yet(Um, yeah, I just came up with this one), but who cares?! My work is in print(OK, granted it's a short story), but I'm anticipating the release of at least two novels, early next year.
Strange thing tho, when my short story,"Evelyn Thayer" was only available for Kindle, no
one I knew, (except a few close friends) seem to even care.
Honestly, interest in my short story didn't really peak for me, until it became available in print.
Seriously! This phenomenon isn't just lost on me apparently. A few fellow authors I have
become close with, have expressed joy, in having their work featured in an anthology, now available in print. Once again, we're talking about short stories, mind you. However, had it NOT been for a publisher specializing primarily in eBooks(Etopia Press), I wouldn't be a published author.
We have been conditioned as a society to embrace the tangible form of the printed word. A book.
E-Books may well be the future and even more profitable for unknown authors, but nothing beats the feel and smell of a book. Paperback or hardcover, the very placement
of it upon a coffee table speaks volumes.
I won't lie, it was a little disheartening to hear "I'll wait until it comes out in print", after informing others about the availability of my work as an eBook. It was almost as if they were saying, "I won't call you an author, until I'm holding a book, with your name
attached to it".
Let's be honest, shall we? There isn't an author whose first work was published as an eBook,
wasn't a little 'giddy' once holding a physical book of their work in hand. I was(Pssshhh..
I'm still riding that cloud). Call it preference or conditioning, however, that has to change.
As authors, we can't expect the masses to run out and buy Kindles just to read our work. Yet,
on the other hand, the masses can't expect to only find good, quality and creative work,
in paperback or hardcover.
The masses need to give eBooks and their authors the same look, as they would the
paperbacks on the racks of Walmart or Target. And we authors, have to learn to
be more patient with e Publishers, who believed in our work enough, to put money
behind it. YES! Publishing eBooks cost both time and money.
I'm not advocating one form over the other, just simply pointing out, that both can co-exist.
I applaud the authors who use social media to promote the works available as eBooks.
Hopefully one day, rather your work was published first online or in paperback, the thrill
of being an author, won't change. :)
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