New covers revealed; ARC readers wanted

by | Apr 4, 2020 | Gentleman series, Neighborly Affection series | 22 comments

New covers for the Neighborly Affection series and Gentleman series books by M.Q. Barber as of 2020.
Moving from traditional publishing to indie publishing means new covers for all of the books in the Neighborly Affection and Gentleman series. I’m super-excited to show these off!

So far, 2020 isn’t turning out anything like what I expected it to be — and I’m guessing that’s true for you, too. I hope that wherever you are in the world, you are safe and well. I hope you have enough food to eat and a roof over your head, and especially that the ones you love are safe by your side.

I’m in my fourth week of working from home, which has thrilled the dog, because she can’t reach the treat shelf by herself. So the day job continues, and I watch my neighbors walk their children and their dogs outside the front window while I work.

But when I’m not working for the day job, I’m putting all of my effort into making the transition from traditionally published author to indie author. And on that front, at least, it’s been a good year so far. After a few hiccups with the publisher, I finally have the rights back to all of my books.

Indie progress

In the last few weeks, I’ve gotten those rights back, gotten new covers for all of the existing books, and gotten five books proofread and formatted to go back on sale. I’ve also had the next book — Tuesdays with Jay and Other Stories: A Neighborly Affection Companion — out to my editor and gotten it back. So I am extremely pleased to say that I’m on track to meet my goals for the first half of the year: get all of the existing books back on sale and release a new one.

First, let me give you a better look at those new covers! I’m super-excited with these. I wanted each series to have its own mood and tone, a little softer for the Gentleman books and edgier for the Neighborly Affection series. And I’m so, so thrilled that my cover artist for the Neighborly Affection series found a photo series that will let all of the books have the same trio standing in for Henry, Alice, and Jay.



I’m starting to load the books at the online booksellers, so you could see the first ones showing up within the next week. My goal is to have all of them back on sale, with the new covers, by May 15.

That’s because just a couple of weeks later I want to release the new book, Tuesdays with Jay and Other Stories: A Neighborly Affection Companion. But before I do that, I want to share it with some of you lovely readers who have been following the trio’s journey for a good long while now.

ARC readers

So I will be putting together a sign-up form for advance reader copies (ARCs). I can’t guarantee that everyone who signs up will get an early copy of the book, but everybody who signs up will have a chance at one. Details on how to sign up for an ARC and be a reader-reviewer will be in the April newsletter later this month.

I’m only opening the ARC opportunity to newsletter subscribers, so if you’re not already on the list, please make sure you sign up soon! The newsletter will go out in the second half of April, and ARCs will hopefully go out in early May.

Subscribers will also get the first look at the cover for Tuesdays with Jay and Other Stories in the April newsletter.

Get the newsletter

All you need to do to sign up for the newsletter is enter your email address below, click Subscribe, and keep an eye on your inbox. You should receive a confirmation email that you’ll need to click to confirm your subscription. If you don’t see that confirmation email, check your spam filter. You aren’t subscribed until you click in the email to confirm your choice to join the list.

Select list(s):

Subscribers can manage their subscriptions to choose whether to receive some or all of the following: the quarterly newsletter; sale notifications; ARC notifications; preorder notifications; and new release notifications.

A special note for long-time readers of the Neighborly Affection series: I’ll be including the short story “Three-Way Tie” in the collection with Tuesdays with Jay and Other Stories! If you’ve been unable to get a copy of “Three-Way Tie” because you don’t use Amazon/Kindle, this will be your opportunity to get that story — along with 41 others.

If you like the new covers and you’re excited for Tuesdays with Jay and Other Stories, let me know in the comments below!

Available from these fine shops

The links below will take you to the M.Q. Barber page at each retailer. Need more info to make up your mind? Check out the series pages for the Neighborly Affection books and the Gentleman books.

Also available at your library

Did you know that you can read M.Q. Barber books for free through your library? Libraries can request digital copies through Overdrive, Hoopla, and BorrowBox.

If your library uses Overdrive, you can download the Libby app and request a book directly from your library. Check it out!