The Heiress 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

My campaign is underway at Kickstarter to celebrate 25 years since the original launch of my Bride Quest series of medieval romances.

There are new editions of the six Bride Quest books coming to retailers in November. Each book has a new cover illustration of the couple. The image is the cover of the new mass market paperback edition. It’s also the case laminate on the new hardcover edition, which has an image similar to the current trade paperback on the dust jacket. These books will be available for pre-order shortly – the new editions of The Princess is already available for pre-order and I’ve added the links to the landing page here on the site.

But you can order advance copies of the new books through this Kickstarter campaign, running through June 10. I’m also doing the cover reveals during the campaign.

Here is the new cover illustration of Burke and Alys for The Heiress:

The Heiress, book three of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances, 25th anniversary commemorative edition, new illustration for case laminate and mass market paperback

Can’t you just hear Bronwyn straightening out Rowan? 🙂

Rowan and Bronwyn’s story is an enemies-to-lovers story and a battle of wills, between an apparent rogue seeking a wealthy bride and an heiress in disguise. This romance is filled with action and adventure, and is just plain fun.

Tropes for The Heiress, book three of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Here are the current editions of the book, including the ebook at left, the new mass market edition, the current trade paperback edition and the new hard cover.

all editions of The Heiress, book three of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Here’s the new hard cover with both dust jacket and case laminate.

New hard cover edition of The Heiress book three of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

You can order copies of these new editions through Kickstarter until June 10, and receive your copies early, signed or personalized, and get some swag. Every backer at Kickstarter, for example, gets the ebook of the new bonus epilogue to the Bride Quest I, Christmas at Tullymullagh.

Today, I have a stretch goal on the campaign – if we reach 30 backers, every backer will get three downloadable coloring pages of the new covers. I’ll use the mass market paperback covers for these, so there will be lots to color. You can back the campaign for just $5 CA to help us reach this goal, and you’ll get an advance copy of the new short story, Christmas at Tullymullagh, as well as the colorling pages and any other digital assets added to the campaign before next Saturday.

Here’s the schedule for the campaign.

The schedule for the 25th anniversary commemorative editions of The Bride Quest at Kickstarter, May 30 to June 10

I’ll be revealing the cover illustration for The Countess on Saturday. Isn’t this exciting?

Visit the Kickstarter campaign for the Bride Quest.

The Damsel 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

Yesterday, I launched my campaign at Kickstarter to celebrate 25 years since the original launch of my Bride Quest series of medieval romances. The campaign funded yesterday morning, which means it’s a go.

There are new editions of the six Bride Quest books coming to retailers in November. Each book has a new cover illustration of the couple. The image is the cover of the new mass market paperback edition. It’s also the case laminate on the new hardcover edition, which has an image similar to the current trade paperback on the dust jacket. These books will be available for pre-order shortly – the new editions of The Princess is already available for pre-order and I’ve added the links to the landing page here on the site.

But you can order advance copies of the new books through this Kickstarter campaign, running through June 10. I’m also doing the cover reveals during the campaign.

Here is the new cover illustration of Burke and Alys for The Damsel:

The Damsel, book two of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances, 25th anniversary commemorative edition, new illustration for case laminate and mass market paperback

I think this one is just so lovely and the pose is perfect for Burke and Alys. 🙂

Burke and Alys’ story is a second chance romance and a Cinderella story, one in which the secrets and lies of the past stand in the path of their happy future together.

tropes for The Damsel, book two of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Here are the current editions of the book, including the ebook at left, the new mass market edition, the current trade paperback edition and the new hard cover.

all editions of The Damsel, book two of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Here’s the new hard cover with both dust jacket and case laminate.

new hard cover edition of The Damsel, book two of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Today, there are some new tiers. Check the update for a list.

I also added a stretch goal today – when we reach 30 backers (there are currently 18) at any reward level, I’ll add three colouring pages of the new illustrations as digital assets for all backers to download.

You can order copies of these new editions through Kickstarter until June 10, and receive your copies early, signed or personalized, and get some swag. Every backer at Kickstarter, for example, gets the ebook of the new bonus epilogue to the Bride Quest I, Christmas at Tullymullagh. I’ll be adding more assets over the campaign, too. There are Early Bird tiers with special pricing that are available for a limited time, and there will be a swag box, too.

