Last week D'Arcy Lussier decided - in an attempt to stand out among the various proposed DevTeach 2007 speakers - to stop talking about .NET and focus on erotic book covers instead.  At least that was how I read the first image featured in "If Book Publishers Were Smart, Part Two", because on viewing the right half of his "Wrox" book mockup, I became powerfully aroused.  This despite my being *firmly* heterosexual!!  Truly I have never been so confused.

Now, D'Arcy's post was a controversial one for many reasons, not the least of which that he randomly selected three developers for the covers of these books, two of which just ended up there to fill space while he paraded the third around shamelessly as a sex object despite D'Arcy being married.  As the sex object in question, I want you all to know that I was not offended.  After all, nowhere is it more true than in the software industry that appearance == credibility.  This seems to be what fueled Scott Miller's comment stating that on average, Wrox features nothing but the homeliest of homely on their book covers and thus he felt no inclination to believe anything their authors said.  Jeff Julian, author of the Sharepoint Wrox book, threw out his heart-shaped Scott Miller locket in protest.  However, was Scott really that wrong?  Do *you* trust anyone who would wear a Microsoft polo shirt to a photo shoot?  Hell, do you trust anyone who wears a Microsoft polo shirt in public?   I think not.

It's plainly obvious to me that if Wrox wants to achieve any sort of technical respect in our industry, they need way more sex appeal on their book covers.  What you want here is technical competency mixed with oozing machismo.  D'Arcy's "Wrox" book cover is on the right track; it definitely will draw in the coveted female developer demographic while still having Donald Belcham there to provide some shred of technical credibility for the astoundingly few software professionals who actually buy books for the...*snicker*...content.  While a pair programming book featuring Donald and I teaming up would no doubt be the all-time best seller of Wrox's publishing history, there are still three major problems with it preventing it from outselling every other technical book combined. 

1. the cover implies that Donald and I are a couple, whether it be the strange positioning that looks like I am giving him the eye, or the cover copy that states all of our pair programming is done in bed.  This is problematic not simply because both Donald and I are totally hetero (and I am married!), but also because you need your audience to think that they still have a chance at getting with us in order to guarantee sales.
2. The cover copy does nothing to point out why Donald and I are credible software developers, in fact the most credible in North American history. 
3. As Keith Rull pointed out in (once again) D'Arcy's comments, this cover is far more likely to sell with an "action" shot of me rather than my intentionally hilarious blog photograph.

As I am both a super-genius and an incredible graphic designer, I have taken the liberty of refactoring D'Arcy's original concept into something that solves all three of these problems at once: 


Wrox, if you are reading, I just gave you a license to print money.  Feel free to contact me to start a new golden age of publishing!