Knowing this, I do my best to trust the decisions the marketing team makes. After all, we share the same goal. Get my books on shelves and into readers’ hands. And sometimes, the stars align, and we share the same vision. For example, the first book in my series, GETTING HOT WITH THE SCOT, originally was on a solid colored background. When I first saw it, I mentioned to my editor I thought it would be nice to include some Highland hills and ground readers in the travel aspect of the story. Initially that idea was nixed, so I suggested adding a plaid scarf to give it a bit of Scottish flair. They agreed to add the scarf as well as change the original color scheme. And that, I thought, was that. But when the book was introduced at the sales meeting, marketing felt something was missing…any guesses what? Yep, I got my Highland hills after all.
Less than twenty-four hours after my cover reveal, I had several people e-mail me to tell me they’d seen the exact same couple on my book featured on other covers (reverse image search revealed it to be on at least three other books). They were baffled. How could this happen? They asked me. Aren’t you upset? And while I won’t say I was delighted to see “my” characters also playing as other authors’ characters, it didn’t bother me. Stock photos aren’t exclusive and if an image is good it’s likely going to be used more often. I was chill about this, but I’ve also never cared about being caught wearing the same outfit as someone else.