Re-Releases – Yay or Nay? by Alicia Dean

I know there are varying opinions on re-releasing titles. I have re-released a few, for different reasons. I currently have not one, but TWO re-releases available for pre-order. Here’s the scoop…

Soul Seducer – Available tomorrow, Oct 20^th – I landed an agent with this book a few years back. She liked it a lot, but said editors wanted ‘hotter’ – So, I added very spicy sex scenes, out of my comfort zone spicy sex scenes. The book was eventually picked up by Crimson Romance. They wanted me to cut, a lot, not because of content but because of word count restrictions. I did. I cut the sex scenes and the scenes from the killer’s point of view. My experience with them was less than awesome. Eventually, I got my rights back and self-published. I published a version that included the sex scenes. I planned a few sequels to Soul Seducer, and I didn’t really want to self-publish them all. I decided to submit to Edward Allen Publishing, our own Leah St. James’ publishing house. I have a short story as part of an anthology through Edward Allen, and I LOVE being with them. I wouldn’t have asked them to consider my book, with it being a re-release which seems unfair to them, if I hadn’t planned (and still plan) sequels. I’m hoping this will be a beneficial experience for them and for me. (I kept my same cover)

Amazon Pre-Order Link: https://amzn.com/B01M6YGVI3

Blurb:

As a nurse, Audra Grayson devotes her life to healing others. She realizes death is inevitable, but struggles every day to help her patients combat it. When she has a near-death experience of her own, she inadvertently opens a portal between the world of the living and the dead. Two Grim Reapers step through—Gaylen, bent on vengeance, determined to bring death to the innocent, even when it isn’t their time. And Dimitri—sexy and deadly, even though he’s just ‘doing his job.’ When Gaylen targets Audra’s patients, then her loved ones, she’ll have to conquer her fears to defeat him. But she can’t as easily conquer her feelings for Dimitri—she’s falling in love with him, and there’s no future with a man who exists in a world beyond the grave.

Snippet:

He was there. Waiting where he said he’d be, leaning against the wall, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. A light above the emergency door illuminated the alcove, allowing Audra to make out his features clearly. His crystal blue eyes glittered as he watched her approach. He didn’t speak when she reached him.

“Okay,” she said breathlessly, staring up into his face. “Tell me who you are and what the hell has been going on since the night of my accident.” Blood pounded through her veins, rushing loudly in her ears as she waited for his reply.

He chuckled, taking his hands from his pockets and straightening.

A flash of anger shot through her. “What’s so damned funny?” she demanded.

“Nothing. It’s just that, this hasn’t been going on ‘since the night of your accident.’ It’s been happening since the beginning of time.”

She threw her arms in the air and let them drop to her sides. “Great. All the shit I’ve been through, and I get riddles. You think you’re a Batman villain or something?” She moved closer and jabbed her finger toward him. “I want some straight up answers. Right. This. Second.”

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Calm down. I’ll tell you, but it’s going to be difficult to believe.”

She gave a humorless laugh and crossed her arms. “Everything that’s happened lately has been difficult to believe. Try me.”

He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “My name is Dimitri. I’m a reaper.”

She waited. She couldn’t have heard him right, so she let the words play in her head for a bit. What else might he have said? It sounded like he said he was a reaper. But that wasn’t possible. That was utterly ridiculous. Of course, all of this was utterly ridiculous.

“Did you just say you’re a reaper?”

“I did.”

“And what exactly is it that you reap?” She’d play along. See where this led.

“Souls, Audra. I reap souls.”

Right. She impatiently brushed a lock of hair back from her forehead. “So, you’re a reaper as in, Grim Reaper?”

A grin played over his full lips. “I can’t say I’m fond of that adjective. Grim. Sounds sort of...repugnant. I’m just a reaper. Plain and simple.”

The Twelfth Day – Available December 7, 2016 – This short story was part of a Christmas anthology last year, which was released for only a short time. I submitted the individual story to The Wild Rose Press, and they contracted it. (I LOVE being with them as well!). (Isn’t this a wonderful cover?)

Amazon Pre-Order Link: https://amzn.com/B01MF4GV69

Blurb:

As a teen, party girl, Sabrina Spencer was the lone survivor of a serial killer’s attack on her family. Her testimony put the killer behind bars, and she spent the following decade carving out a new life and trying to forget. But someone hasn’t forgotten. Two weeks before Christmas, she begins receiving bizarre messages with demented references to the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

Handyman Josh Cravens is remodeling the lake house she rents each year to escape the painful reminders Christmas brings. While his dimples and blue eyes are hard to resist, he’s the exact kind of player she’s been avoiding since she outgrew her wild days. But the isolated cabin and threatening messages boost her paranoia to fever pitch. 

As Christmas draws closer, she’s torn between finding comfort in Josh’s arms, and fear that he might be behind the twisted countdown to the twelfth day.

Snippet:

She opened the box lid. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” played from one of those little discs used in musical greeting cards. A silver bracelet lay amidst crumpled red tissue paper. And a note. On the third day of Christmas…

She gasped. The box fell from her trembling hands and landed on the table.

“Hey,” Josh’s low voice spoke beside her. He put his hand over hers, and a slight sense of calm stole through her. “You all right?”

All eyes were on her. “I-I thought I saw a spider in the box. I’m fine.”

“You sure?” His gaze captured hers. Doubt lingered in their blue depths.

Sabrina nodded. Everyone went back to eating, but she could barely focus on the remainder of the meal. This wasn’t just a computer glitch. The bracelet was just like the one she wore often, had been wearing when she was rescued. Someone was purposely referencing her past. But why? Was it a sick joke?

SO…those are my reasons for re-releasing. Do you think they are valid reasons? When promoting, would you suggest I highlight the fact that they are re-releases, or just leave that out? The titles are the same and the cover for Soul Seducer is the same. I think people will know if they already have them. What about you? Have you or would you re-release a title?