Here’s the schedule for the campaign.

The schedule for the 25th anniversary commemorative editions of The Bride Quest at Kickstarter, May 30 to June 10

I’ll be revealing the cover illustration for The Heiress tomorrow.

Visit the Kickstarter campaign for the Bride Quest.

2023 Ultimate Summer Giveaway

Ultimate Summer Giveaway 2023

It’s that time again! I’ve joined up with twenty-one other historical romance authors to sponsor a wonderful summer giveaway. Kathryn Le Veque, Brenna Ash, Terri Brisbin, Jennifer Ashley, Alanna Lucas, Christie Caldwell, Lori Ann Bailey, Glynnis Campbell, Heather McCollum, Hildie McQueen, Eliza Knight, Merry Farmer, Tanya Anne Crosby, Emma Prince, Lauren Royal, Katherine Bone, Cecilia Mecca, Julie Johnstone, Cathy MacRae, Scarlett Scott, Darcy Burke and I (phew! That’s a list!) are offering you a chance to win a Lenovo laptop, or one of four Amazon gift cards.

Hop on over to the landing page to enter, from now through June 18. Good luck!

Why I Like Kickstarter

25th anniversary commemorative editions of The Bride Quest at Kickstarter, May 30 to June 10

I talked about Kickstarter on my Deborah Cooke blog last December before launching my first campaign there, but haven’t discussed it here – beyond announcing the upcoming campaign for the Bride Quest 25th Anniversary Commemorative Editions.

Let’s change that today.

As ever, the book market is changing. Taking advantage of new opportunities is key to continuing to survive and thrive as a creator. For example, once upon a time, every author had a website, a blog and a link to their Amazon page. Now, opportunities abound for connecting with readers and selling books, and each author can develop a custom mix. It’s not possible to do everything, so I try to pick things that are fun or make sense to me. I like having the websites. (Some authors now eschew them.) I like having the blog, even though it’s a bit old-school – and WordPress is now promoting the subscribe feature, which makes the blog into a kind of mini-newsletter. I like that. I have mixed feelings about monthly newsletters, mostly because I personally don’t love them – but what I like isn’t necessarily what my readers like.

And I like Kickstarter. The environment is fun, and the interactions with readers are fabulous. I find the enthusiasm very inspiring and like being able to easily talk directly to readers. It feels more intimate than the blog or a newsletter. My first campaign was quite intense but a lot of that was because I didn’t know what to expect. I think it’ll be easier (and more mellow) this time.

I like making all the graphics and organizing the campaign. The tools are evolving all the time – this time, for example, I can add images to all of the reward tiers, which looks much better. Here’s one of the images for the upcoming campaign:

Graphic for the 25th anniversary commemorative editions of The Bride Quest at Kickstarter, May 30 to June 10

I also like that each campaign is for a very specific (and limited) period of time. When I had an online store, there was a constant drip of things to do. A quarterly deluge is easier to manage, in a way. Although many authors are opening their own online stores, I’m not in a hurry to do that again. The main category of items that sold in my store was signed books, but the cost of postage from Canada is prohibitive. For the foreseeable future, I’ll only offer them through my Kickstarter campaigns. Shipping personalized copies directly from the printer saves money and works out well, especially if it can be done in batches, for example.

On the reader side, a Kickstarter campaign is a chance to participate. You can make a difference in the creative journey of the authors whose work you enjoy by supporting their campaigns. This process makes projects possible that might not have happened otherwise, which I like a lot. I would never, for example, have undertaken the work and expense of creating these new Bride Quest editions without Kickstarter to launch them and help to finance the upfront costs. In a way, they’re kind of a test, to see whether it’s worth doing new packages for other series and launching them this way.

And of course, there’s an upside to being a supporter. There has to be! There are perks that are only available through the Kickstarter campaign to backers. I’ll talk a bit more on Wednesday about specifics for the Bride Quest campaign, and give you a sneak peek of what’s in store.

In the meantime, you can follow the campaign right here.

May 99¢ Historical Romance BookFunnel Promotion

It’s time for another BookFunnel promotion and this one features 99¢ historical romance reads. You’ll find both The Countess and Something Wicked This Way Comes in the offerings – for this promotion, you’ll click through to the retail portal of your choice to get the book for 99cents.

Visit the landing page.