Books and More!

One of the fun things about running a Kickstarter campaign for new editions is when all the goodies come in. Let’s have a look at most of the goodies and books for the Blood Brothers special editions campaign.

Last week, the first lot of books arrived. These were the trade paperbacks, and I’m so pleased with them. The matte finish is so velvety!

Blood Brothers special edition trade paperbacks with duplexed covers

These editions have the new illustrations by Dar Albert. For the trade paperback, the covers are duplexed, which means the illustration is printed on the inside of the cover, like this:

Blood Brothers special edition trade paperbacks with duplexed covers

The part of the illustration with the sword is on the inside back cover but I didn’t take pix ot it.

These special edition interiors include some different typographic elements, but also include the Blood Brothers map and family trees. The family tree for Jean Le Beau is in all four books, then each book has a family tree for the hero and for the heroine. Those elements are included in all of the special editions – ebook, trade paperback and hardcover.

The spiral notebooks featuring the new illustrations have also arrived.

Blood Brothers spiral notebooks

And there are postcards. There’s a set of four of the new illustrations, and a set of four of the original cover art (with the guys alone). They all have the same reverse side which is shown at the bottom right.

Blood Brothers postcards

Plus those big bookmarks have arrived. There’s a set of four of these: they all have the same reverse side with the original covers.

Blood Brothers bookmarks

I’ve been packing boxes for the fulfillment of the Kickstarter. The hardcover editions have shipped to me, so I’ll show them to you once they arrive. I’ll pack the rest of the Kickstarter pledges then and the campaign will be done. I’ve also been making book charms with these new covers and will show you those with the hardcovers.

You can pre-order signed copies of the print books in my online store – that will be for the first fulfillment after the Kickstarter campaign, and I’ll place that order in June.

The spiral notebooks that are left are available in the store now. They won’t be restocked, so once they’re gone, that’s that. You’ll find them in New Arrivals there, as well as the discounted sample copies of The Hunter & the Heiress that I ordered in advance of the campaign. Those books have the illustration on the cover, but don’t have the map or family trees inside.

Blood Brothers Special Editions – and Kindle Unlimited

The Wolf & the Witch, book one of the Blood Brothers series of medieval Scottish romances by Claire Delacroix, special hardcover edition
The Wolf & the Witch special hardcover edition dust jacket

The Kickstarter campaign for the new special editions of my Blood Brothers series ended on Saturday night. It not only funded but we reached stretch goals to add the Blood Brothers map and nine family trees into the new editions, as well as two sets of postcards and one set of bookmarks, printed for backers of signed books and as digital downloads for all backers. I also added some pretty spiral bound notebooks this time and will be doing that in future campaigns, too.

What happens next is the fulfillment, which will be all behind the scenes (pretty much in my dining room.)

Two other things are happening now that the campaign is completed. First, there’s a pre-order available in my online store for these new print editions. The Kickstarter fulfillment will be completed first, then the books ordered through this pre-order. If you pre-order before June 1, your books will be ordered in June and ship to you in July. These editions are signed, so they will ship from Canada.

See the Blood Brothers pre-order at Deborah Cooke’s Books.

The Dragon & the Damsel, book three of the Blood Brothers series of medieval Scottish romances by Claire Delacroix, special hardcover edition
The Dragon & the Damsel special hardcover edition dust jacket

You might notice that the special edition e-books aren’t listed there. That’s because Blood Brothers will be enrolled for a 90-day term in Kindle Unlimited. The first two books have been in KU before, but not the last two, so you’ll be able to binge the series there. The plan is for the books to be enrolled by the beginning of April, which will take their 90-day term through the end of June, but that will depend upon how promptly the other portals remove the books from sale. They have to be available exclusively at Amazon for their KU term.

Yesterday, I began to unpublish the four books from portals with long distribution chains, so depending where you shop, they may be vanishing. The last place I’ll unpublish them is my own online store, since it updates immediately.

My next Kickstarter campaign will be for a new hardcover omnibus edition of my fantasy YA Dragon Diaries trilogy. Watch the blog on my Deborah Cooke site for more details about that.

Changes to Audiobook Distribution

This week, one of the companies I use to distribute my audiobooks changed their terms. The new terms are not attractive, nor are they negotiable. As a result, I’ve unpublished my audiobooks from that distributor.

The changes will likely take some time to percolate through the distribution channels, but you can expect my audiobooks to vanish from portals other than Audible, Apple, Amazon, GooglePlay and KOBO. The links will change for Apple and GooglePlay. You can also, of course, buy them directly from me in my online store.

Deborah Cooke's books

I’ll be removing the other buy links from my websites.

It is not unlikely that there will be another distributor pop up to fill the void, as there are many authors and audiobook producers unhappy with this change. If and when that happens and my audiobooks have wider distribution, I’ll let you know. 🙂

One Day 99¢ Book Blast!

Today’s the day for another 99¢ book blast! Visit the landing page to find an assortment of historical romances discounted to just 99cents, for one day only.

99¢ Historical Romance One-Day Book Blast February 2024

You’ll find The Frost Maiden’s Kiss among the offerings, as well as many other books.

Visit the landing page!

The Video of Four Editions of The Hunter & the Heiress

My next Kickstarter campaign will feature new hardcover editions of the four Blood Brothers medieval Scottish romances and launches next Monday. (eek! I’m trying to be cool about this one.) We’ve seen the new dustjackets and new illustrations, but now you can see them on actual books. I ordered early copies of The Hunter & the Heiress in those two new editions, and this short video shows all four books – the current trade paperback and large print hardcover, and the new trade paperback with duplexed cover and new hard cover with case laminate illustration.

Compare the four print editions of The Hunter & the Heiress

The preview page for the Blood Brothers campaign is live at Kickstarter now, and you can follow it to be notified when the campaign launches.

Follow the Blood Brothers campaign.

Blood Brothers medieval romances new hardcovers coming to Kickstarter in February 2024