Ciao, amici. It’s my turn to discuss covers today. I’ve done a few where I broke down the features of a single title or a series, discussing font, color, graphic, etc. Today, I thought I’d back up and take a look at conventions in general.

I’m prescheduling this post. Today’s date is March 23, but this isn’t going live until April 26. I only mention it because I’m about to show you some Amazon bestselling covers, and if you look, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find these books still on the front page. And certainly not in this order. (I thought I should clarify in case you wanted to do some of your own research on Amazon.)

The books I chose to look at are romantic suspense novels because that’s one of my favorite genres to both read and write. Here is a row from Amazon in the romantic suspense category.

Hey, SE Readers. Joan here today with more of my thoughts on writing.

“Truth is stranger than fiction.”

Probably everyone has heard this quote or some variation. If you google for who wrote it, you’re not likely to get a definitive answer. Some say it was Lord Byron, while others attribute the quote to Mark Twain.

Even Tom Clancy got in on the game when he said:

“The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.”

Clancy was right. Truth is often strange, and life doesn’t always make sense. There are some things we can’t make up.

I’ve been a people watcher for years—long before I became a writer. Sitting in a crowded shopping mall, airport, or restaurant is at the least entertaining. Last year, I wrote a post about how we can use observations for story ideas.

But we also have our own experiences. And yes, some…