ePublishing In Forty-Seven Easy Steps

No, I'm not talking about the mechanical steps of conversion from Word documents using Mobipocket Creator to make a PRC file for Kindle, then running it through Calibre to get an ePub for Nook, and then sprinkling magic pixie dust on it to make the iBooks store like it. I'm talking about the decision to actually go that route. What pushed me toward ePublishing?

I had no other choice.

In the 90's I was a traditionally published author, with four novels from William Morrow and one from Putnam. None set the world on fire, but two were purchased for film and one actually made it to the big screen. Late 2000 rolls around and I find myself working as a screenwriter, and have been since then.

Then early 2009 arrives. My old prose urges have caught up with me and I finish a new novel. Confessions. It's very different from my previous books, and if you've read the forward to my novels The Donzerly Light and All For One, you'll understand what I mean when I say I knew that was going to be an issue. So, with the help of my film agents, I began the search for a new lit agent who would be able to sell the 'new' me.

Only problem was, no one wanted the new me. Or the old me, for that matter. The explanations were pretty standard (love it but can't figure how to sell it...I'm so close to taking this on...this is beautiful, but...) There were a lot of 'buts'. And amidst all this reaction filled with damning praise, whether sincere or not, there was an undercurrent that I only picked up on later.

None of them knew which box to check to classify it. That was their overriding concern. One agent said to me, in some form of literary gymnastics that still makes me giggle, 'It's sliding between the genre gaps.'

I knew then that traditional publishing was a business I no longer saw myself succeeding in.

Slow forward a couple months. A thought crept into my consciousness. Something from the previous year when I was recalling two novels that my publishers hadn't wanted. I had heard then about publishing directly to the Kindle, but had never really done anything to explore actually doing so. And, wait, hadn't I, since then, received a letter from Putnam stating that the rights to my novel Top Ten had reverted to me? Suddenly the gears were churning and I was coming to a pretty big realization.

I'm a storyteller. That's my profession. I make my living doing so. And I have FOUR novels just sitting on my hard drive, gathering electronic dust, hidden from potential readers simply because--in the case of three of them--they were not the right genre. What kind of sense did any of that make?

None. So, in September of last year, the first novel went up. Then another. I now have four, plus a short story collection, Dark and Darker. In the coming months I will release more short stories, and by the end of the year three more novels. They are available for Kindle, Nook, iPad, and virtually anything that uses an eReader app. Paperbacks of my novels will be out soon, and the four other novels I had published in the 90's will be released by me once the publisher stops dragging their feet and does the rights reversion paperwork.

And what does this all say? About me? About being a writer? About publishing?

I don't care. My stories are now being told, in the way I want, and at the time that I choose. The income I earn from publishing my own novels and stories is growing steadily, with most of it going to me, and I anticipate that within two years it will become my primary source of income.

And what are those 47 easy steps mentioned in the post title? They equate to the 47 years I've been blessed with on this earth so far, and the lessons I've learned over that time, to finally come to the understanding that when you are presented with the opportunity to control even part of your destiny, you should grab hold and enjoy the ride.