In the middle of the maelstrom!

[R P Dahlke]

For the last couple of weeks, I've been caught up by the excitement and potential for getting my books ready to put up on Kindle. First, I read several blogs, one of which I think I've mentioned here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com has, in my opinion, the most exciting information about the subject of becoming an Indie. He invites authors, both NY best sellers, like Tim Hallinan, and newbies who've side-stepped the rejection process (boy howdy, don't I know it!) and gone straight to making some money with their books.  Then, I did the unthinkable...I severed my relationship with my wonderful, hardworking agent. Naturally, she dangled the carrot of a potential contract from one of the very well known publishers who were reading my first in the Lalla Bains series....gulp. I held my breath and then let it out...no thanks. I'm grateful for the time she gave to it, but to think of the time it would take to get a contract; another six months, then another year before scheduled release of said first book...ugh! And, that's after the wait to get to a contract!

Authors want to be read, readers just want to read. What's not to like about getting the books into the hands of readers, especially with Amazon and Kindle and B&N and Nook? So, first book has been to a pro editor, now to go over those fix-it's, then to formatter, Hitch, who is Tim Hallinan's formatter. I did this, pay for a pro to get my book ready, because, I too buy and read for my Kindle and see more formatting errors than I'd like to see in my own book, so I'd rather pay for a well done book than see my own hard work panned because of poor formatting. Hey, the books will stand or fall by the readers, right? And isn't that ultimately what we all want as writers? So, corrections to do, 2nd book to be edited, then cover art done, then up on Amazon, B&N. Yippee!

[I. J. Parker]

A very timely blog!  Heck, these days any blog about successful e-publishing is timely for me. Very good luck!

[Margy Rydzynski]

Good for you! I'm glad you went to an outside editor. People tend not to see their own writing mistakes and typos.