The Wolf & the Witch, book one of my Blood Brothers series of medieval romances, is a free series starter for the month of August!
The Hunter & the Heiress, book two of the series, is also discounted to $2.99 US for the same period.
Now’s the perfect time to meet the sons of the notorious mercenary Jean le Beau!
I’ve been thinking about creating pretty new hardcover editions of my Regency romance series, The Ladies’ Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction. The plan is that this campaign will run next spring, and that book seven in the series, The Daughter’s Disguise, will be available first to backers of the campaign. There will also be additional rewards for backers that are exclusive to the campaign, and the books won’t be available at retailers.
I’ve put up a landing page at Kickstarter, so you can follow the campaign now to be notified at launch. That’s the best way to make sure you don’t miss out on any early bird specials!
One of the fun things about setting up a Kickstarter campaign is deciding on other goodies to make available to backers. Let’s talk about those today.
Digital rewards are available to all backers, regardless of whether they back tiers with physical or digital products.
The map for the Champions of St. Euphemia is something I’ve wanted to have drawn for quite a while, and I’m excited about it. As mentioned yesterday, the map will be included in each of the new special editions, as a black and white double-page spread in the print books and as an image in the ebooks. It will also be offered as a two-page PDF digital reward to backers. That means you’ll be able to print it out on two 8.5″ x 11″ sheets, then tape those together to have a larger reference map. I’ll be able to show this to you by the end of the month.
I’ve also compiled a Readers’ Companion for the series, which will be a digital reward for backers. This ebook includes:
• an overview of the series
• a character list of the company
• a synopsis for each book
• a character list for each book
• two family trees for each book (ten in total)
• a brief history of the Knights Templar
• a list of historical figures mentioned in the series with a short bio for each one
• a brief history of the crusades.
It started out as a character list and kept growing!
The ten family trees will also be available as a digital reward, sized for 8.5 x 11″ paper, so that you can print them out as a larger reference if you choose.
There are also five colouring pages, one of each illustration of the couples, which are a digital reward for all backers. Download them, print them out, and colour away!
We talked yesterday about the signed bookplates that will be mailed to backers of print books. There’s a different one for each book.
There is also a bookmark for backers of the sets of five print books. This is a larger format bookmark, showing all five of the new editions, and it has gold foil accents on both sides.
Just for fun, I’ve added a set of round stickers, each featuring one of the couples framed like a jewelled brooch. Backers will get the sticker for the print book they buy – one or all five.
I always offer an early bird reward, and this time, it’s a set of five vellum inserts along with the set of five hardcovers. Each vellum insert will feature one of the illustrations of the couple. I haven’t decided yet whether to limit this by time or quantity, but it will be for early birds.
The simple answer is that you’ll be getting something special, unavailable elsewhere.
These special editions aren’t going into retail distribution, which means you can only buy them directly from me, either at Kickstarter or at Hazel & Honeysuckle Press after the campaign is over. They will also be offered in future historical romance Kickstarter campaigns BUT all of the additional rewards – the bookplates, the stickers, the reader companion, the colouring pages, the downloads of the map and family trees, the vellum inserts – will only be available from this Kickstarter campaign. You have this one chance to add all those goodies to your books.
We launch July 8. Follow the campaign to be notified at launch!
I’m slowly getting organized after the completion of the Blood Brothers Kickstarter campaign for the new special editions. Yesterday, I realized I had two sample copies of The Hunter & the Heiress in need of homes.
These are the copies I ordered for the video. They have the new cover illustrations – on the case laminate of the hardcover, and duplexed on the inside of the cover for the trade paperback – but don’t have the other content added to the book interiors during the campaign. There is no map and there are no family trees. Still, they’re very pretty books and should be on someone’s shelf. 🙂
You can find them in the store under New Arrivals. There’s only one of each, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Also, I added spiral notebooks to the campaign. There’s a set of four, each one featuring one illustration. I ordered some of The Hunter & the Heiress and am really pleased with how well they came out.
They’re 5.5″ x 8.5″ with 80 lined pages inside. The cover has a nice velvety finish.
As is so often the way with printing, it made sense to round up my order quantities, a little above the actual quantity needed for the KS fulfillment. So, I’ll be adding these to the online store, too. The notebooks for The Hunter & the Heiress have already been added to the New Arrivals there.
I was sewing the fabric book covers for the fulfillment of the Kickstarter campaign this past weekend, and just wanted to show off the pretties to you. This campaign was the launch the new commemorative hardcover and mass market paperback editions of The Bride Quest, which was launched twenty-five years ago. There’s a new illustration for each book, which became the image on the case laminate of the new hardcover edition of that book, as well as the image on the new mass market paperback.
Backers of the signed hardcover tiers in the Kickstarter campaign are getting a fabric book cover for The Princess along with their reward. This has the image from the dust jacket of The Princess, but no type. Here’s a picture of my copy of The Princess inside its fabric dust jacket in the middle of the picture. The printed dust jacket is off to the right. There are more completed fabric jackets to the left, then some of the printed swag from the KS campaign in between.
Those little square stickers are so cute!
There were also digital rewards, including downloadable coloring pages and postcards. In addition, there are two new Bride Quest stories: a short story Christmas at Tullymullagh, and a novella, Easter at Airdfinnan. These stories are included in the new print editions (Christmas at Tullymullagh in The Heiress and Easter at Airdfinnan in The Temptress) and will be available in ebook in December.
The new print editions will be available at retailers in November and are up for pre-order now. I’ll share the links with you later this week.
Once I receive copies of The Temptress in the new hardcover edition, I’ll make a video showing the new editions.
Also, I’ll have a special offer soon on some hardcover copies of The Beauty. I mistakenly had some printed without the reader letter. Otherwise, each book is perfect. I’ll print the reader letter and tuck it into the book on a separate piece of paper, then bundle each book with some of the swag. You’ll be able to get this hardcover signed at a special price. Stay tuned for more details about The Beauty Boo-Boos. 🙂
Claire Delacroix 