A Book Series Romance Trading Card

Romance Trading Cards?

What? Romance Trading Cards? Now, you say? Yes, now. I know there are some of you rolling your eyes, or shaking your heads, thinking that RTC's have gone the way of bookmarks and paperbacks, but that's not really true. There are still quite a few authors who offer them. There are still a lot of book graphic  artists who create them. Besides, I have a lot of my own reasons for making this decision, and I'm happy to share them with you.

First, since I'm pulling my writing career out of moth balls after some pretty horrendous personal trauma (which included the death of a spouse), I needed something besides business cards to toss onto library and bookstore reading tables, to leave my signature in  goodie & grab bags or raffle baskets, and to slip into the cover of a gift book or card. They're handy, pretty, and informative. They've fairly inexpensive and still professional and unique and give added "Book Bling" to just about anything! 

Secondly, I saw on someone's website that they were giving 1/2 the proceeds from the sale of their cards to Cancer Research, and the rest was going to offset the cost of postage and printing.  Since I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was a senior in high school I instantly fell in love with this idea. I too want to do this fundraiser!

Thirdly, as many of my blog followers know I read tarot and have for several decades. We have often done character readings to help fellow writers with plot development. I am in the process of creating a tarot deck from my Illuminati series characters! I felt creating some RTC's was a good place to start!

Lastly, at my art therapy class (an art gallery where I regularly attend painting classes) the other artists all "trade" art trading cards, the same 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size as most RTC's. I paint for recreation and relaxation, not because it's a vocational calling. Creating "art" trading cards is not something that really interests me...  RTC's is something I would find much more useful. I decided I needed to pay back the kind artists for their art card gifts by creating a card of my own.

I did contact 3 different graphic artists, but when I didn't hear back from any of them in a timely manner, and they were going to charge me an arm and a leg anyway, I figured I might as well get artsy myself. So I did! Now, what do you think of the ones I have created for The first book in the series, The Book of Life? I think they have some sparkle and shine, in keeping with their "illuminati" tradition. I have ordered a set, so will have to wait and see how they look in person and figure out how much they will cost in bulk so I can set up my fundraiser page, but I am pretty happy about them. Now I need to complete the series and work on my tarot deck. Reactions? Impressions? Suggestions? (Keep in mine that I am not a graphic design artist, but I am learning!) 

I almost forgot! Only a few more hours to sign up for my rafflecopter (below) prizes and the great games/prizes at The Romance Review's Sizzling Summer Party (See my sidebar for link)!

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