Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I’ve recently gotten the rights back to two
of the books previously published by Love Inspired Historicals and have been
doing my best to figure out the ins and outs of converting them and reissuing
them as self-published works. I think I
finally have things ALMOST figured out – just one or two more things I need to
figure out and I’ll be done.
One of the things I never realized before now was that it’s much more difficult to format for a print copy than an eBook copy. Amazon makes it really easy to upload your eBook from your manuscript but print is, as they say, a whole ‘nother ballgame. For the few other books I’ve self-pubbed before now I actually hired a professional to take care of it. But besides being a bit pricey it also means you need to go back to that person every time you want to make a change.
So I decided it was time to roll up my sleeves and learn to do it myself., and that’s where the learning curve came in. I purchased Atticus and it’s a really nice package for formatting print, except I had some custom things I wanted to do (naturally!) so I had to check out helpful videos and join an author group to draw on their experience. As I said, a couple of tweaks and I’m there. The next one should go much faster.
Since Harlequin holds the rights to the cover art and blurb I had to replace these elements. Because I’m not as good at design as Pam and some of the others here, I
hired a cover designer I'd worked with before to make my new cover for me. These two books were part of
the original Texas Grooms series set in Turnabout, Texas. I was never very fond of that series title so
now I’m rebranding it as Turnabout Hearts. I also have plans to retitle some of
the books to give them a more cohesive feel as a series. And I asked my cover
designer to create a series logo and give the covers within the series a
cohesive feel.
This first one was originally titled The Holiday Courtship
and it will be reissued on Dec 1st as His Christmas Matchmaker.
Below is the original cover and blurb followed by the new
cover and blurb.
THE HOLIDAY COURTSHIP
He Wanted A Wife by Christmas...
As Christmas approaches, Hank Chandler is determined to find a wife to mother his sister's orphaned children. When schoolteacher Janell Whitman offers to help him with his niece and nephew, she seems to be the perfect match—but she won't accept his proposal. Instead, she insists she'll find him another bride before the holidays.
Janell moved to Turnabout, Texas, to put her past behind her and focus on her future—one that doesn't include marriage. But while she plays matchmaker and cares for Hank's children, she loses her heart to the two youngsters…and their adoptive father. If Janell reveals her secrets to Hank, will he still want her to be his Christmas bride?
HIS CHRISTMAS MATCHMAKER
A guilty secret…
Vowing to put her past behind her, schoolteacher Janell Whitman has resigned herself to spinsterhood and she's erected walls to guard her heart from all but her pupils.
A solitary heart…
Hank Chandler is
quite comfortable with his uncomplicated bachelor life. But when he suddenly
finds himself the guardian of his orphaned niece and nephew he knows all that
that will have to change. Not only do the children need a mother’s love, but
he’s not fit to be a single parent. So he’ll need to marry quickly, whether he
wants to or not.
A Christmas
bargain…
Seeing their need, Janell impulsively reaches out to help the
hurting Chandler family. But when Hank proposes a businesslike marriage she
draws the line at becoming his wife. She
softens her refusal, however, with a counteroffer – she’ll take care of the
children after school and help him find an appropriate wife in time for
Christmas. After all, how hard can it be?
But as the holiday
grows closer, it seems increasingly difficult to find a suitable candidate––not
to mention even harder to deny their growing feelings for each other. It might
take a miracle for these two hearts to become one, but Christmas is the season
of miracles––and love.
Preorder HERE
Dare I say that I like the new cover and blurb better than the LIH one?
ReplyDeleteI know Love Inspired has made their covers and blurbs irresistible to their readers, and they're SO GOOD at it! But with this new package, I think you're going to be able to reach new readers.
And thanks for the reminder to once again ask for my rights back on my early LIH stories!
Thanks Jan! And of the 17 books I wrote for Harlequin, so far I've only been able to get the rights to three back
DeleteWinnie, you never cease to amaze me. The new cover is gorgeous, and I love the back cover copy. Well done, my friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks but I can only take credit for the overall concept. It was the cover designer and her staff who actually came up with the final product. :)
DeleteLovely, Winnie! The new cover is so alluring, and the new blurb is as well. Did you write it? Well done, for sure. And, as we know, blurbs are hard to write. Is Atticus for PCs or MACs? I know nothing about Atticus so thanks for mentioning the program.
ReplyDeleteI had help with the blurb - my cover creator offers the service so I hired her to do it. Then I tweaked it a bit after I got it back.
ReplyDeleteI use a pc but I think Atticus will run on both platforms.
I am in love with that new cover and your blurb is wonderful! Winnie, I love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ruthie!
DeleteLove the new cover and the new life you've given this story. Congrats on the new re-release! :)
ReplyDeleteI think I've heard of Atticus for formatting, but I use Vellum for Macs and it's amazing. It formats my ebooks and my print books and so far it's been so easy.
Thanks. I've heard glowing reports of Vellum but unfortunately it doesn't run on a PC.
DeleteI like the new cover. It is brighter and I like that more of the background is included.
ReplyDeletemarypopmom (at) yahoo (dot) com
Maryann
Thanks Maryann
Delete