Cover Biography welcomes another player in the world of creating romance book covers. Yes, at last we are investigating one of the models who brings to life the characters inside the pages.

Q: Hello, Jason. Welcome to Cover Cafe. Let's start at the beginning with just a brief bio. You know - the basics on your beginnings...where you were born, grew up, interests, education, etc.

I was born in San Jose, CA and attended high school at Los Gatos High, where I played high school baseball. Many felt that I had a career in professional baseball following high school. I too, believed that as well. I went on to play in college where I hit a big speed bump in my career. I played 2 seasons for 2 different colleges before calling it quits. It was a difficult time in my life because that was all I thought about day in and day out. Baseball, baseball, baseball!

After that ended, I started working as a bellboy in a hotel. I was so confused on what to do with my life at the time. I had no motivation to just get up every morning and do anything. It wasn't until I heard from a friend, how he had modeled for a clothing ad, that I saw a new destiny in my life. Even though it didn't have as much excitement to me as baseball, I still felt challenged by modeling in the same way.

My interests include working out, biking, gardening, fishing, spending time with my wife, nephews and family. I consider myself a very private person and I am not one to be seen out at parties or huge social events. I also enjoy playing the stock market and writing books to educate others. I currently live in Los Gatos, CA with my wife and cat, Monkey. My wife gave her that name before I ever met her. I love the name though, she is a darling black cat with a white patch on her chest. She's a very loveable creature.

Q: Who gave you your first break in the modeling industry?

My first break came when I was doubling for Freddie Prinze Jr. for the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. The photographer of the movie had asked me if he could take some photos of me. He ended up taking excellent shots. Then the photographer that worked at the lab discovered me while developing photos of me and contacted me. He ended up taking wonderful photos as well. Back to back big things happened to me during that time and really got me excited about the whole thing.

Q: How did you find someone to manage your modeling career?

I found the model management from that lab photographer who knew of them. He referred me to someone and that's when it all began. Here is my agency link Halvorson Model Management and Jason's Direct Link.

Q: OK, I have to ask this question. How did you become a stand-in for Freddie Prinze Jr. on that movie?

I broke into that line of work by sending out my headshots to a ton of different casting agencies that were in San Francisco. One of them contacted me and said they'd like to use me as a double for one of the characters in the movie. Next thing you know, I'm on location for I Know What You Did Last Summer in Bodega Bay, CA.

Q: What is your favorite non-professional photo of yourself?

Good question! I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that one before. But I’d have to say the best photo of me was a photo of me on a Carnival Cruise with my friend, Rich. We took a photo with a random cruise employee after we’d been drinking several of their mixed drinks and we were acting strange. In the photo, the employee had a very confused look on his face from not knowing exactly “Why” we were taking a photo with him.

Q: How about the photo that shows the everyday Jason?

The one that shows the everyday Jason? I have so many that I can’t single out just one! It would be an impossible task.

You’ve written two books detailing the modeling industry. What made you decide to go public with the inside story on modeling?

Nobody else was writing about modeling. Notice, if you walk into a bookstore and ask for a book on modeling or how to model, they send you to the Theatre Arts section. But when you get there, all you find are books on Acting. Not one deals with modeling. When I began modeling, I would go into bookstores, hoping to find a book to help kick start my career but there wasn’t anything. That’s when I decided I would write one myself! When I knew the ropes well enough to pass on some special information about modeling, I started writing everyday until those 2 books unfolded.

Q: Why did you and how did you make the leap into modeling on romance book covers?

I just came up with the idea. I felt challenged by modeling for romance books too. I’d see what the models looked like on the covers and knew that I had the same look. I just had to see for myself if that was really the case. I found out quickly from people in the industry (authors and cover illustrators) that I did in fact, have the look.

Q: An obvious question is do you enjoy reading and do you ever read romances?

I enjoy reading a lot of fitness books like Arnold’s Encyclopedia or books by Tony Robbins that are uplifting. I don’t read romance books.

We'll forgive you for not loving to read romances as long as you love to read.

Q: How do you stay photo ready?

I workout regularly at the gym. I tend to take it down a notch when I don’t have a shoot coming up. I always advise my agency or photographer to give me at least a 2 week notice so I can tighten up. During those 2 weeks I eat a lot of chicken breast, celery, tuna sandwiches, and water. Anything else pretty much has to wait to go in my belly “after” the shoot. As far as hitting the abs goes, I do 4 sets of 25 crunches , then will put on a high energy song and do crunches for an entire song non-stop. Biking is my favorite form of cardio to do before a shoot.

