A male model has graced the covers of almost 600 romance novels in 10 years—and he will not retire until he does his final photo shoot with the star of his dreams, Denise Richards.
Jason Aaron Baca, 44, was a commercial model doing advertisement when his career took a turn in what he describes as a twist of fate.
The Saratoga, California hunk was in a bookstore when he strayed from his usual section—the sports one—and found himself wandering to the romance section, where he couldn’t take his eyes off the sultry covers.
Many roles: Jason Aaron Baca, 44, has graced the covers of almost 600 romance novels over the course of his impressive, decade-long career as a model
It was meant to be: The Saratoga, California hunk was a commercial model doing advertisement when his career took a turn in what he describes as a twist of fate
Taken: Jason was in a bookstore when he strayed from the sports section and found himself wandering to the romance section, where he couldn’t take his eyes off the sultry covers
‘It was weird, because there were these women standing right by me the whole time, just kind of looking over at me, and here I am looking with huge eyes at these romance books,’ Jason told FEMAIL. ‘They were probably thinking, “What on Earth is up with this guy?” ‘
That day, Jason became fascinated with this whole new world of modeling he had yet to explore. He walked out of the bookstore with a newfound, fierce determination to conquer it.
Thus, he contacted his agent, asked her to get the word out, and took it upon himself to reach out to authors and send them his photos.
‘Believe it or not, one of the authors got back to me right away and said that she would like me for a cover, that she had a book that was coming out very shortly that she needed me to shoot for,’ Jason said.
That book, Lisa Renee Jones’ The Legend Of Michael, became his first big break.
‘It was pretty remarkable because after the book came out and everything, I remember walking back into that same bookstore, and there I was, right on the shelf,’ he recounted. ‘It was weird staring right back at himself.’
That weirdness, though, turned out to be the right kind of weird, and left Jason feeling proud and accomplished—so much so that he has now appeared on 590 novel covers in the span of a decade.
Drive: That day, Jason became fascinated with this whole new world of modeling he had yet to explore. He walked out of the bookstore with a newfound, fierce determination to conquer it
Crunching the numbers: The model has appeared on the covers of 590 novels in 10 years and is confident he will break the 600 mark
Pick: Jason’s favorite cover he has posed for was shot for Carly Philips’ Dare To Submit. It centers around a black-and-white shot that sees a shirtless Jason cradle an attractive blonde
‘It was like a kid that just arrived at Disneyland. It was such a good feeling,’ he said. ‘But with me, that feeling was so wonderful that I was like, “I want to keep doing this. This is a thing that’s going to become a habit fast.” ‘
Becoming a model wasn’t always in the cards for Jason. He played baseball in high school and in college, and at one point thought he would build a career as a professional athlete.
But even at that time, romance novel modeling began to intrigue him, on the day he first caught sight of Fabio, the undisputed king of his industry and one of the rare romance cover models to have become a celebrity in his own right.
Back in the nineties, a young Jason was watching a baseball game with friends and flipping through the channels during commercials when a clip of Fabio came on.
The model, now 58, was, as Jason remembers it, ‘walking through a romance convention, and all these girls were trying to jump on him and everything, going nuts over him’.
‘That was the first time I saw him. And I was like, “Wow, who is this guy?” And I just though to myself, “Do you know what, if my baseball career doesn’t work out for me, I wonder if that’s something that I could possibly do,” ‘ Jason said.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but that intuition would come back and become one of the driving forces in his life.
While studying at San Luis Obispo’s Cuesta College, Jason realized his baseball talents had peaked. ‘Everybody’s a damn good baseball player when they get to college, and I did good,’ he said. ‘I was successful, but to get to the next level you’ve got to be damn good. And that’s where it stopped.’
Nowadays, a single book cover earns Jason anywhere between $600 to $1,000, sometimes more. The rates vary, and they do not afford him a full-time salary, so Jason has kept a ‘regular job’, which he loves and finds ‘very gratifying’, as an office assistant at the Santa Clara Housing Authority.
Day job: The model has kept a ‘regular job’, which he loves and finds ‘very gratifying’, as an office assistant at the Santa Clara Housing Authority
Goals: Jason’s modeling career, in many aspects, came as the result of a challenge he set himself, and he remains extremely proud to have made his dream come true
Having a second job, besides modeling, was essential for Jason, who always felt that his modeling days wouldn’t last forever.
‘I know the whole acting world is very similar to the modeling world. They will use you, they’ll do everything they can with you, and then when their time is done with you, that’s it, you’re done,’ he said.
‘So I’ve got to be smart and play it right, because I know that pretty quickly, my time is going to run out with the modeling business. And I’ve got to have something that’s going to keep me occupied with life. And that’s where this job fits in just fine. This job is always gonna be there for me.’
