It’s been 5 years today. Happy anniversary, husband!

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.

PBW has a nice entry on being friends with the page today, and I liked a couple of things she said because they’re so true for me. Wearing comfy clothes, check. Because anything too tight or scratchy or whatever is distracting. In the winter when it’s chilly I like to wear my spa socks to keep my feet cozy, too. Enjoying the solitude of writing because there isn’t enough of it anywhere else, check. I’m a solitary person who never gets to be alone. The page is my refuge. Writing is my refuge, period, really. It’s where I can go to be wild and crazy, and when life is wild and crazy retreating to writing is more essential and comforting than ever.

But she did mention transitions, and I thought about the fact that we prod our difficult toddler from one activity to another by using a transitional object. The duck for bathtime, and so on. Nothing wrong with using a transitional object to get into writing. Writing socks, or whatever works for you. But I do think writing should be comfortable, a welcome place to go to, not something scary. Whatever it takes to make it feel that way.

Yesterday I trekked the small people down to the library and got the essential library card. Which entitled us to 5 items. 1 princess book, 1 Veggie Tales tape, and 2 books for me because by then the small people were done, even if the library does have a cool train for toddlers to play in and look out of and teddy bears to hug.

I was feeling all virtuous for writing, so I read Size 12 Is Not Fat and laughed a lot. Very fun story. Okay, I didn’t laugh about the corpses, but some of the lines in this book were so perfect. And I liked how the first person voice was done. A good mystery, a good romantic storyline, and I’m looking forward to more. Because I have to find out if she does get together with Cooper. (If she doesn’t, I want him.) I also really liked the way it wasn’t hammered into the ground but the message about not starving yourself to be artificially thin (i.e. thinner than your natural body type and healthy weight) is put across in a very good way.

Highly recommend as both a terrific, entertaining story and a positive view of the real female norm for body shape/weight/size.

Spoke to my amazing St. Martin’s editor yesterday about various things, mostly marketing related, but my six-month release schedule there has been changed to Aug/Feb instead of July/January. Those are now the solid dates, so woot. And I get to put an excerpt from Capture Me in Wild Wild West to tantalize readers! I’m pretty excited about that, I hoped I’d be able to. Still no glimpse of the cover. Can’t wait to see the cover.

That’s about it. Lots of work going on here, amidst a sea of order as opposed to boxes. And Terry Pratchett’s new book will ship very soon, Wintersmith. Must. Have. Wintersmith. This is the 3rd Discworld installment of the Wee Free Men, and if you haven’t read Wee Free Men and Hatful of Sky, what’re you waiting for?

Still no reviews on Wolf In Shining Armor. Insert nail-biting icon here. But while I always wonder how a book is doing, really, once the edits are done there’s not much more that can be done. It’s finished, out of my hands. I gave it my best, now it’s out in the world on its own. I do my bit to promote each title, but then again there’s only so much of that you can do, too. Really, in the end its up to the story and the writing. I can only hope that lots of people are in the mood for a medieval werewolf tale.

And then get busy with the next story. Because no matter what happens with Wolf, I have more finished releases coming up and I have edits to finish off and more writing to do, giving it my best.

Also, there are these small people underfoot who need attention. Honestly, there is nothing like small people underfoot to cut down on your obsessive worrying time because there’s no time for it.

Nearly done unpacking all the books. Shelving them brings back happy memories and it really is like a reunion with old friends. “Look, it’s Craig Shaw Gardner! Time to re-read Bride of the Slime Monster?” “Oh, Sharyn McCrumb, I love Bimbos of the Death Sun.”

The authors who take up the most shelf space are Lois McMaster Bujold, Laurell K. Hamilton, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Pratchett, Janet Evanovich and Jayne Ann Krentz/Quick/Castle. Others I might only have 1, 2 or a handful of titles by but they’re always worth revisiting, like Madeleine L’Engle, Susan Carroll, Nicole Jordan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Plato. (It’s an eclectic collection that runs from comic books to The Epic of Gilgamesh.)

And now thanks to Zaz, my collection just grew by one since I’m a winner in Beth’s Challenge.

Packing, moving, and unpacking allll those books makes me really grateful for ebooks, though. I love our print collection, but I love the portability and space saving (and lack of dust) I get with ebooks. Not to mention we have no room for another bookcase, so we either have to keep buying ebooks, weed out more of the print books…or be buried under a mountain of tomes someday.