Category Archives: Kickstarter

Kiss of Enchantment Advance E-books

Posted on by under Coming Soon, Dragon Diaries YA, Dragonfire, Fantasy Romance, Kickstarter, My Books, Paranormal Romance

It’s been quiet here because I’ve been writing a lot this year. This is my favorite part of the process and I’m loving it – but it means my social media tend to be quieter. I’m still here!

Kiss of Enchantment, book one of the Darkfire Chronicles, a series of paranormal romances featuring dragon shifter heroes by Deborah Cooke

This week, I’m finishing up Kiss of Enchantment, book one of the Darkfire Chronicles. This book has been a lot of fun to write, as the storyline has intersected with a lot of the established history of the Pyr. Everything had to fit together! I also love Orion and Francesca together: he’s such a romantic while she’s very practical. There’s nothing like a dragon shifter determined to fulfill his fate to heal old wounds and steal a woman’s heart away. 🙂

In my Kickstarter campaign for the Dragonfire Omnibus HardCover editions, it was possible to order an advance copy of Kiss of Enchantment. These books will be delivered by May 6. Orion and Francesca’s book is also available for pre-order at the major portals – it will deliver in November.

If you didn’t order an advance copy of Kiss of Enchantment through the Kickstarter campaign and would like to change that, you can order a copy from me now. I’ve also added the Complete Dragonfire Series ebook to the form, in case you missed that. Prices are in $CA and the form will be available through April 30. I’ll charge you by Paypal when the book is ready to ship, and the ebooks will be delivered by BookFunnel after you pay. This will happen by May 6.

You’ll find the order form right here.

Originally, I’d thought to offer this advance ebook through Patreon, but that’s not working out as expected. 🙂 We’ll do it this way and keep things simple.

My next campaign at Kickstarter will launch in May, once this one is all finished up. It will be for new commemorative editions of my Bride Quest series of medieval romances – it’s 25 years since The Princess, book one of that series, was published, which is kind of astonishing. These new editions have new cover illustrations – that image is the cover of the commemorative mass market edition. The commemorative hardcover editions have a dust jacket like the current trade paperback and are case laminated with the new illustration. 

In this image below, you can see the original mass market paperback at the left (now out of print), then the new commemorative mass market paperback (coming to Kickstarter in May and portals in November). Next is the current trade paperback, and finally at the right, is the new commemorative hardcover (coming to Kickstarter in May and portals in November.) If you click through to the blog post, you can see the case laminate on the new hardcover.

The Princess, book one of the Bride Quest series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, all print editions.

Read more about the new editions of The Princess in this blog post on my Delacroix website. The other five new covers will be revealed over the course of the Kickstarter campaign. It won’t have a very long pre-launch and there will be early bird specials, so keep your eyes open!

I will also have a campaign later this year for an illustrated hardcover omnibus edition of The Dragon Diaries YA fantasy series. (Initially, this was going to be before the Bride Quest one, but the illustrations are taking longer.) This series is currently available only in ebook, though there are used copies of the NAL trade paperbacks floating around. The campaign will launch new print editions, both individual books in trade paperback and the hardcover omnibus. Like the Bride Quest campaign, the print editions will be available earlier through Kickstarter, as well as signed, and there will be special swag at Kickstarter.

I’ll do a cover reveal in my monthly Dragons & Angels newsletter for my paranormal romances before posting it here on the site. If you haven’t yet subscribed, here’s the sign-up link.

The Dragon Diaries series is a spin-off from Dragonfire, so the Dragonfire hardcover omnibus editions will be available in this campaign as add-ons. My books are only available signed the first time they’re offered through Kickstarter, so the Dragonfire omnibus editions will be available personalized in the Dragon Diaries campaign and there won’t be any changes to the acknowledgements. (They’ll be a bit cheaper, too, as a result of that.) I’ll post a link here when the pre-launch goes up, or you can follow me on Kickstarter to make sure you don’t miss out.

The Next Kickstarter Campaign

Posted on by under Coming Soon, Kickstarter, Paranormal Romance

I’m still finishing up the fulfillment for the Dragonfire Omnibus Kickstarter campaign – which will only be completed when the ebook of Kiss of Enchantment is delivered to those who ordered an advance copy through the campaign – but am already planning my next campaign.

My next Kickstarter will feature new print editions of The Dragon Diaries trilogy. Since there were still some of Penguin’s trade paperbacks out in the marketplace when I republished the books, I haven’t done new paperback editions yet. That will change in May. There will be new trade paperbacks of the three books, available first at Kickstarter. They’ll be available at the various portals in the fall.

There will also be a hardcover illustrated omnibus edition of The Dragon Diaries. This will have a new cover and interior illustrations, and will be available only at Kickstarter. If you order a copy during this campaign, you’ll be able to get your copy signed by me, but you’ll also be listed in the acknowledgements of this edition. I’ve wanted to do an omnibus for a while and am excited about this edition. I’ll show you the cover when I can. (It’s getting close to completion.)