While at his day job, Jason sometimes does get recognized by people who visit his office. The excitement, he said, lasts a little while, until he goes back to being ‘the same old business guy’ people know him as.
Not relying on modeling to pay the bills has enabled Jason to preserve the fun and enjoyment of it.
He used to adhere to a strict health routine to look as hunky as possible, eating a restricted diet composed of little more than chicken breast, cottage cheese, canned tuna, and Greek yogurt, while working out intensely.
Now, he has relaxed a bit and occasionally indulges in his favorite treats, such as Reese’s peanut butter cups.
Modeling definitely changed some people’s opinion about me
That has not kept him from continuing to book plenty of modeling jobs, and Jason is confident that he will break the 600-cover mark, possibly sooner rather than later.
Jason’s modeling career, in many aspects, came as the result of a challenge he set himself, and he remains extremely proud to have made his dream come true. This pride is heightened by the fact that many of his friends first didn’t believe he had what it takes to break into the industry.
‘I love the idea of them thinking that I couldn’t at the time and me proving them wrong,’ he said. ‘I remember hanging out at the bar with one of my buddies and I told him,”Hey I’m going to be a romance cover model.” He just laughed at me. He was just cracking up like, “Why on Earth would you do that? And besides, you would never be able to,” ‘ Jason recounted.
‘When he told me that, it just gave me more determination to want to succeed at this. Once I did a cover and I showed him he was like, “Wow, OK. This is the real deal.” It definitely changed some people’s opinion about me.’
Another factor that attracted Jason to the romance cover industry in the first place was his desire to embody and perfect the ‘rugged look’ or the ‘sultry, desirable lust type’ that has become the trademark of romance novels.
His goal, he said, was for female readers to walk past his covers, ‘see me looking right back at them’, and think, ‘Oh, I have got to read that book’. His ultimate drive was to make the books he has graced into best-sellers.
Jason’s favorite cover he has posed for was shot for Carly Philips’ novel Dare To Submit. It centers around a sexy, black-and-white shot that sees a shirtless Jason cradle an attractive blonde.
The cover, which Jason described as a ‘very seductive, nudy type of cover’, ‘really stands out on the bookshelves’, in his experience.
In one decade as a romance cover model, Jason has made many memories, including one during which he was supposed to be holding up his female counterpart when the light props started falling.
Timeline: While Jason believes that age is ‘just a number’, he has begun to give some thought about his retirement as a model
Ending with a bang: Before he takes his final bow, though, Jason has created one last challenge for himself: to do a cover shoot with the actress Denise Richards
Fitting the bill: The 46-year-old actress, according to Jason, has got the right look, jaw line and eyes for a cover model
Seeing them dropping, Jason acted fast and quickly moved the woman out of the way right before the lights fell in the same spot they had occupied just moments prior.
‘She said, “Oh my hero,” ‘ Jason recounted, adding that this interaction ‘totally fit the bill’.
The model does read romance novels, ‘definitely the ones [he’s] on the cover of’, especially because he wants to find out what happens to his character. He has also been left ‘very, very impressed’ by the authors’ writing skills, and knows that romance can be especially tricky to write well.
While Jason believes that age is ‘just a number’, he has begun to give some thought about his retirement as a model. He has no specific time frame yet, and insists that with digital editing, graphic designers can easily get rid of signs of the passage of time, such as crow’s feet.
Before he takes his final bow, though, Jason has created one last challenge for himself: to do a cover shoot with the actress Denise Richards.
‘I had a lot of things that were on my checklist when I began this romance cover modeling business. And one of the things I wanted to do was I wanted to end my whole career with a bang,’ he said.
‘One of the things I thought up was, I want to kind of usher in a celebrity into the whole business. The only person in the whole romance cover world that anybody knows about these days is Fabio. So I thought hard about it. I thought, “You know, it would be cool to do a shoot with Denise Richards.” ‘
The 46-year-old actress, he said, has got the right look, jaw line and eyes for a cover model.
‘Doing a shoot with her would just end everything right,’ he added.
For now, Jason doesn’t know for certain how he will turn his dream photo shoot into a reality, but he is confident that he will find a way to make it happen.
In the meantime, he plans on remaining as healthy as possible so he can end his career on the high note he has dreamed up.
To those who would like to break into the romance novel cover industry, Jason recommends going ‘all in’.
‘It’s a very unique industry. You’ve got to go after it,’ he said. ‘You can’t just say, “Well I look good, I’m going to kick back, I’m going to wait for my agent to contact me.” I mean, you’ve got to actually go, be a little proactive yourself in the beginning.’