The Only Thing Constant is Change

Maggie's post on storytelling really resonated with me. For several months, I've been thinking about the amazing changes happening in the publishing industry.

If you had asked me - even as little as a year ago - about electronic publishing, I would have been skeptical. Make that very skeptical. Sure, a few people were breaking out in e-pubs, but to my mind they were the exception, not the rule.

However, over the last few months, I have been looking closer at electronic publishing, and the wide variety of new publishing paradigms available to writers. I began to consider, very cautiously, the opportunities opening up for me.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I came to a startling conclusion:

All those manuscripts that didn't fit the structure of New York publishing?
They fit just find in e-pubs!

The book that was too short for a print publisher? 
An e-publisher would take it.

The subject matter that wasn't commercial enough for a large audience? 
E-publishers can serve those niche markets.

The genre that is currently out of favor with the big guys?
The little guys don't have the same restrictions.

Let me say, right here and now, that this is not meant as a condemnation of New York publishing. Quite the contrary. In New York (and other major publishing centers) there are financial and corporate constraints that shape their publishing programs. It's simply a fact of business life.

Although large publishers operate under restrictions that small presses and e-publishers don't have, they also have resources which aren't available to the smaller publishers. Established relationships with major booksellers, an experienced national sales force, savvy marketers, and an army of professional
editors, art directors, copyeditors, accountants - all the people that keep a business running.

All this is to say that there are good reason to publish, or not publish, with each company across the broad spectrum of publishing options. And I was starting to look at my options.

Then I read Maggie's post and started thinking about what she said. We are storytellers. We want people to read our books, to hear our stories, to share the thoughts and images in our heads.

What we want most of all is an audience.

So, when I realized there were places I could take those stories that didn't "fit" the big markets, I got excited. I could get my stories out into the world, give them an audience, share them with readers.

And I made the leap.

DORY COVE (written as Christina F. York), a sweet romance set on the Oregon coast, just published from Tsunami Ridge Publishing (http://www.tsunamiridge.com/). It's available at http://www.smashwords.com/, and should be available soon at http://www.amazon.com/ in Kindle format. Other books and short stories will follow soon, according to the fine folks at Tsunami Ridge.

Does this mean I've abandoned traditional publishing? Heavens, no! I'm actively working with my editor at Berkley on new projects, and I'm excited to see what we'll do next. I'm also working with my agent on some cool secret projects.

Will I stop writing mystery in favor of romance? Once again, no! I have written across several genres from the beginning, and romance is only one of them. I love writing mystery, and I don't think I could stop.

All it means is that I have a whole bunch more options and outlets than I did a year ago. And I am excited at the possibility of trying all of them!

STORYTELLERS

Maggie Sefton is a fabulous writer, and a thorough professional.  Here she explores what makes us tick.  Thank you so much, Maggie!!


Christy and I actually met this last spring at Malice Domestic mystery conference. We first met online when we joined a cozy mystery writers group. Since we both needed a roommate to make the conference more affordable, we joined forces and shared a hotel room.


What fun! As mystery authors, we were both already storytellers. But as we started talking—immediately, I might add—we found all sorts of other connections. One of them was a lifelong love of STAR TREK. Yep. We’re both Trekkies. The original was the one that hooked us, but most of us Trekkies went on to be faithful fans of all Star Trek productions---The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the others as well as the myriad movies.

We also discovered that we’ve each written many other types of novels and stories under other names. Some published, some not. When you’re a born storyteller, you simply HAVE to tell the stories that come to you, capture those fascinating characters that show up in your mind and translate them onto the page. Sometimes the novels sell, sometimes they don’t. Whatever happens. . .you keep telling your stories. And, telling other people about them.

I’m in the midst of touring this month with the newest release in my New York Times bestselling Knitting Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime. The 8th in the series, SKEIN OF THE CRIME, came out June 1st. Personally, I love to travel around and meet readers and other book people. But then, I’m a “people” person and am certainly not shy. You can ask Christy. I love talking about my sleuth, corporate refugee Kelly Flynn, and her friends who gather at that great yarn shop in Colorado. That’s where they kick back and knit and juggle their fast-paced 30-something lives. Of course, a murder always intrudes, and CPA Kelly cannot resist poking her nose into the investigations.

If you’d like to learn more about Kelly and the gang and the other mysteries, you can check out my website at http://www.maggiesefton.com/. I also blog with six other cozy mystery authors on http://www.cozychicksblog.com/. And---Christy and I are letting our characters blog on KILLER CHARACTERS with a bunch of other mystery authors. Please check it out. http://www.killercharacters.com/.