I’m thrilled to have joined Romance Gems, recently expanded to include 23 romance authors in a variety of sub-genres.
We are launching our new website February 1st, 2019. There will be contests and giveaways all month long, including a grand prize of a Kindle Fire.
Come on over and meet the women of Romance Gems.
We’ll each be blogging one day this month – and every month, so come often. You might discover some new romance gems.
l’m a self-proclaimed cover nerd, which probably stems from my fine arts background . My daughter Rosey, a marketing maven, and I work together to create my covers and last month we went wild changing the covers on most of the books of the series.
I loved the dramatic woman in black on a foggy dock, much like when Rosey comes home to the Island for Christmas and I pick her up at the float plane dock nearby. But as a friend laughingly said, it wouldn’t say Christmas to anyone who did not live in the Pacific Northwest. And your covers have to tell online buyers in a nutshell what your books about. Cover #1 – doesn’t look like Christmas, Cover #2 was visually too confusing, but I think the new cover hits just the right note, and will look great with the Starlight and Tinsel cover next Christmas.
When we got started, we just couldn’t stop. I liked the two newest covers, Starting Over and Starlight & Tinsel, and wanted to bring the rest more in line with those. More fun and direct – which is how I see the books.
Some of the old covers were too static – not reflective of the characters.
Then we decided to update the font on them all. Much sharper I think.
Now, back to work.
Looking back on 2018 – well, it’s been a crazy year. Despite The Big Move, I managed to publish three books, two that were already mostly written, Starting Over (Fortune Bay) and Temple of the Jaguar (Rocky and Bernadette Mystery #1), and the last Fortune Bay book (I think) Starlight and Tinsel, that I did write this year. In the confusion of packing, selling a business and moving our workshops, I’m amazed I got them out!
My scattered state of mind is evidenced by how I mixed up my two free books here on the page! Sorry if it had new readers scratching their heads.
(Please let me know if Amazon changes it back to 99cents, as they do randomly. I think just to show they can!).
And Lake of Dreams, the prequel novella is now my gift to new members of my readers group. If you are a member and for some reason have never received it, let me know. If you’d like to join, Click Here.
You can email me anytime about anything at Judy@JudithHudsonAuthor.com I love hearing from readers.
I also changed some covers, but just to confuse people even more, I’m changing the cover of Summer of Fortune – the free book – back to my original cover.
I do plan to change the covers of Home for Christmas – again. The original only said “Christmas” to someone from the pacific Northwest -lol. And the new one is too visually confusing to see the title and my name.
I’m also going to change the cover of The Good Neighbor, which I think is too static and does not reflect Frankie’s character. So watch for all that in the new year!
I’m talking about these covers on Jo-Ann Carson’s podcast, Blood Sweat and Words, that aired Christmas Day 2018. It was fun. Have a listen.
So I hope 2019 is a quiet year around here.
Now – on to the next book!
I’m on a virtual journey with Rocky and Bernadette, my mystery protagonists, to Cremona, a city in northwestern Italy that I love. My husband is in the violin business so it’s no coincidence we’ve been to The home of Stradivarius numerous times and there are still over 100 violin makers in the ancient city.
I thought I’d show you a few of the photographs I took there that I have set up as a slide show on my two monitors to inspire me with glimpses into this intriguing world as I write.
To see the website for Rocky ad Bernadette’s first story, Temple of the Jaguar, set in the Yucatan, go to www.JMHudsonmystery.com.
More on the Rocky and Bernadette mysteries soon.
It’s been a few years so I’m changing a few of the original Fortune Bay covers to bring the series more in line with other small town romance series. I want readers to know what they’re getting and yes, pic out my books to try!
So ta-da! The new beta covers for Summer of Fortune and Home for Christmas.
They will probably change a bit more, but not much, and I’ll be rolling out the new cover for The Good Neighbor soon. Watch for them on all your regular online retailers!