Saturday, April 16, 2011

Romance Trading Cards


You've all heard about Jeannie Lin's awesome idea of Romance Trading Cards by now, haven't ya?  If not, check out the great Romance Trading Card site produced by Amanda Berry, Jeannie Lin and Shawntelle Madison.
You can read all about 'em here:

Authors offer tantalizing, slick, business-card-sized collectible versions of their books, usually the book cover on one side and some delicious tidbits about the book, maybe a blurb or excerpt, on the back. Many authors have gone the Topps Baseball Card route, providing a character's stats on the back. In short...everything except the bubblegum!
So far, Romance Trading Cards have made an appearance at the recent Romantic Times convention in Los Angeles where, by all accounts, they proved a smashing and brilliant success.  They've been auctioned off for charity; and they will be again...at the Brenda Novak Annual On-Line Auction for Diabetes Research in which many Carina Press authors are taking part.
Anyway...I desperately wanted my own.  'Cause hell knows, I can't get enough of seeing Adam (my delectable swoon-worthy hero) and the cover of HEALING HEARTS plastered all over the place!

But since I am so artistically, graphically, computer techly and geekily challenged, I prevailed upon the fabulous Angela Waters, who designed  the HEALING HEARTS cover for Carina Press, to create some for me. Angela went to work and came up with designs for both HEALING HEARTS and  for  SLEEPY HOLLOW DREAMS, my erotic paranormal for The Wild Rose Press!

And here they are! 



      
  

Just when I thought Adam couldn't possibly get any more swoon-worthy...he did! Thank you, Angela. (And cover-model Jimmy Thomas)

And here's Emma:

            (She's most definitely Adam-worthy...don'tcha think?)

And...SLEEPY HOLLOW DREAMS,  based on the cover designed for The Wild Rose Press by Angela Anderson.
                                   




So what do you think?  Aren't they gorgeous? 

What do you think of the whole idea?  Personally, I think it's brilliant. For e-book authors, especially, we now have something to actually sign!
A reader who's already started collecting the cards saw me blabbing about mine on Facebook and asked for some!  (The internet is a truly amazing thing, isn't it?)

I've sent my first set off by snail mail to South Africa. (Unsigned, I'm afraid. I was so excited to send them off that I popped them in the mail before finding a snazzy Sharpie in gold-silver-bronze-metallic tones.)
So if you want some, give me a holler.

 I can't wait to hand 'em out at the RWA #11 National Conference in New York City in June.  See y'all there!

17 comments:

Carol Stephenson said...

Taryn, your cards are gorgeous! They'll be a smash at RWA. :) Carol

Wendy Soliman said...

I suppose Adam might be a bit of a hunk! They're gorgeous, Taryn, all of them and I think they're a great idea.

Anne Marie Becker said...

Beautiful, and I love the tidbits about the characters. I was so excited when I heard Jeannie's idea. I'm hoping to get my Carina cover in time to order some for the RWA conference.

Anonymous said...

Love them and love this whole idea. Must get some for me now!

Taryn Kincaid said...

Carol and Wendy: Thanks, ladies!

Anne Marie: I think this idea is absolutely, awesomely brilliant. And, in hindsight, so simple I'm amazed no one thought of it before. Kudos to Jeannie Lin and Amanda Berry. Hope you get your cover in time! (But if not, you'll have plenty of opportunities to use the cards!)

Taryn Kincaid said...

Yes, get some, Jen! And sign up at the Romance Trading Cards site.

desere_steenberg said...

Thank you so much again Taryn I cant wait for them to get here !!

Taryn Kincaid said...

Let me know when they arrive, Desere. Not sure how long it takes to get to South Africa!

Maureen A. Miller said...

They are perfect, Taryn. :)

Barbara Longley said...

I do think they are cool, Taryn. They're the perfect thing to carry around with you to hand out when someone asks about your books. Love it.

Toni Anderson said...

Gorgeous :) I love them.

Ruth A Casie said...

What a wonderful idea! I'm sure they are going to be the talk of the conference!

Patricia Preston said...

They are beautiful and very well done!!

Adrienne Giordano said...

Taryn, the cards look beautiful. I like that you didn't put a ton of information on them. It makes for quick reading and makes me all the more interested in finding out more! Well done.

Jenny Schwartz said...

Fantastic style.

Such a neat idea, too :)

Taryn Kincaid said...

Thanks for coming by, everyone. Just want to make it clear: I had no hand in this whatsoever. Angela Waters created my cards. And the idea came from The Romance Trading Cards ladies.

Hope to see you all at RWA #11. (Or a theater near you!)

Louise said...

I hope y'all can talk other authors into doing this when you're in NY. To really get into collectng them, you need ALL of your favorite authors :)

LibraryLou