E-publishing
Or how the digital world made my career
Seven years ago when I made my first attempts to get published, the digital world was just dipping its toes into the ebook fiction waters. I was having frustrating results—as in no results—with the more traditional print publishing and wondering if anyone would ever read my stories except me. But several members of my RWA chapter were e-published and convinced me to submit to one of their publishers.
Timidly I did, and………
Success!
I still remember getting the email offering me a contract. I think I stared at it all day.
Am I happy about it? You bet. And for a lot of reasons.
I soon learned some very important facts about digital publishing.
People everywhere in the world can buy your books with a click of a mouse. I have readers in Hong Kong, Argentina, many European countries and Australia.
Ebooks never go out of print. They are always and forever available. They may disappear from the front page of your publisher’s site as newer books take their lace but they are still there.
Epublishing is immediate! No waiting eighteen to twenty four months for your book to release. Edits go back and forth via email so there’s no lag time. Because there is no distribution time such as there is in print, when the book is edited and ready for the world it’s there! Right there! For everyone to see and buy. Right away.
I can reach out to my readers everywhere. How cool is it to guest on someone’s blog about your new release and learn they bought it and downloaded it five minutes later. I post about a book on Facebook and with twenty four hours I have a slew of emails from readers telling me they purchased it.
I have total input on my covers. I have great editors. I love the immediacy of email with them when we’re working on a book. I write for several publishers and I love every one of them. They know what they’re doing and they do it well.
Have I been successful? Well, I’ll let you judge. In April 2011 Ellora’s Cave released my 100th title, Downstroke, and I have released several more since then. I have one book, Stark Naked, from Samhain, that’s been the Amazon Top 100 western romance list since January. My book, Joy Ride, from Decadent Publishing, just won the Holt Medallion. My books are listed and reviewed everywhere.
Do I love epublishing? You bet.
I have three ereaders (long story) and seldom buy a print book any more. I love the ease of ereaders and the fact that I can have several hundred books in an object the size of a very slim paperback. When I travel I don’t have to choose what book to take along and read. I can take all of them.
My readers write to me all the time and tell me they feel the same.
And here’s a little factoid for you. Many, many, many authors who have been published in print are getting their backlist rights back and epublishing them. So would I recommend epublishing as they way to go for an author? For me it’s now the only way to go.
*****
Excerpt:
“Some of our men serve as guards, so I know a lot about it.”
“Guards?” She frowned. “I know we have Texas Rangers who pull sentry duty.” “Yes, ma’am,” he drawled. “Samuel J. Burdette, Texas Ranger, Company E, El Paso, at your service.”
Ohmigod!
Many people, both in and out of the life, claimed they couldn’t tell a Dom or a sub outside the arena of play. Unless of course they were in a committed relationship and then the signs were there, if one knew what to look for. But Abbie had been on her search for so long she had finely tuned radar.
In all her fantasies of finding the Dom she sought, how many times had he taken the form of a Texas Ranger, the state’s elite crime fighting organization? They were powerful men, self-assured, part of the oldest law enforcement agency in North America, with statewide jurisdiction. And for her, the ultimate symbol of the kind of Dom she kept looking for.
Maybe, just maybe….
She mentally shook her head. No, she was an idiot to hope that—
“You do like Texas Rangers, right?” Sam watched her, one corner of his mouth kicked up in the hint of a smile. But what glittered in his eyes was no smile. Instead she saw heat, hunger, lust, need. And something indefinable that made her breath catch in her throat.
“Yes, I do,” she finally answered. She’d better get her brain in gear or he’d think he’d found an idiot and a simpleton and dump her back in the bar. “As a matter of fact, they’re my favorite kind of man.”
His look nearly melted her soaked thong.
“Good.” His thumb brushed gently over her knuckle, as much a gesture of possession as desire. “My kind of woman.”
Oh, yes, please. Please.
*****
Abbie Lawlor only wanted a drink with her friend at the end of a long, hard week. Her feet hurt, her head ached and she just wanted one cosmos then home to soak in the tub. She sure wasn’t looking to hook up with anyone. Her luck with men was worse than bad. Too bad with visitors flooding the town the bar at The Menger Hotel was so jammed a sheet of paper would barely fit between two people. Which was why Sam Burdette ended up pressed against her so she could feel every detail of his body. The heat the flared between them could have set fire to everyone in the bar. The invisible link between a Dom and a sub made her forget all her aches and pains. It was why she let the very sexy Texas Ranger coax her out of the bar and up to his room for some very off the wall sex that turned a casual “Hello” into an overnight sensation.
*****
About the Author:
Desiree Holt’s writing is flavored with the rich experiences of her life, including a long stretch in the music business representing every kind of artist from country singer to heavy metal rock bands. For several years she also ran her own public relations agency handling any client that interested her, many of whom might recognize themselves in the pages of her stories. She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award for best BDSM book of the year, winner of the Holt Medallion, multiple winner of the Whipped Cream Book of the Week Award and is published by five different houses. Romance Junkies said of her work: “Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last.”