A Peek Behind The Scenes #6 The Release!

Erica Here:

We're just about a week away from the big reveal! Who will win the LOADED KINDLE FIRE?  You'll have to come back to find out, and you know it won't be you if you don't enter! What are you waiting for???? (Scroll down and enter!)

For this week, however, I'd like to give you another Peek Behind The Scenes, this time talking about the book release. The book released six weeks ago, and began shipping to those who had pre-ordered it even before that, but for the authors, the release is a long process! There's a lot of thought and work that go into a book release, and the seven authors of this collection put in the sweat equity for sure.

Months ago, there was the cover art to finalize. 

Often, the author has little or no control over the cover art for a book, but this time, Barbour was generous and let us have a say.

The first cover art came back and it was...fine.

It had pretty font, and a cowboy hat, and it looked western. However, we were a bit concerned, because it looked similar to a couple of other novella collections that Barbour had published recently, and the last thing we wanted was for someone to pass over this book thinking they had already purchased it because it looked too similar to one they already had.

Case in point. :) This fabulous collection released a few months before the 7 Brides Collection.

So, we asked if we could have a re-do, and after some give and take, we arrived at the beautiful cover we have now!

Once cover art was finalized, we could begin telling folks about the collection. And we could start brainstorming ways we would promote the collection, both together and individually.

We came up with a few things:

Bookmarks. 

Every reader loves bookmarks, and they are a great way to spread the word about a new release.

Signed book plates:

It's hard to get a collection signed by all the authors, so we thought we'd sign book plates that we could send to readers to put in their books. :)

Goodreads Giveaway:

This one was Keli Gwyn's baby. She generously gave away 7 copies of the book on Goodreads.

The Group Blog:

We have loved having an online home to talk about our stories and connect with readers, and it's nice to have a place to send folks who ask about the book.

A Facebook Launch Party:

Again, Keli Gwyn had the lion's share of the responsibility on this one. In addition to hosting her part of the soiree, she also ran all the behind-the-scenes work, posting pictures, keeping things moving smoothly. This was one of the liveliest Facebook parties I've ever attended, with more than 1000 comments by the time it was all said and done. We had games and character sketches and prizes and laughter and cyber-goodies. It was an old fashioned hoe-down in a new-fangled delivery system.

The Rafflecopter to give away a Kindle Fire loaded with our books.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(You have entered, haven't you?)

Review Copies

This is my post office...that I have visited many times lately...mailing out books to my review team, The Vetsch Posse. They are the best! And I know the other authors in the collection have sent out review copies as well. We have been thrilled with the reviews that are rolling in on amazon, Goodreads, Christianbook.com and other places. Thank you! We LOVE reviewers!


In addition to these efforts, we've each guest blogged, done giveaways, and posted on social media.

It's been a lot of work, but we've enjoyed it! Mostly because we get to connect with readers like you!

So, for today, tell me, how did you hear about the 7 Brides for 7 Texans collection?