[2] The rise of the modern romance genre itself is attributed to Avon through the publication of the mass-produced and initially paperback 1972 bodice ripper The Flame and the Flower.
[1][3] The clinch cover style became popular through the 1970s and 1980s, and originally usually was done by taking a photograph and then painting a scene, but in the modern day it is sometimes done with just photography.
[2][4] The posing, state of dress, and appearance of the people on the clinch cover is informed by the politics of the era, such as the women's liberation movement.
[2][5][6] Though the clinch cover usually features a white, heterosexual couple, the style has been used for other book pairings as well.
Author Ann Allen Shockley utilized a clinch cover for her 1974 interracial lesbian romance novel Loving Her, and author Beverly Jenkins frequently uses clinch covers for her black romance novels.