Update: January 13
The JQ Editions Kickstarter page has arrived, and there are pictures of the first three books.
- The Last Lady B by Eloisa James
- An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
- Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
There are custom covers, spredges (drink!), plus endpaper illustrations for each book:
You can see the end paper illustrations and detailed images of the spredges (cheers!) at Kickstarter. The campaign hasn’t launched yet, but you can follow to be notified. There will be “early-bird pricing, limited-quantity tiers, and collector exclusives” once the Kickstarter does launch.
Today on Instagram and Facebook, Julia Quinn announced the launch of JQ Editions, a historical romance special edition subscription service.
Per her announcement, the special editions will include “luxurious soft-touch covers, illustrated endpapers, and fabulous sprayed edges.”
(SPREDGES?! Everybody drink!)
Quinn will be selecting each title, and says in the introduction that some will be “brand new,” while others will be “recent gems, or classics of the modern genre.”
Per the caption, “Each and every title is hand-picked by Julia Quinn, and she works personally with illustrators to make sure that the art reflects the story and honors the author.”
When the Kickstarter goes live in January, folks will be able to purchase one- or two-year subscriptions, and those who are interested can sign up for the JQ Editions mailing list, or follow their social accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
I am fascinated by this announcement on several levels because it’s the full-speed collision of several major trends. There’s the Kickstarter part, the historical romance part, the special edition part – my brain is Jiffy Popping all over the place.
Let’s start with the Kickstarter of it all. Every year for the podcast Patreon, Amanda and I do predictions for the coming year, and another episode where we listen to our older predictions from the previous year to find out how accurate we were.
One of my predictions for 2026 was the continued rise of Kickstarter as as a major option for authors who are frustrated by the diminishing returns when self publishing, particularly as a platform exclusive, and by the diminishing returns of working with a publisher when shelf space continues to shrink and mass market, the format most associated with historical romance, died this year. When a publisher like Harlequin can’t meet the demand for paperbacks of Heated Rivalry, one of the greatest romance television adaptations of all time, and in the same year, “After the End,” an author collective Kickstarter, crossed $1.4 million in sales, it’s not difficult to understand the increasing appeal of Kickstarter.
As I learned in my interviews with Lucy Eden and Katee Robert (507. Romance Kickstarters) and with Oriana Leckert (620. Romance and Kickstarter) Kickstarter offers a greater percentage of money than other available options (short of setting up a mimeograph machine for publishing books, which would come with the added benefit of having That Smell we remember from school).
Oriana Leckert, who is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter, said during our interview,
…I think two, two really, really key things that make Kickstarter very special for authors is that our cut is five percent.
Sarah: Yep.
Oriana: Five percent. Also we have Stripe, who processes our payments; they take three to four percent. Even so, you’re paying less than ten percent in fees, which is so much less than you’re paying to any other avenue through which you might sell your books
Another benefit to Kickstarter that I still think about: data. As Leckert explained it,
Kickstarter is in the business of giving you your audience…. [A]s we see the continued fracturing and dissolution of social platforms, as we watch these, like, you know, mercurial to malevolent executives with a flick of the wrist change their algorithm in a way that now that, like, you know, a hundred thousand strong audience that you’ve worked so hard for, you can no longer access, or not as effectively.
…If you run a Kickstarter campaign, first of all, during the campaign you get a tremendous amount of data about where your backers are, where they’re coming from, are they using desktop or mobile? What time of day are they backing? Which of your promotional avenues have reached them? And then afterward you get everybody’s email addresses! You get to send them surveys. You get to ask them all sorts of questions….
[H]olding onto those direct avenues to reach your readers is so much more important than ever. This is something that we can do for our authors that Amazon’s not going to give you.
Kickstarter is also an excellent way to test new ideas, as Katee Robert explained: “I’m going to be circling back to Kickstarter a lot in the future, just because it’s a very interesting platform and, and if it doesn’t fund, it doesn’t fund, and then you do something else.”
So that’s the Kickstarter part. But as I said, a subscription box of historical romance special editions is also dead center of an intersection of other major trends: special editions (obvs), Rrrrrrrromantasy market saturation, and the future of historical romance.
I’ve said many, many times, per the Bruce Springsteen Law of Publishing, “everything dies, baby, that’s a fact. But maybe everything that dies, someday comes back.” In other words, no genre ever dies. They come back in a different form. Like Pokémon. Just like how New Adult was Chick Lit re-invented for readers coming of age in a terrible economy instead of a good one, or how romantic suspense with military and law enforcement heroes, which used to be everywhere, seem to have given way to a mafia and unaffiliated special ops heroes. No genre dies, but it will evolve before it comes back.
