Dear Reader,

How did summer suddenly become such a busy time of year? At the moment I think France has the right idea by shutting down for most of August. I have to admire them for their priorities. 😊

Of course, I can't blame anyone but myself for everything that's cluttering up my calendar these days. When you work for yourself, you set your own deadlines. Glutton for punishment here...

Big deadline looms: 6 weeks until Kickstarter!

As I've said, Kickstarter is a huge experiment for me. Whatever the ultimate outcome, thinking about reaching a broad audience for my book in this way is incredibly helpful. It forces me to consider the positioning more deeply and make sure I signal the right kind of experience to my ideal reader.

That thinking is what has inspired me to change the main visual on my Kickstarter campaign and to have my lovely illustrator add a subhead to the cover.

Here's the new visual:

The subhead is small here, so I'll tell you what it is:

A Witty Regency Spy Romance

Why did I do all that? Because, much as I loved the cover as it was, I was afraid it wouldn't immediately signal romance. Genre authors among you understand that readers need to believe a book will offer them what they love.

And yes, readers do judge books by their covers.

What I wanted to make sure readers understand is that humor—sometimes ironic, sometimes physical, sometimes poignant—is in The Pinkstocking Club's DNA, alongside real history and adventure.
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I'd really love you to follow my Kickstarter. You do have to register with Kickstarter to do so, but it's easy to opt out of their general messages. Once you're in, simply click the button that says "notify me" to receive updates and be among the first to know when the campaign goes live. And if you fund at any level at that time, you'll receive a free pre-publication ebook of Dangerous Drusilla:

As promised, a poll!

I can't wait for readers to meet Drusilla in her first London Season. If you've read the prequel, you already know she's headed for a bit of trouble. So now I'd love to know what you think might lead her to step right into it.

Once again, thank you for reading my newsletters and for supporting me as I work hard to bring my stories to the world. Don't forget, if you respond to this email I read and respond back—guaranteed.

Until next time,

Susanne