My Kickstarter Plan for 2023

The Dragonfire Novels omnibus hardcover editions at Kickstarter through January 7, 2023

I’m thrilled with the results of my first Kickstarter campaign ever. The 15th Anniversary HardCover Omnibus Editions of the Dragonfire Novels funded at 350% which was great. Now, there’s processing at Kickstarter’s end (they have to collect the money pledged) and in two or three weeks, I’ll be able to start fulfillment. In the meantime, I’ll be finishing up the designs of the family tree postcards – I’ll probably order them from the printer – and finalizing the interiors of the hardcover editions. I plan to send the downloadable coloring page and digital wallpaper to all backers next week, even before I’m paid. I’m also working on Orion’s story, Kiss of Enchantment, which is shaping up really well. I’ll order a cover for it when I’m further along with the story.

What happens next? I’ve already had several people ask where they can get the omnibus editions now that the Kickstarter campaign is over. Well, they’re only available via Kickstarter, so the real question is when will they be offered with another campaign there. My plan for 2023 is to work on building my platform at KS, so I’ll be offering other existing series in new editions – with the occasional addition like Kiss of Enchantment.

Based on this campaign’s performance, I’m not going to bother with stretch goals and my new campaigns will be shorter. They’ll be more like flash sales and limited-time opportunities to buy both digital content from me and signed print books. I’ll only be selling print books directly through Kickstarter. In 2024, I plan to offer more new content through Kickstarter and Patreon early, before it’s available at the portals.

Kickstarter campaign for 25th anniversary hard cover omnibus editions of the Bride Quest by Claire Delacroix

Kickstarter requires one campaign to be completely fulfilled before I can create even a landing page for a new one, so my planned campaigns for this year won’t have long previews. My second campaign will be for my alter-ego Claire and will feature hardcover omnibus editions of the Bride Quest trilogies. There will be two omnibus editions, one for each trilogy, and the covers will look a lot like the digital bundles. That will run in the spring, ideally in April, but maybe in May.

The Dragon Diaries illustrated hardcover omnibus edition by Deborah Cooke at Kickstarter

My third campaign will be for a hardcover omnibus edition of The Dragon Diaries with interior illustrations. (I’m excited about this!) This trilogy isn’t currently available in new print editions (there are used copies available of the NAL trade paperbacks) and I’ve always wanted to gather Zoë’s story into a single volume. That campaign will run in the summer. I may offer the Dragonfire hardcover omnibus editions as add-ons in that campaign.

I’d like to run another Delacroix Kickstarter in the fall, but we’ll see how the timing works out. Fulfillment of print editions can be an issue in November and December. Ideally, there will be a Dragonfire Kickstarter campaign for new stories in January 2024 and the hardcover omnibus editions will definitely be offered in that campaign.

If you love special editions for your keeper shelf or early access to new stories, you’ll want to follow me at both Kickstarter and Patreon so you don’t miss out.

Follow me at Kickstarter

Follow me at Patreon

I’m also going to start sharing Kickstarter campaigns with you that I find intriguing, so that you can get an idea of what’s available there. Here’s one from Lainey Davis featuring new covers for her contemporary sports romance series, The Stag Brothers. I think these covers are so pretty, and she’s adding illustrations to the interiors, too.

NaNoWriMo 2022

It’s time for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again! The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November, which is pretty much my usual monthly goal. I thought I did NaNo every year, but it turns out that I missed last year. Hmm.

I’ve signed up this year with the goal of completing The Masquerade of the Marchioness, which is the next book in my Claire Delacroix Regency romance series, The Ladies’ Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction. I’m excited about this story – it’s about a marriage on the rocks and a wife that is prepared to do whatever it takes to win her husband’s attention back. I’m looking forward to meeting the hero, as well as the inevitable antics of “Mrs. Oliver” at a masquerade ball, and to sorting out another HEA. That story is scheduled to publish in December.