The historical romance genre is not in terrific shape in terms of market strength, to put it mildly. But it’s not dead — the mass market paperback is dead, but not historical romance, even though it was most published in that trim size and at that price.
So how might the JQ Editions affect the state of historical romance? Could historical special editions reinvigorate the historical romance audience? Or will the audience for historical special editions be found with established historical romance readers who have deep ties to the genre, and to specific books?
Both, possibly?
First, special editions are, as the memes say, so hot right now, and have been for a few years. Moreover, readers on social media who are likely to be part of the special edition audience have been ‘rediscovering’ historical romances because the internal conflicts coupled with the external class structure produce a lot of yearning and pining. The new trend of “Who put all this pining in historical romance?” reader engagement only helps a project like JQ Editions. The same readers who adore special editions of much loved Rrrrrrrromantasy titles may also seek out special editions of historical romances that are still popular.
The thing about special editions, though: they’re more aesthetic than practical. No one is going to sit down with a special edition book with end papers, art, and spredges (drink!), and start reading while eating cheeze puffs. Cheeto dust + special edition = rage bait.
A special edition isn’t necessarily a reliable discovery mechanism, either: the goal of a special edition is to reach fans of the book with a unique artifact of that book’s popularity and virality. Which leads me back to audience.
The audience for a historical romance special edition would have to include historical romance readers, obviously. Many historical romance fans are collectors of romance as well – specific cover artists, models, or entire backlists for beloved authors. Historical romance is a older genre with books that have been favorites for literal decades. Some readers may be very excited to have unique art editions of their fave, simply because the special edition trend finally includes them.
Attaching the artistic enhancements of a special edition to a book that has been a reader favorite for most of their adult lives? I hope Quinn picks some old favorites because if she’s picking books that have Big Reader History attached, the subscription Kickstarter could do very, very well. I’ll bet folding money, as my sister says, that there will be loud and ample calls for Kleypas editions, particularly Devil in Winter.
This may be a fusspot feature of my age and perspective, but personally, I want less stuff in my house, not more. So I haven’t been in the audience for special editions, and everything I say must be taken with a Volkswagen-sized grain of salt here. But even though I am pretty selective about stuff resides in my home, I am so, so curious to see which books are selected, and what they’ll look like, and how they’ll be decorated and styled. (Lol – that’s like a whole new job category, right: “book stylist.”)
Special editions are fandom artifacts, gorgeous representations of a specific book’s popularity at a moment in time. They also assign more visual cues to a three-dimensional book than mere cover and copy: the art and motifs on the cover or the spredges (drink!) visually communicates so much more about the story. And they’re usually gorgeous! Luscious paper, textured cover treatments, art and designs in lavish colors you can see from across the room – they’re meant to appeal to our senses and our experience with that particular story. Special edition treatment for historical romance could potentially aid in the evolution of the historical romance genre, especially if the titles included mix enduring favorites with titles that are part of historical romance’s evolution in progress.
A special edition has more opportunity to signal to a reader what’s inside, and it’s usually aimed at a reader who already knows that what’s inside is special to them. I am extremely curious to see what titles are included, and what they’ll look like.
What about you? Would you be interested in special editions of historical romances? Which one?! Are you interested in JQ Editions?
Update: I found a mention of a potential lead title from a Bluesky post back in October.
Bookish Notes shared a cover image and a screenshot of some marketing copy from the publisher about Eloisa James’ next book, The Last Lady B.
The marketing copy includes:
POTENTIAL SUBSCRIPTION BOX PLACEMENT: THE LAST LADY B is being heavily considered to launch Bridgerton author Julia Quinn’s (IG: 520K, FB: 407K) new subscription box. This would include a beautiful, deluxe hardcover edition that would publish simultaneously with our edition! Since this would be the first book ever chosen for this new box, we would benefit from any publicity surrounding the launch in addition to our own publicity.
The original post also notes that this is a historical romance in first person:
This is the cover, if you’re curious:
Launching with a new historical romance (in first person – that’s kind of a big deal) from a very popular author in a special edition would be an interesting strategy for the first box, and aims to capture some of the groups I mentioned above: fans of an author, fans of historical in general, and possibly potential new historical readers. I know many folks who make buying decisions based on hating first person pov, so I can only assume there are an equal or greater number of people who make buying decisions based on adoring first person pov.
