by Melinda Palacio
Best-selling author, Catherine Ryan Hyde has come a long way since she wrote her first novel on her IBM Selectric typewriter. Today, she composes directly onto her computer, builds her own website, and is sidestepping traditional publishing by incorporating Indie presses along with traditional publishing models. This month marks the e-release of Second Hand Heart and soon to follow is the print on demand (POD) paperback. Second Hand Heart is the story of 19-year-old Vida who accepts a donor heart in the nick of time and the strong emotions presented by the transplant. It’s no wonder this book is already climbing the e-sales at Amazon. The price of $2.99 with free delivery and the e-format, where the author maintains control and publishing rights means a win-win for the reader and author.
Catherin Ryan Hyde, through the Andrea Brown Literacy Agency, is publishing books in e-format that weren’t picked up through traditional presses. If the traditional route of signing with a publisher and making the best possible deal doesn’t work for CRH, she has the opportunity to produce the book independently, something which more and more authors are starting to do. CRH has the advantage of being a well-known author whose books have been made into film, Pay It Forward, for example. CRH also has a large following in the UK, thanks to the Richard and Judy television program, a cultural phenomenon similar to Oprah. The Richard and Judy program chose Love in the Present Tense for its Book Club and TransWorld UK, a Random House company, followed through with the promotion to build a UK readership. Random House owns the UK rights to Second Hand Heart, but CRH owns the US rights. With the Kindle publication of Second Hand Heart, the book will now be available for both US and UK downloads.
Given that she is a name brand author, CRH discusses with her agent the complicated questions of publishing her books independently. With promotion falling on the shoulders of the author and e-format technology, the idea of bypassing the publisher sounds appealing for an esta
It's so exciting that US readers will finally be able to read CRH's UK books. They're fantastic.
And I think we'll see more and more authors going this hybrid route--corporate publishing for some titles, small presses for others and self-pubbing for the most creative books. (More on that from three-path-publishing writer Kim Wright on my blog this week.)
Finally, writers can have some control!