Romance Self Publishing EXPOSED!
Romance Unbound Publishing (http://romanceunbound.com) is my new imprint, designed to take my own work to ebook and print. The idea is to take what I’m already doing—writing erotic romance—and recoup creative and financial control. I am selling my print books primarily on Amazon.com and my ebooks at http://1romanceebooks.com, a very sexy new site that supports not only established publishers, but also us little guys!
Back in the old days (which, in these days of rapidly changing technology could mean last week!), books were shopped through agents to the traditional publishing houses, who operated under the yoke of high overhead, carrying lots of inventory in warehouses which they would ship off to bookstores, who might or might not sell it, and might or might not return it. Because the costs were/are so high, publishers skim nearly all the profits, leaving the the author with next to nothing to show for their efforts.
Epubs were a vast improvement, with much easier entry into the publishing market, and much higher royalties rates. I’ve done well by Epubs for a number of years, publishing over forty novels and stories with them. But handing over creative and financial control your work comes with a cost. For example, my story, Continuum of Longing, should have been called Continuum of Desire, but the Epub told me they had too many books with the word desire in it, so it had to change.
In the early days of Ebook publishing, before cover artists really came into their own, I can’t tell you how many hideous pod people covers were shoved down my throat, with little to no input from me permitted. As you well know, books really are judged by their covers, especially ebooks and books sold online that you can’t pick up and thumb through. Covers really do matter.
I have been very fortunate to discover a wonderful new cover artist (Kelly Shorten), and I have a great freelance editor (J.L. Reeves) and a couple of seriously kick ass beta readers who don’t let me get away with anything! I absolutely adore being able to write exactly what I want, release it when it’s ready and not when it fits into someone else’s schedule (average time for a release with some of the big epubs is 10-12 months or longer out from when I first write the thing!). I can give it the title it’s supposed to have, and a cover that fits the story. It’s a challenge, but an exciting one, to make it on my own!
I have high hopes, given the ability of the Internet to connect me directly to my readers, that this is the way of the future, at least for me! 1RomanceEBooks is an excellent venue for the independent author and small publisher to distribute their work directly to the reader. I don’t suggest every author abandon their epub and NY House and try to go it alone—you need a solid readership and a backlist of work under your belt to get you through the lean times. And you need to be prepared to do everything yourself, from covers to formatting to saving the ebook in the format readers want (I have written a separate “how to” article about this, for anyone who wants a copy).
The cool thing is, if this doesn’t work out for me, no doors are shut. I can still write for the big houses, or I can do it alongside this independent endeavor. It’s been a learning curve, but a fun and exciting one! The idea of truly making it on my own is a cherished dream. If you haven’t already, please check out http://romanceunbound.com and, oh yes, buy something! J
Claire Thompson’s latest release, Texas Surrender, is available at 1RomanceEbooks.com