Seriously, this remains so fascinating for me. It’s like a bunch of things I think about all the time colliding in front of me. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Updated 29 December: Three of the launch titles have been announced! Per Instagram, they are:
- The Last Lady B by Eloisa James
- An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
- Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
I’m pretty sure the boxes will each be one book, similar to other book boxes, so I’m not certain what months these would be – but oooh, boy, I am curious to see the art.
I want a special edition of “Lord of Scoundrels”. Why Avon let the 25th anniversary of such a classic go by without FINALLY releasing a hardcover anniversary edition, I will never understand.
For many of the same reasons as you, I’m not the audience for this. I work in a library and I can’t help but roll my eyes at the proliferation of sprayed edges. (I am a bit of a snob, I’ll admit.) They can be very attractive but I often go arrested_development_her.gif at some of the books that get that treatment. They used to signal that this is a special book, a classic perhaps, and that’s not true anymore.
I’ve never Kickstarted a book but I support multiple authors on Patreon which I have some mixed feelings about but making a living from writing is hard! which isn’t news to anyone here.
I also am not in the market for special editions. We have too many books now (17 bookcases worth!), and I have been pretty much only reading eBooks for the last 10 years. I am at the age where I’m more likely to do Swedish Death Cleaning than I am to buy special editions, but I like that they are there for those who love them. I had not heard about the $1.4 million dollar Kickstarter and I find that interesting. I guess I am going to have to sign up for author newsletters to find out about them for my favorite authors. I hope eventually some of those books will be available via regular channels.
I have gotten some romances through Kickstarter, but I’m only interested in the ebook options. I’m older and not into physical editions of fiction reads, even ones that I love enormously.
I’ll be interested to see if there’s an ebook subscription tier!
@Laurel: Swedish Death Cleaning was the exact book I was thinking about when I wrote that paragraph.
I’m way more interested in adding audio versions of my favorite romances to my collection than pricey special editions in hard copy. These days I make purchasing decision based on the availability of both digital and audio versions together, with special preference to excellent narrators. Bonus for dual narrators.
I’ve bought a few e books off Kickstarter and generally had a good experience. However one author I paid up front for, some 6 months later, advised that due to problems the book was delayed indefinitely. I did get my money back, eventually. I realise that real life can get in the way, but I am on a budget too
I think of Kickstarter as the place where people with niche interests can band together to fund a projects for things that they are already interested in. Honestly, I hope that this funds, but I’m not sure I see it as a way to attract new readers to the genre.
You know, I participated in that 1.4 million dollar Kickstarter, and I believe the vast majority of those who participated got just the e-books, not the physical books. As much as I love books, I love not having a million bookshelves taking up space in my house.
Would I do a Kickstarter again? Honestly, probably not. I had read and enjoyed books by half of the authors featured, so I figured I’d like most of the novellas. Boy was I wrong. And I’m apparently not the only one who was unimpressed because the Goodreads ratings for these novellas are pretty low compared to other stories written by these authors.
I also feel like this adds in the rise of celeb book clubs. Like the shrinking shelf space, especially in places like big box and grocery stores where a lot of casual readers find stuff means they turn to Oprah/Reese/Jenna to tell them what to read. And so if Quinn will send you fancy books for a year, then for some, that’s all the books you need.
I just want to say, for the record, that I hate the cover for THE LAST LADY B.
From a marketing perspective, I’m curious about how JQ will make the selections. Will she look at seperate short lists of RITA winners, powerhouse authors, social media sensations?
@Jennifer in FL: Seconding. It makes me curious what sort of cover treatments the subscription will be getting, if that’s one of the book chosen for the sub.
I subscribed to exactly one Kickstarter because it was one of my favorite authors and it sounded like the perfect goft for one of my daughters. I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough to do it again. I won’t detail all the mishaps and changes or mention the author, nor do I feel any lingering bitterness, but I can’t deal with the potential uncertainty. It feels too much like gambling and I have better things to do with my money.
@Jennifer in Florida
Gotta agree about that cover. I haven’t dressed in a bedsheet since I was twelve, so I am unimpressed by that cape or the yellow nightie under it.
I was really hoping that JQ Editions would be a named imprint at one of the big publishers and give us knew and exciting (and diverse) voices in historical romance.
I come from a home where trick-or-treating was considered begging, so I have a (gigantic, etc.) challenge thinking about a successful person requesting money to start their new business.
