Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Megan Daly, winner of the Big Kahuna Cover Design Contest, Professional Division, actually sent in two entries, and had to choose which one she wanted us to run for the contest. Her choice ultimately won, but I have to say, I LOVE the other entry, and asked her permission to show it off here. Note to publishers: Poser = not hot. This cover? Hawt, baby, yeah.

Not so work safe, so it’s below the fold:

And now, the moment you’ve been obsessively reloading for, the winners of the second annual Big Kahuna Cover Design Contest - Trixy Lion Edition.

The winner in the Amateur Division: Entry #3: Sister Taylor’s Secret by Lyra Labiablossom, designed by Laurel Black

And the winner of the Professional Divison, Entry #4: Stirring up Waves by Jesus Cockburn, designed by Megan Daly.

Congratulations to the winners! And thank you to all who voted - and to Mrs. Giggles for creating such an inspirational ePub! 

Behold, the entries for the Big Kahuna Cover Design Contest for 2007 - amateur and professional division. It’s now in your hands: who shall come away this year’s cover design champion?

This year, the gay inspirational erotica, it is inspirational, erotic, and in some cases, freaking hilarious. We’re looking for the best cover that visually articulates our original cover copy, so keep that fine copy in mind when you gaze upon the erotically inspiring gay wonderment

Submit your votes - one per person for each category - to both AND by midnight PST on Saturday, September 22. Winners shall be announced Monday, September 24, 2007. Note: please vote by division and by entry number (e.g. “Pro #2, Am #4") so there’s no confusion.

And now - the entries!

UPDATED TO ADD: OOPS! The entry listed as Amateur #4 was actually done by a professional - so, I am starting the voting over effective now (18 Sept. 7.35am EST). If you’ve emailed me a vote, please email me again. Our bad! 

We’ve discussed many, many romance covers, and last year we held a contest to challenge the Bitchery to come up with a better cover than, well, many of the ones we’ve snarked! We provide the copy, and y’all design the covers. Last year’s contest yielded some beautiful covers, and the winner of the Amateur division ended up freelancing for a few presses when her cover won the contest. We can’t promise job offers for all winners, but hey, a lotta publishing folks read this site.

But then again, maybe we can! We here at the Bitching HQ have decided that we need to help out Mrs. Giggles’ new publishing enterprise, Trixy Lion ePublishing. Mrs. Giggles, she needs covers. And titles. So, as with last year’s contest, here’s the deal:

Candy and I shall provide you with cover copy. You design the cover based on our copy.

We have two divisions: Amateur and Professional. If graphic design, art, or covers for hot man-titty romance are your professional occupation, you’re no amateur. But! There shall be two sets of prizes.

The Rules

1. No copyrighted images. (We don’t want to get bloody suuuuued!) You can use stock images, or make your own.
2. You must submit 350x500 images, along with a thumbnail of 88 x 125.
3. You must submit your image in one of the three web-recognized formats (.jpg, .gif, or .png). No photoshop documents - they’re bloody huuuuuuge!

The Deadline

Your images must be emailed to Sarah AND Candy by Friday, September 14 2007.

The Prizes

Winner, which will be tabulated by Smart Bitchery Vote, will receive a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com, and mad pimpage on our site if you have a website of your very, very own. Plus, we’ll send you some books with really, really hot covers. Srsly.

And now, your inspiration:

Our subgenre for this year’s TRixY Lion cover contest is…