I don’t participate in a lot of events during NaNo – I just keep the focus on writing. It’s a good month to revisit my routines and make sure I’m working effectively, maybe to establish some new and more productive habits.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, good luck with your goal. I hope you start the month with a day filled with words!

Updating eBooks

This is a behind-the-scenes post, since things have been pretty quiet on this blog lately. It’s busy in my office!

As you know, I write contemporary romances and paranormal romances as Deborah Cooke, and historical romances as Claire Delacroix. This year, I amalgamated my PNR websites into this one, leaving me with two websites instead of four, which means the urls for all the book landing pages changed. I also moved my three English newsletters to a new service, which meant the sign-up links changed. Both of these changes meant updating my ebook interiors with the new links.

My historical romances have been in KDP Select since last fall, so I did the updates only at Amazon. My PNR went into KDP Select in the spring, so again, I did the updates only at Amazon. Now (haha) the books are coming out of KU and going into wide distribution again, which means updating the ebook files at the other portals. I load directly to Apple, KOBO, GooglePlay, Nook, Draft2Digital, Smashwords and PublishDrive. I also sell some books directly with delivery via BookFunnel. That’s 7 or 8 uploads per title. Some portals process uploads quickly. Some take forever to chew through each one.

In August, 22 of my medieval romances came out of KDP Select and were republished wide. There’s a blog post about that on the Delacroix site, right here.

In September, 22 more of my Delacroix romances (medievals, time travels and boxed sets) come out of KDP Select to be republished wide. The one hold-out will be The Beauty Bride, which leaves KDP Select in October. (It was enrolled later.) I’ve already updated the files at most portals and just need to republish them when the time comes—with the exception of the time travels, which will get new covers first.

In October, 45 of my paranormal romances and boxed sets come out of KDP Select and will be republished wide.

Also in October, the Spanish editions of 15 contemporary romances come out of KDP Select and will be republished wide. These are delivered to the non-Amazon portals from an aggregator, Draft2Digital, so that will save me some uploading time.

The Countess, book #4 of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix

Taking the books wide again also means setting first-in-series free and booking promotions for it. The Countess is free this month, and by November, The Beauty Bride will be a free series starter for my historical romances again. Also by November, Kiss of Fire will be a free series starter for my PNR. Of course, Just One Fake Date remains a free series starter for my contemporary romances. I’ll probably book a sale on the two bundles of series starters, First Knights and Dragons First, as well. As I write this, I realize that Claire didn’t have a new trope boxed set this year. Oops. I’ll add that to my To Do list.

But by November (when I stop to catch my breath!) over 100 of my backlist books will have beautifully updated interiors at all of the portals and some will even have new covers. At the end of the year, I’ll be able to unpublish the two paranormal romance websites, and discontinue my former newsletter service. It’s been a big transition and is a job I’ll be glad to see done.

Next year, I’ll be able to focus on writing, which is the most exciting part of all!

An Elegy for Melusine in Italian

My retelling of a medieval fairy tale, An Elegy for Melusine, is now available in Italian!


An Elegy for Melusine, a medieval fairy tale retold by Claire Delacroix, Italian edition

Condannata da una maledizione a cambiare forma un giorno a settimana, Melusine sa che solo l’amore può renderla libera. Quando incontra Raymond, un affascinante cavaliere con un disperato bisogno di aiuto che solo lei può soddisfare, crede che la sua occasione sia arrivata. Giura di diventarne la moglie devota e di guadagnarsi il suo amore, anche se sceglie di tenere segreta la sua maledizione. Quando la loro felice unione viene messa alla prova dalla sfortuna, Raymond giura di dimostrare che le malelingue si sbagliano. Sarà tentato di rompere la sua promessa a Melusine per scoprire la verità? E l’amore per la sua sposa sopravvivrà se il segreto di lei verrà svelato?

“Elegia per Melusine” è la rivisitazione di una famosa fiaba francese. Ha un finale triste, ma potrai incontrare di nuovo Melusine, detta Mel, e il fantasma che la perseguita, nella serie “Il Destino dei Draghi”, in cui lei troverà il suo lieto fine.