To your question, once upon a time dear husband subscribed to receive a beautifully leather-bound book each month. Why?? “Because you love to read and they look so nice.” Then to gently explain that I’m interested in the content, not the cover. So no, I’m no audience for fancy books.
I MISS mass market paperbacks! Easy to buy, to read, to share. Many excellent mystery series began as mass market paperbacks. The fun of receiving a package of HQ paperbacks every month. Of paperback bag day at the annual library used book sale. I think this is a bigger loss than publishers and readers realize. I hope Bruce is correct.
@LML: Alas, I think mass market paperbacks are gone for good. It’s too expensive to ship, store, and produce them for the profit margin they offer, which is so slim as to be nonexistent. Retailers don’t want them. Readerlink stopped shipping them, and they were the distributors for Walmart, Kroger, Hudson News/airport shops, etc. Readerlink, per PW, accounted for 60-70% of mass market sales, but mass market was only 3% of all book sales. Publishers aren’t making them anymore – I think Kensington will produce cozy mysteries in mmpb, but that’s it.
I would love for it not to die, but I think the cheap, portable format is predominantly ebooks. And as I’ve said, I would love to watch a documentary tracing the impact of the mass market in terms of literacy, leisure reading, marketing/word of mouth for genres, books, and authors, etc. MMPB did so much to change and improve literacy and fiction reading as a hobby. I’m really bummed that mass markets are gone, and while I’m usually optimistic about most things, I’m pretty sure it’s dead in its current form.
If anything, maybe books published with bible-paper style pages could appear, like the translucent papers in some planners, but I’m sure what the use case would be. (I think about this a lot.) (My brain is so fun sometimes.)
I signed up to get more info about the JQ Kickstarter launch, but since historicals aren’t typically my first choice reads, I suspect I won’t be subscribing.
For what it’s worth, I’ve supported a lot (by “a lot” I mean several hundred) of Kickstarter projects over the past 15 years or so, including numerous publishing projects representing many genres of non-fiction as well as fiction. My first-ever Kickstarter pledge was for the book “Designing Obama,” an illustrated account of how the brand identity for the first Obama presidential campaign was developed. A recent pledge was the $1.4 million “After the End” project (but I haven’t read the books yet). I’ve had very few misses with the projects I’ve selected to support, but I’ve also become less likely to take chances on new project creators who don’t have a record of success either inside or outside of Kickstarter.
Also, I’ve bought (not on Kickstarter) a handful of “special edition” copies of books I liked a lot to supplement a romance library that’s mostly ebooks, because I’ve run out of room for other formats. I’m extremely judicious about what I add to my physical book collection, and while sprayed edges can be tempting at times, I need more to be persuaded to make space on a non-virtual shelf.
I’m very intrigued by this, but I’d really only be interested in certain books.
I love histrom, but I dislike subscription boxes. Crazy, huh? But, I find them crammed with a lot of useless stuff, and it’s too expensive for just a book. Ironically, histroms are the paperbacks I’ve saved the most. Just donated a couple of big boxes of contemporary romances today.
Unrelated, Eloisa announced her retirement from teaching–this was in her December newsletter:
I’m working on the second gothic historical, following The Last Lady B—with its haunted abbey, ghost, delicious solicitor, sassy heroine, fascinating cover… I need to hit that precise combination of romance and slight spookiness again!
Did you read Paris in Love, my memoir of living in France? I’m writing one about Florence, Italy. Hello, Florence in Love.
I’m in the middle of a contemporary romance like Lizzie and Dante—but not a tearjerker. I’m calling this novel Phee and the Rockstar… more hints to come as I start editing it in January!
And finally, I am writing a delicious series of novellas that are tiny soap-operas/K-dramas. I’m calling them the “Rejected” series because my heroines are… ta-da!…rejected. I promise to share snippets as I keep writing.
Oops, I didn’t see that ad when I copy and pasted last night. I only included text. My apologies.
Not a fan of Kickstarter campaigns. Also, I have limited space and only read e-books these days. I love being able to carry my books with me everywhere and reread a favorite when the mood comes to me.
Also, I HATE first person. Eloisa James is another lost to me in the first person craze. 🙁 Why is this a fad??!!
I will probably look for a secondhand copy of “Lord of Scoundrels”. My apartment is lame and won’t accept packages for residents, and the box won’t fit in my tiny mailbox. I also tend to not like all of the cluttery stuff they send along with boxes like that.