There’s a cumulative effect at Kickstarter, especially in the add-on tiers. So, you’ll be able to order the omnibus Dragonfire editions as add-ons in The Dragon Diaries campaign. The acknowledgements in those books are fixed now, and you’ll be able to get them personalized instead of signed, but they’ll also be a bit cheaper than they were before. (Less postage for one thing. The signed copies have to be shipped to me in Canada before being shipping to you, and our postage is expensive.)

Of course, there will be special swag. I’ll offer a swag box with each Kickstarter, since that’s fun and means that you can buy just the swag if you already have the ebooks.

Now you know the plan! You can keep watching here for more details, and/or follow me on Kickstarter to be notified of new campaigns.

The Printed Dragonfire Family Trees

Posted on by under Dragonfire, Kickstarter

One of the reward tiers in my Kickstarter campaign was printed postcards with the Dragonfire family trees on them. This ended up being a set of 14 cards, each 6 x 9″ with the Dragonfire logo on the back.

They’re similar to the family trees you can download here on the site, but since the cards are smaller than a full sheet of paper, I had to rearrange some of the generations. I also took the opportunity to do some colour-coding – the Pyr are yellow, for example, while the Slayers are green. And I added cover images for the firestorms that are featured in books.

Here’s what they look like:

Dragonfire printed family trees

They all have the same printed back:

Dragonfire printed family trees

Since there are 14 of them and I didn’t want them to scatter all over the place (getting dinged corners in the mail) I tied each set up with a bow.

set of Dragonfire printed family trees

The stack of them is about 1/4″ thick – they didn’t fit into a 6.5 x 9.5″ envelope because of the number of them, and the next size envelope was too roomy. I decided to make some custom folders for them.

I was lucky enough to find some wonderful acid-free yellow paper at the local office supply store, which also has some art supplies. Here’s my template on a big sheet of that heavy yellow paper:

Custom folder template

And here’s one flat, cut from the yellow paper and scored. (A blunt point is best for scoring, so I used a knitting needle.)

custom folder cut and scored

Here’s the outside of the finished folder:

Custom folder for Dragonfire Family Trees made by Deborah Cooke

And here’s what it looks like when you open the folder:

Custom folder for Dragonfire Family Trees made by Deborah Cooke

When I close the folder for shipping, I use a matching green Dragonfire sticker to hold the cover closed. Then they go into those larger envelopes quite nicely with a multi-color Dragonfire sticker on the back flap.

I’m really happy with how these bundles look now.

These printed cards were included in the reward tiers with the signed omnibus editions in my Kickstarter campaign. They ended up being a limited edition because I ordered just enough for the campaign fulfillment, with one set left for me. 🙂

While I was creating colour versions of the family trees to have printed on 6×9″ postcards for one of my Kickstarter reward tiers, I discovered a couple of errors in these original PDFs. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the base files to edit these PDFs so I can’t update them. What was wrong? Mostly I fixed some mate’s names. In the Eastern Line, five Pyr had mates named Althea, which seems statistically improbable. I suspect that I cut-and-pasted the box from Asha (with his mate Althea) and updated only the name of the Pyr and his dates, forgetting the mate’s name. These mates have never appeared in stories. In the updated version, Ivan’s mate is Farah, Viktor’s mate is Yasmine, Felix’s mate is Natasha and Mikael’s mate is Anna. Asha’s mate is Shara.

Redoing them also reminded me that The Britannia Line and The Byzantine Line have yet to be documented, so that’s something to look forward to. The family trees for The Dragon Legion will also have additions as I write more DragonFate and Dragonfire Chronicles books.

What do you think of these printed family trees?

My Kickstarter Plan for 2023

Posted on by under Contemporary Romance, Dragon Diaries YA, Dragonfire, Kickstarter, Medieval romance, My Books, Paranormal Romance
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.

The Final Hours

Posted on by under Dragonfire, Kickstarter, Paranormal Romance
15th anniversary hardcover omnibus editions of the Dragonfire Novels available at Kickstarter December 27, 2022 to January 7, 2023

My Kickstarter campaign for 15th Anniversary HardCover Omnibus editions of the Dragonfire Novels ends tonight, Saturday January 7 at 8PM. 

Dragonfire Novel book charm earrings made by Deborah Cooke

This is the last chance to reserve your copies of:

• any or all of the hard cover omnibus editions. These won’t be available at retailers. Through this campaign, you can also order your copies signed and with the pages gilded.

• an advance copy of the next Dragonfire Novel, Kiss of Enchantment, in April 2023. This book won’t be available elsewhere before November 2023.

• the printed Dragonfire family trees, which are only available through this campaign.

• the BookWorm swag pack, which now includes the printed family trees, a gemstone bracelet of your choice and a pair of book charm earrings with the cover of the Dragonfire Novel of your choice.

• the Complete Dragonfire Series ebook bundle, available only at Kickstarter.

• All Deborah’s Dragons, an ebook bundle only for Kickstarter of all my dragon shifter romances.

• Digital wallpaper for desktop and phone of the art from Serpent’s Kiss.

• a downloadable bookmark to print and color.

Don’t miss out! Visit the landing page now!