Why did my past book covers feature young females? The #1 reason is true crime statistics, but you might want to read reasons 2, 3 and 4 also. 1. I write about true crime cases. Look at the data: Department of Justice report: Persons age 12 to 24 comprised: 22% of the population 35% of murder victims 49% of serious violent crime victims Persons age 18 to 21 were the most likely to experience a serious violent crime. Most victims of sexual assault are females under the age of 25. ~ My book covers feature people who look like characters in the story. I place them in scenes in the story. I write about cases I’m familiar with. When these statistics change, I’ll have access to more stories of all ages. ~ Why don’t I have pictures of the killers? It couldn’t be a “Whodunnit?” if there was a picture of the killer on the cover. 2. Prevention & Marketing In 2020, I presented at a virtual event with Dr. Amanda Vicary, True Crime researcher and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Wesleyan. Dr. Amanda Vicary University of Illinois Wesleyan Here are some quotes from Dr. Vicary: “Compared to men, women liked reading about the psychological content of true crime stories. Stories where a killer was interviewed by an FBI profile, or that you're trying to get to the inner workings of a killer in some way.” Women, she found, were also more likely to read true crime books if the victim in the story was female. Dr Vicary: “My conclusion was that women all seemed to like reading about survival, whether it was preventing or surviving a crime. Research shows that women fear crime more than men, since they're more likely to be a victim of one. My thinking is that this fear is leading women, even subconsciously, to be interested in true crime, because they want to learn how to prevent it.” Amanda Jacobson The third present of the virtual True Crime event I participated in was Wine and Crime podcast star, Amanda Jacobson. Wine and Crime has half a million downloads—every month—and 85% of their audience is female. *My books educate readers on how crimes play out and on how perpetrators think. Knowledge is power. 3. Changing the World People say, “…But if you keep doing that, the world is never going to change.” First of all, thank you for suggesting my books are that powerful. Second, I agree. I will do whatever I feel is appropriate for the book and be open to feedback. I continue to learn. How do you change the world? As a therapist I’ve learned you can’t go from A to Z. You can go from A to B. B to C. C to D... and eventually you get to Z. I am not criticizing any of the books or authors below. I simply want to be evaluated with the same criteria as other authors. Two years ago, after both Last Call and The I-94 Murders won best romance, on successive years, I was invited to sign books at a Romance Novel convention In Sioux City. Believe me, my covers are very tame compared to all of the other books sold there. Even with mainstream books, I believe that we need to start featuring pictures of whole women, rather than faceless bodies. My book covers feature an entire person. Here are some examples of popular books: For people who have read my books, I never refer to adult women as girls. Is it more demeaning to have a picture of a woman on the cover, or to refer to an adult women as a “girl”? Again, I’m not criticizing these books or the authors. I just want people to judge fair. I think Gillian Flynn is a great author, and while I wouldn’t try to compare my skills to hers, it was by reading her work that I realized there is an audience for my type of writing. Here are some popular examples: *There are times, particularly with Burning Bridges, I’ve thought about toning down the reality of the crimes, but as a reader I would feel insulted if the author felt I couldn’t handle the truth. My books are intended for true crime enthusiasts. I never make an assault sound appealing. I always talk about victim impact. I know I’m going to receive some questions about my next book cover such as: Does my next book cover feature a male because of comments on the covers? The honest answer is “no.” My next book cover was planned 2 years ago. I started the book 2 years ago, and then Investigator Michael Lewandowski, dropped a great story in my lap. An intense, sometimes gruesome, true story. So, I stopped and wrote Burning Bridges based on that story and honestly, photographer Trisha Spencer did amazing work with both the front and back covers. Both Kloe Kapsner (walking out on railroad trestle over the Mississippi river) and Elise Yates (slowly raising smoke bombs while standing on a rock by rushing water) courageously created the amazing art. Here are the covers of my books: (I do not have the back cover of Murder Book picture since my former publisher did not release it to me in a useable format. It was a snow-covered church. No people in the picture.) 4. Is every person on every cover going to be beautiful? Everyone is potentially beautiful, and I would never want anyone to say that I finally got someone less beautiful. Every person who has appeared on my covers is someone whose accomplishments and work ethic make their families proud and that’s good enough for me. None were professional models. Will my covers continue to include people of a variety races and ethnic origin? Yes. I will continue to address covers, as I see fit for the story. Honestly, my wife Brenda is the most beautiful person I have met in my life and that belief hasn’t changed since I was 18 years old. (And by the way, that’s not changing.) Here are the pictures inserted in my books. I used this picture for the insert because of the genuine creepiness in the smoke above Kloe. A smoke bomb was burning behind Kloe. I thought it was interesting how the rising smoke could be viewed as skulls. Below is a teaser for possible cover for book #6. I’ll send post some options in about a month and ask you for feedback. It’s interesting that now that my books are so popular people want to paint me into a corner and I am doing my best to avoid it. I was told I should have “murder” in all the titles after Murder Book and The I-94 Murders. My response was, “I’m not doing that.” I was told I should have all two-word titles after Last Call, Lying Close and Burning Bridges. I’m not doing that either. It was suggested I have a young woman on the cover of every book. And I’m not doing that. I’m approaching every book with the focus of becoming a better author and telling the best story I can tell. Burning Bridges is hot off the press and selling like mad! Thank you all for your kind support! Thanks for listening, Frank Time for car shows in Pierz again! Jack Johnson- Flake
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
April 2024
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