Guest author Lynn Emery: Never Say Never

Lynn Emery sold her first novel in 1995 to Kensington publishing for their groundbreaking Arabesque line. Night Magic went on to be recognized for Excellence in Romance Fiction for 1995 by Romantic Times Magazine. Her third novel, After All, became a movie produced by BET and aired on December 3, 1999. In 2004 Lynn won three coveted Emma Awards. She was chosen Author of the Year and her novel Kiss Lonely Goodbye won Best Novel and Favorite Hero. Good Woman Blues (August 2005, HarperCollins) was nominated by Romantic Times Magazine for Best Multicultural Mainstream novel of 2005. A Darker Shade of Midnight is Lynn’s latest novel of magic and murder.

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away this reader and writer vowed she would never do two things.

1. Self-publish fiction
2. Read e-books

You see, my crystal ball was in the shop. I couldn’t imagine that those quaint e-readers or e-books would catch on; too many barriers like pricing, formats and accessibility. Or that self-publishing would ever be more than a money and energy drain on writers.

My, my, my. The world has changed. Readers are having a ball. I said, “Read a book on my phone? You kidding me? No way!” Ahem, enter my IPhone. I’ve read five books on this thing. I love the ease of getting a book in minutes, seconds in most cases. Instant reader gratification. Score! I will be buying more. Believe it. I might even finally buy an e-reader. I just can’t decide which one. No prob. While I ponder the choices, prices keep dropping and the features get better. Score again!

As an author I’ve learned to format my own original titles and publish them. Easy, inexpensive, and doesn’t take long. No piles of books stacked up in my extra bedroom. No huge amounts of time or money spent getting them published. Score! What’s more, in this new indie publishing world, promotion is seen as a time suck that doesn’t lead to sales. Writing more books leads to sales. Writers can get back to writing sooner rather than later. Score again!

Indie publishing has a long list of advantages that the old self-publishing model never had. If you’re a traditionally published author I suggest you read articles about this new long tail of publishing. Even more important, beware of some new clauses being added to traditional publishing contracts. I could write so much more on what I’ve learned about “net sales”, promotion, the old “conventional” wisdom about agents and publishers, etc. But I don’t want to test the patience of my hosts here at Novel Spaces.

Now if you’re ready to enter this new world, I’ll take you there (cue old school song from The Staple Singers).

A Darker Shade of Midnight and Best Enemies are available at the Kindle Store, Nook Books and Smashwords.com.

—Lynn Emery