Saddle Horse Press, my self-publishing identity

Years ago I was published by Kensington. An agent and many rejection letters later, I stumbled upon the brand-new world of ebook publishing. Thanks to Resplendence Publishing and later Turquoise Morning Press, I was able to republish some of those books rejected by Harlequin. I finished half-finished projects. I wrote and wrote. And I grew as a writer.

By the time traditionally published authors were discovering ebooks, I’d been there for several years. But it wasn’t simply ebooks that were so thrilling to these multi-published authors—it was the idea of self-publishing.

Other authors, who like me had faced rejection, were making names for themselves by self-publishing their books. They were making money too. A brave new world had come to the publishing of novels.

Edward W. Robertson, in his recent blog “Self-Publishing’s Share of the Kindle Market by Genre,” looked at what percentage of Kindle ebook sales self-publishers represent by genre—romance, mystery/thriller/suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. He found that romance had 40% percentage of the entire Kindle market.

Last fall when I received the rights back to a book then called A Man of Her Own, I decided it was time for me to jump into self-publishing. It’s not as easy as it seems. First of all, you need an editor and you need a cover designer. I had both—my writing pals Karen and Kim. Then you need someone who can and will format your books into all the formats—Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, etc. I found that person right in my own house—my husband Bill.

Saddle Horse Press was born so I can publish my own books. I have published two: Betting on Love and a group of Medieval novellas called Freely Given. Coming later this year will be the re-edit of My Lord Raven and down the road a new series called Bluegrass and Bourbon.

I’m excited about the possibilities of writing new books and publishing them myself.