Q: We are featuring two different covers in this article. Walk us through a work day and a typical photo shoot.

Ok. I prefer to do a shoot around one in the afternoon because I don’t look sleepy and my face isn’t as “puffy.” When I wake, I stretch out, then boil some water and have some instant oatmeal. From there, I make my way to the tanning booth where I tan for 15 minutes. After tanning I put on an Aloe lotion which helps soak up the tan.

After tanning, I head on over to the gym. I try to anticipate the time it takes to travel by car to the shoot destination and allow myself enough time to workout without rushing. There is nothing worse then getting a weak lift on the day of your shoot because you were pressed for time!

In the gym, I make sure to hit all my weak points hardest, for me it would be my back and traps. Basically, I work every body part out (except legs) on the day of the shoot. I don’t do my legs because Arnold explains that by working your leg muscles out, it will make them look smooth the day of the shoot. Besides that, most of the shots done for romance novels are of my torso. I put as much time and energy into getting a nice upper body lift. I sip on water but I don’t gulp. I don’t want all that water going into my stomach which causes my abs to get saturated and lose definition.

I arrive at the shoot and the photographer usually has me pose while they get the lighting under control. Once they’ve done that, the shoot starts and they take about 500 shots with me posing from similar angles. Once its done, I sign their release. Sometimes I’m paid on the spot, sometimes I’m mailed a check.

Q: Does the photographer say something like, "Look angry, pensive, menacing, etc."? Can you show an emotion on cue or do you need something more? If you need it, what do you use for the mental inspiration to show the different emotions?

No, very rarely do I get a project like that. The types of photos I do are mainly expressionless or with a smile or laugh. The mad or angry looks just aren't me. That is more for stock photography or for other models. I tried doing a shoot for a stock photographer once and I felt lame. He had me make a sad face, then a goofy face, then act like I was crying, I felt like an idiot and the photos were bad.

A special THANK YOU to Jason Baca for letting us have a glimpse into the world of romance cover modeling! Let's hope the memory of cheesecake is enough until Jason's romance cover days are finished. Cover Cafe wishes Jason the best of luck at reaching his 100 covers goal!

Linnae Crady ()

Back to the Cover Biography summary page.

Cover Cafe contacted Aleta to find out what was it about Jason that made her choose him for the cover.

Jason had the rugged good looks and muscles that fit the character description. The story takes place in the Nevada desert so I wanted a desolate abandoned landscape. The character's eyes have special powers and are an unusual blue.

There is DNA manipulation in the story as well so I included a strand of DNA. Lastly, it's a paranormal adventure, so I used the light streaks and unusual color to make sure the reader got that impression from the cover.

Cover Cafe also contacted Anastasia with questions about Jason's cover.

Q: Were you an author who decided to create covers or were you an artist who discovered she was also an author?

I was an artist long before I started writing stories I would dare to share with anyone. The cover art and publication did seem to come along together. It makes sense for me as both are creative endeavors.

Q: How did you break into the competitive world of creating covers?

While my first publisher was still open, I was contracted to design covers with loveyoudivine. Later I was taken in at Amira Press, Sugar and Spice Press, Whimsical Publications, Mundania Press, and Whispers Publishing. I also design covers for Purple Sword Publications. At a couple of those publishers I came on board because my authors had contracts with publishers I already did work for, and either asked me to apply or requested me.

Q: What was it about Jason that made him perfect for the cover of Wings?

Wings was a difficult cover to pinpoint. There are four stories in the anthology and not all are the same heat level. Each story's theme is a winged man finding true love. The authors wanted something that didn't scream erotic romance but did show off the theme of the series. The original inspiration for the novellas was an image Tara Nichols had found of a winged man traipsing through a forest. While it was nice, he had strap on wings and I couldn't locate that particular image on the stock art sites I frequent. Jason approached me right at the time. I was hunting for a man to place on the cover and this particular image I thought would work with the layout. He wasn't overly muscular and had an intense expression on his face.

Q: What was the inspiration for your cover layout?

Wings mainly--big beautiful feathery wings, and keeping with the image Tara had originally shown us all. We wanted a mystical forest and a man with wings. Each novella released in e-book had a wings symbol that I converted to a metallic style etching on the book's back cover.

Q: What drawing program do you use to create covers?

I use Corel and also Serif. Both products are simple to learn, and I've gotten so set in my ways with them that it would be difficult for me to switch over to something else. Corel is my main design area. It enables me to cut, meld, sketch, blur and distory. Serif I tend to drop the images into that I've already manipulated in Corel. Serif is better for print layout.