This week, we’re going to talk about the new special editions of The Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances, coming to Kickstarter in July. I’ve wanted to give this series a special print treatment for a while, and now’s the time. 🙂

The new editions will be available in hard cover, trade paperback and ebook. The ebooks don’t have all of the features of the print editions but I’ll pack in as many as possible. (Page backgrounds, for example, aren’t supported in ebooks.)

Let’s take a closer look at the new editions today, and what makes them special.

First off, the books have new covers, designed by Dar Albert. Here’s a digital mock-up of the new hard cover edition of The Crusader’s Bride.

The hardcovers have one image (with type) on the dust jacket and a different image (without type) on the case laminate.

I wanted the case laminate to look like an old book. Each one has a gem on the spine, too.

The trade paperbacks have the same exterior cover with the type. They also have a duplexed cover, which means it’s printed on the inside, as well. These trade paperbacks have the illustrations from the current editions – the images of the couples – on the inside of the cover.

Those illustrations are also included as full page images in the special edition ebooks.

The interior has been updated in the print editions, with beautiful backgrounds and chapter headers, again from Dar. Here’s the double-page spread header background for the special editions of The Crusader’s Bride:

The other books each have their own background, featuring swords and flowers.

All of the books use this sword background on individual pages, like the date pages.

These are digital mock-ups. I’ll take a video of the sample book when it arrives, so you can see exactly what it will look like. 🙂

I’ve also commissioned a map for the series, which will be a double-page spread in the print books. It will also be included in the ebooks. The map is being designed this month by Sarah Waites of The Illustrated Page. She draws the most amazing maps – you can take a peek at some of her completed projects on her website right here. There will be real locations on it as well as the fictional ones named in the stories. I’ll show you the map when it’s done. I’m prettty excited about this, as I love maps and Sarah makes brilliant ones.

The hardcovers and trade paperbacks will be printed and drop-shipped directly to backers, which saves a round of postage (and postage from Canada at that) which would be an added cost if I signed each book. Instead, I’ll mail signed bookplates separately to backers.

Each book has a dedication page in the front, and the bookplate has been designed to match. The bookplates will be full-colour vinyl stickers. Here’s the one for The Crusader’s Bride, along with the dedication page.

Isn’t that pretty? Each book has its own dedication page and a bookplate that coordinates with the new cover.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the other rewards offered through the campaign.

Follow the Champions campaign at Kickstarter to be notified when it launches.