by Annette Gisby
My first ebook, a short story and novella collection, Shadows of the Rose, was published by Double Dragon in the early 2000's, long before the Kindle was a glint in someone's eye and the iPad hadn't been thought of yet. When it was first out a lot of people wanted to know when it was available as, you've guessed it, a real book.
Now, ten to twelve years later, Kindles, iPads and other readers such as the Sony and the Nook are household names and now people ask me if my work is available as an ebook! With the rise of self-publishing platforms like Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing, authors are more in control of their writing than ever before.
Some of my work is with publishers, some of it I have self-published, but they all have one thing in common, they are all available as ebooks. The rise of Smashwords and Kindle Direct has enabled writers to sell short stories electronically, when before the only options were to submit to magazines, who may or may not have accepted them. Then there was erotica, and a lot of traditional magazines and publishers didn't want erotica.
I had written an M/M fantasy romance novel called The Chosen and sent it off to quite a few e-publishers. Some of them wanted me to add more sex, some wanted me to have less sex in it and some weren't that keen on same-sex romances. It found a home in 2010 with Lyrical Press, who wanted it as is, I didn't have to add more sex just for the sake of it, which I was very pleased about. The way it was written, I thought the love scenes flowed within the context of the narrative and I was afraid that if I added more love scenes, they would just look tacked on and not really flow with the story.
The Chosen was my last novel for a while, in 2011 after four years of unexplained dizziness, I finally got to see a balance specialist and I was diagnosed with migraine associated vertigo. A lot of things can trigger the vertigo, it might be food, flashing lights or loud noises and computer screens/television. It also plays havoc with your memory and concentration so I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on completing a full-length novel for quite some time. This is where e-publishing saved me once again, you don't just have to write novels, some people like short stories too and I have self-published a few using Smashwords and Kindle Direct.
Pink Petal Books/Jupiter Gardens Press is giving one of my older novels, Drowning Rapunzel a new electronic lease of life this year too. It's been revised and extended since that first edition way back when and I'm pleased that with e-publishing, you can give some of your back list a new lease of life and perhaps get more readers who've never seen it first time around.
About Annette Gisby
Annette Gisby grew up in a small town in Northern Ireland, moving to London when she was seventeen. She writes in multiple genres and styles, anything from romance to thriller or erotica to horror, even both at the same time.
When not writing, she enjoys reading, cinema, theatre and travelling the world despite getting travel sick on most forms of transport., even a bicycle. Sometimes you might find her playing Dragon Quest or The Sims computer games and watching Japanese Anime. She lives in Hampshire with her husband, a collection of porcelain dolls, cuddly toys and enough books to fill a library. It's diminishing gradually since the advent of ebooks, but still has a long way to go.
Find her online at Website | Goodreads | Romance Novel Center | The Romance Reviews
This guest post is part of the FMB Blog Tour.