New Edition of Unicorn Bride

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Deborah Cooke

Unicorn Bride was the second book I sold to Harlequin Historicals and it was originally published in June 1994. The cover on the right is the original mass market edition, with a cover painted by Judy York. I loved this book, which is set in what is now southern France, and was very pleased to discover that I still love it just as much as I did almost thirty years ago.

So, I’m very excited to be preparing this book for republication in a new edition. There are a few changes, but no so many that I think this version merits a new title. It’ll be published in August, and is available for pre-order now. The new cover is by Dar Albert and I love it to pieces.

For generations, legend had stalked the battlements of the fortress Montsalvat. And now Alienor de Perpignan found herself promised in marriage to the man at the heart of the oft-whispered tales: Dagobert, Count de Pereille. A near-mythic being rumored to be a beast by day – and more than a man by night.

That Alienor was his true-destined bride, Dagobert de Pereille had no doubt. Indeed, with her exotic beauty and blade-bright spirit, she could be none other. But could he who bore the mark – and the curse – of ancient kings ever trust her enough to open his heart?

“Another delicious Delacroix delight!”—Affaire de Coeur

Finalist
Best Foreign Historical Romance
Affaire de Coeur

Available August 20!

Pre-order ebook at:
• Apple
• KOBO
• Nook

New Prices on Paperback Editions

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve decided to experiment with pricing on my trade paperback editions and one experiment starts today. The affected books are The Jewels of Kinfairlie trilogy, The Rogues of Ravensmuir, The Bride Quest and my time travel romances.

All of these books are available in print-on-demand trade paperback editions from different portals. They’re also all backlist titles, so there are some mass market originals still available at some portals. The POD editions are direct-to-Amazon, or wholesale-from-Ingrams. It’s the Ingrams editions that are seeing the price change. (Some of my books have Nook print editions that publish directly to B&N and have similar pricing to the direct-to-Amazon editions, but not these titles.)

If we look at The Beauty Bride, the Amazon edition displays in the Amazon store. (Naturally!) It’s priced at $9.99 US. This is a good price for a trade paperback and it’s possible because there are no charges for distributing the book to other stores.

The trade paperback listed at Barnes & Noble is the Ingrams edition. In March, it was priced at $14.99 US and discounted to $13.49 US. Similarly, the print edition listed for sale at Indigo is the Ingrams edition – in March, it was $19.50 CA. The Ingrams list price on this book in March was $14.99 US and $19.99 CA.

Because Ingrams is a wholesaler, I (as publisher) can set the discount available to booksellers. This defines their cost and also affects the price of the book—the bigger the discount I offer, the higher my list price has to be to cover it. Bookstores tend not to order and stock titles without a high discount, but they haven’t been stocking these titles.

These titles sell much better at Amazon than at Ingrams, and my theory is that it’s because of the price.

So, it was time for an experiment. There’s nothing like a market test to figure out what works and what doesn’t. As of April 1, I changed the discount on these titles and the list prices. They’re all $9.99 US now and most are $14.99 CA. (The Ingrams prices perk out internationally, so they will be cheaper in all territories.)

I’m curious to see how this influences both distribution and sales of these titles. They still won’t be shelved in bookstores, but they weren’t anyway. If you’re interested in having any of them in print, though, and you don’t shop at Amazon, this is the time to order a copy!

New Pages Onsite

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Deborah Cooke

I’m catching up on my To Do list this week and finally created some additional pages here on the website.

First, there’s a page for my Harlequin Historicals. They’re out of print but some of them have been revised and republished, and others will be republished, too. You can check out that page right here.

I’ve also migrated some content from my Deborah Cooke site. You’ll find a new Awards page under About Claire, as well as a new Bestselling Titles page. (I realized while doing this that all of the links on the Cooke site were broken, so I updated both pages there, too.) Finally, on the Cooke site, I republished my Workshops page.

One Knight’s Return at Amazon

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve moved the publication date for One Knight’s Return to May 21, because I’m running behind this winter.

The good news is that there’s now a pre-order link available at Amazon, since the pub date is finalized.

Download a free sample from BookFunnel

Pre-order One Knight’s Return in ebook:
• Amazon.com
• Apple
• KOBO
• Nook
• Books2Read Universal Link

First-In-Series Free at Apple!

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Deborah Cooke

Apple is having a First-In-Series-Free sale and it starts today!

The sale is available to consumers in the US, CA, UK, IR, AU and NZ.

You’ll find both Kiss of Fire, which is book #1 of the Dragonfire Novels, and The Crusader’s Bride, which is book #1 of the Champions of St. Euphemia, among the titles offered. You don’t need a download code – the books are just free in the included territories.

The Crusader’s Bride at Apple

Both books are discounted to 99c internationally at Amazon, and it is possible that Amazon will match the free price in some territories.

The Crusader’s Bride at Amazon.com
The Crusader’s Bride Books2Read Universal Link (for other Amazon stores)

The sale goes until March 5, so don’t miss out!

Claire Delacroix

Bestselling Author of Medieval Romance and Fantasy Romance

Category Archives: Medieval Romance