In just a few days I’ll have a new release that’s not
actually a new release. Allow me to explain. More than 22 years ago Harlequin
Historical purchased my first book, though it was not the first book I wrote. A Duke Deceived was the first book I
managed to get published.
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| Original 1998 Cover |
It was published in early 1998. In those days it was only
available in paperback. It did very well. It sold about 80,000 copies its first
year. It also managed to win some awards. Then it went completely out of print.
That’s how “midlist” authors were treated.
When eBooks came along I was not able to get my rights back
because Harlequin kept selling foreign rights to the book, and each time they
did, they set the clock back seven more years on rights reversion, per my
contract. Rights were sold in French, Italian, Portuguese, and three different
times the book was sold in Japan!
Thirteen years after it was out of print in North America,
Harlequin put it and many hundreds of other out-of-print titles out as a badly
scanned eBooks as a “Treasure.” There was zero promotion. Sales were miniscule.
After 21 years I was able to get back my rights on that
first published book. But by then I knew (because I was now my own publisher) that
solo books don’t sell. So I’ve sat on this book for more than a year while
trying to decide what to do with it.
I think one of the reasons the book was so popular when it
was first published was because I had two very satisfactory subplot romances in
it, so readers got a three-for. Which
basically killed sequels. In the nineties, we weren’t writing series.
It took a
while for me to figure out how to pull a series out of this book, but I’m happy
to say this first published book of mine is now the foundation not only of my
career but also of The Deceived Series.
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| New Cover |
I’m completing a Christmas novella that takes place three
years after A Duke Deceived and
features a fresh romance. His Lady
Deceived will release 90 days after the newly edited new release of A Duke Deceived.
Now I need to think of a plot for a third installment in the
series!
I loved my original cover. Harlequin had me fill out a
14-page art fact sheet, and I was thrilled with the final product. I am also
happy with my new cover. Which do you prefer? —Cheryl Bolen has written more than 40 books, mostly Regency-set
historical romances. Several of her books have won Best Historical awards, and
she’s a New York Times and USA Today bestseller whose books have
been translated into eight languages. In addition to being a PTA mom and team
mom for both her (now grown) sons, she’s been a journalist, an English teacher,
antiques dealer, super fan of college football and basketball (especially the Texas
Longhorns), frequent traveler to England, and an addict of reading about dead
English women. Check out these sites of hers:
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