SciFiGuy made this great video all about Paranormal Book covers. While the video makes some very good points I have to ask the question - Then what should a Paranormal book cover have on it???
So there are lots of butts, moons, tattoos etc but the majority of the covers, imho, actually capture something about the main character or the story.
So tell me about your favourite covers, the covers you hated and what you think should be on a cover. It will be interesting to hear what other lovers of the genre have to say!
Labels: General
At 8 December 2008 at 20:41, 
Caffey
I have to say tho, I've picked up books with those sort of covers knowing they'd be paranormal/urban fantasy reads! I didn't tho, ever think about how much they were the same with the poses! I did realize more were coming with the tattoos (some, I had read from authors, have that in the books, some don't). Its really alot of what readers are looking for in the story:
moon=werewolf, or other night supernatural
female post=heroine independent, a warrior, etc
He really caught most of the recent releases and the covers. Too there's:
Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1) by C.E. MurphyHalfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) by Jeaniene Frost
Red by Jordan Summers
Tween Heaven and Hell by Sam Cheever
This one's a male cover and looks like a good series too:
Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) by Rob Thurman
I'm getting so into this I better stop, its long, LOL. Great post! Always.
At 9 December 2008 at 08:16, Janicu
Interesting video! I don't think I noticed poses before.. I think there are just so many poses you can do anyway so the over right/left shoulder seems minor, but I do think the back/butt shots seem very common. I think the moon is to show it's night. Supernatural makes you think of night-time and the dark, and best way to represent it is with dark colors and maybe a moon!
I can't think of a cover I hated right now, but I don't like when the cover shows the hero/heroine looking COMPLETELY wrong and not like their description in the book! That I hate across genres!
by Kelley Armstrong
That's pretty funny actually, and ever scarier when I think I have 75% of those!
I think all it says is that that is what sells books right now, those are the images that are considered sexy. Think how many romances have gone to showing just a guy on the front too, when at one time you couldn't find one without the pair locked in a heated embrace of some kind.
I think it's just the next evolution of covers, and it's finally developed into something recognizable as a genre, and in order to get your book noticed by people who like to read that genre you want to have a cover on it that they are immediately drawn to, that they recognize at a subconscious level maybe.
Or I might just be babbling, it's hard to say! ;)