In the comments at PBW’s yesterday, a writer who elected to epublish asked about whether it was taking the easy way out, having heard the detractors who say “That’s not a real book.”

First of all, if we lined up all the romance writers followed by other genre writers, multipublished authors who have been in paperback in multiple languages and hit bestseller lists left and right, I could probably make a line from the Washington coast to Cleveland with the ones who have been asked when they’re going to write a real book, by somebody who defines a real book as a literary novel. Or a non-fiction book. Or hardcover. Or that gets critical acclaim (even if it sinks faster than concrete overshoes). Or that wins a Pulitzer. Oh, wait, a romance novel is up for that one now.

Bottom line, there will ALWAYS be somebody who is happy to define what a “real” achievement is for you. You don’t have to agree with their definition, however.

There are good reasons to epublish. Monthly royalty payments. Rapid publishing (although this can vary widely and in some cases is very slow) so that a book gets out and starts earning right away. A market for books that are too different or do not have broad enough appeal for a traditional publisher to take on. Because a book that appeals to a niche market can still be profitable for an epublisher, and for the author, even if it might not sell in the numbers a big publisher would look for.

There are also good reasons to approach epublishing with caution. There is no advance (although some, like Samhain, pay a small advance) which means you need to choose carefully to decide where your book has the best earning potential as you are not guaranteed a minimum in return for your rights to the story.

RWA’s definition of a minimum of 1,500 copies sold (and the definition goes on from there with a much higher number for publishers who use POD but that’s another blog) for publisher recognition struck me as sensible. If at least 1,500 people don’t want to read my story, it probably isn’t very marketable. So I looked for publishers where I could get that level of distribution.

How do you find out if an epublisher is a good bet? Well, look at the website. Is it professional, easy to navigate, does it get a lot of traffic? Are there lots of reviews out of this publisher’s titles? What do readers say about this publisher? Are the titles on Amazon or Fictionwise? Does the publisher have a print program? Loose Id, NCP, Cerridwen/Ellora’s Cave and Samhain all have print programs with distribution in bookstores. What do authors say about the publisher you’re considering? Are any successful epublished authors writing for that publisher? If you do your homework, you can make an informed choice.

I don’t think anybody should go into epublishing blindly, but it’s a valid choice, it makes sense for a lot of writers for a lot of different reasons, and I will be forever grateful for what epublishing has done for me. Oh, yeah, and anybody who thinks it’s taking the easy way hasn’t tried it.