Help me find cover art for a gorgeous book about a dominant woman and her male submissive!
So, Circlet Press will be publishing a book very soon called The Viscountess Investigates by Cameron Quintain. It’s an erotic mystery in a BDSM fantasy world which intersects our own, in which a dominant woman (the Viscountess) and her submissive (the aptly named Severin) are a detective team who must move through the various BDSM “dominions” (alternate universes reached through a kind of S/M-based magic) to search for a killer.
It’s a smart book, very sexy, with touches of victoriana, leather culture, and many many sf/fantasy references. Most importantly, its main characters are not young fluffy porn models.
The search for a cover photograph or image has so far proved fruitless. Most of the stuff out there with any kind of BDSM theme is of 18-year-old girls with teased hair and blue eyeshadow in collars and PVC. Um, no.
What I would love is something like:
– a tasteful image of a woman’s boot-clad leg, being kissed by a worshipful male submissive
– a shot of her leather gloved hands, one holding a whip/flogger and one a Sherlock-Holmes-style magnifying glass
– A woman in Victorian dress with a man (clothed or no) kneeling at her feet
Now, you’d think a photo of a man kissing a shoe or boot wouldn’t be too hard to find in stock photo sites, but it’s just a barren wasteland.
Our budget is not huge, but I can offer up to $50 for use of an image if someone has one to sell me the rights to. It needs to be 300 dpi and a minimum of 6×6″ in size (6×9″ is ideal, but we can deal with other aspect ratios). Suggestions, pointers, artist friends, please send them my way. Thank you!
Seeking dominant woman/submissive man artwork…
Oh, dammit, dammit, dammit.
I have access to the clothes, the boots, the good taste, a lady friend who might be willing to model for the legs/hands, and passable photography skills. What I do NOT have is a local male who could model. I also don’t have a whip or a flogger, but I could probably arrange to have one visit the house for an afternoon.
The book sounds frigging incredible, and I am dying to read it right this second. I have signal boosted in my journal.
Relevant questions:
You mostly have photographic covers on Circlet books. Would you be willing to consider artwork? I have a lot of artist readers I could send your way, and while I don’t know if any would be suitable, if you’re open to it, it might be worth a shot.
Is there a hard deadline for this, and if so, what is it?
We have mostly photographic covers because photographs are easier to find and buy than original artwork. Our budget is too low to reasonably approach artists asking for commissions, and even back in the days when we had the money to commission artwork, you run into the problem of the artist still not being able to fulfill what you need from time to time.
So what we do typically is license pre-existing images, and photographs are easier to search and buy than illustrations. (DeviantArt is wonderful but oh-so-many artists we’ve tried to contact through there never answer their email, abandon their accounts, etc…) I am not against art or illustration though. Always looking for good stuff.
There is no hard deadline for this since we’re already past when we should have had the book done. The sooner we find cover art, the sooner we’ll be able to share the book with the world!
Hi. I’m a producer of D/S erotica who’s noticed the same lack of imagery of male and masculine submission, and I’m trying to produce material to fill the gap.
I have a few images which might be suitable. Here are some links to web versions:
https://dreamsofspanking/static/free/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast086.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking/static/free/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast104.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking/static/free/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast105.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking/static/free/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast108.jpg
If you wanted to use any of these I’d be happy to discuss an agreement licensing a high resolution, unwatermarked image for a book cover.
Alternatively I’m shooting with another F/M couple on Monday. I’m not sure full Victoriana will be doable and I don’t think the fee you’re offering would cover the purchase of an antique magnifying glass, even if there was time to source one. But our domme will have some black skirts and high necked blouses, and I’m sure she’ll have some kinky footwear as well, so I’d be happy to take a few more images of shoe kissing/kneeling on spec. The more detail you can provide about what you’re looking for, the better.
(Reposted with working links, feel free to delete the previous version)
Hi. I’m a producer of D/S erotica who’s noticed the same lack of imagery of male and masculine submission, and I’m trying to produce material to fill the gap.
I have a few images which might be suitable. Here are some links to web versions:
https://dreamsofspanking.com/static/free/breakfast/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast086.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking.com/static/free/breakfast/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast104.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking.com/static/free/breakfast/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast105.jpg
https://dreamsofspanking.com/static/free/breakfast/Dreams-of-Spanking_breakfast108.jpg
If you wanted to use any of these I’d be happy to discuss an agreement licensing a high resolution, unwatermarked image for a book cover.
Alternatively I’m shooting with another F/M couple on Monday. I’m not sure full Victoriana will be doable and I don’t think the fee you’re offering would cover the purchase of an antique magnifying glass, even if there was time to source one. But our domme will have some black skirts and high necked blouses, and I’m sure she’ll have some kinky footwear as well, so I’d be happy to take a few more images of shoe kissing/kneeling on spec. The more detail you can provide about what you’re looking for, the better.
Pandora, thanks for the links! I’m sharing them with the author.
The difficult thing about book covers is an aesthetic fit with the book is often better than a literal one, so it’s hard to say for sure in advance what will or won’t work. I’ll email you some more thoughts and details and see if we come up with a match.
I totally understand, and from the sound of if the steampunk aesthetic of the book may not match my work, which tends to look a bit more like BBC period drama! Still, I’d be delighted to help if I can. Feel free to send more information to pandora@dreamsofspanking.com.
Hi CT,
You might want to contact me about this. Having photographed Fetish Balls and Steampunk Events, I know many, many people who could do this for you.
Steve
Steve, what I need is a pre-existing image I can just license for this one use. If you know anyone who has a portfolio online I can look at, that would be ideal. Or who can send me JPGs to look at.
Have you seen Thruti Kick Grabbi images? They have the time period, the concept in a silhouette style.
https://www.tkgsf.com/products_cards.html
She’s a delight to work with and may have some unreleased images perfect for your novel.
Best of luck, when is the release date? And it will be available through Kindle right?
Thank you so much for the pointer to Thrust Kicki Grabbi! So very fitting in image and I think we’re going to work something out with them! *happy dance*
For a jv partner that will pay webmasters on a pay-per-sale basis, a commission of 20 to 50 % isn’t
unreasonable to expect.
Thanks for your great info on getting in shape!