for a "wedding cover". I had written the prettiest outfit for Lizzie French, my heroine, but when my author copies arrived I was horrified to see that my bride looked as if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, and my hero looked as if he hadn't bothered to shave, despite having laid on a lavish reception, determined that the world should think this was the real deal.

Clearly, the artist was trying to get over the fact that this was not a "happy" wedding and decided that scruffy was the way to go and the whoever chose the cover art for the Linford cover seems to have chosen the same route.

Here's the way I saw it:

Lizzie didn't see Noah again before the wedding.  Olivia bore her away to her apartment, fussed over her, took her shopping to all her favourite boutiques and clutching James French's credit cards swept aside Lizzie's desperate protestation that she really didn't need a dream outfit for a quiet wedding with just a few witnesses present.
    'The wedding dress isn't for the guests, my sweet, it's for Noah.  It should be special.  He deserves it.'
    And what on earth could she say to that?  So she submitted to gentle bullying and even she had to admit that the pencil slim skirt and tiny jacket of the suit that Olivia finally declared 'exquisite', was just that, the old ivory of the silk perfect against her peachy complexion.  The matching hat, a delicate confection of silk leaves, completed the outfit to Olivia's total satisfaction.


I am, however, feeling rather more sympathetic on the subject of cover art these days. Having spent days looking at images for the new covers for three books I'm in the process of re-issuing as eBooks, I begin to understand the desperation of those who have to provide 50+ covers every month. It's a bit like an assembly line car - you don't want to be the last book of the day.

It really is incredibly hard to find an image that pleases me, will - hopefully - engage the reader, and deliver what is between the covers. It's a work in progress.

Meanwhile, the LP edition is in a library near you. All you have to do is ask and your librarian will reserve it for you. Or, if you're in the US, you can download Conflict of Hearts to your Kindle, or other reading device.




7 comments:

Fiona Marsden said...

I haven't read this one. Shall have to look it up. Marriages of convenience come close behind reunions as my favourite type of romance.

Vince said...

Hi Liz:

What are you doing? Do you know that reverse copy, white over a black background, reduces readership by 80%? At lot of newspapers will not even allow it. Almost no direct response advertiser will do it. At least they won’t do it twice. I strongly suggest that you rethink your website design. I’m looking out for you. : )

Vince

Liz Fielding said...

I know, Vince. This isn't what I intended to do. I changed it to one of the new blogger formats that gives a magazine style look, but the photographs and most of the links disappeared and I'm getting no response from Blogger on how to fix it. I'd lost my original template and grabbed the first one that looked tidy - will go and look for something else instantly!

Liz Fielding said...

Thanks, Fiona. I love MoCs, too. Tricky to pull off these days when marriage seems to be a second thought for most people. )

Christina Hollis said...

Hi Liz
I've just tried to post and lost it, so apologies if this comment comes up twice. I'm another fan of MoC's, although a good "secret baby" story runs them a close second!

Liz Fielding said...

Only once, Christina! I love a great secret baby story, too.

Kary said...

Hola liz… ya hace muchos años que te leo y quiero esta novela dime cómo puedo hacer para conseguirla… siempre tu admiradora y fiel lectora Kary