I was Attacked When I First Mentioned E-books
Yep, that actually happened.
I was one of the first authors to embrace e-publishing. My first Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery was published by a pioneer e-publisher. Unfortunately, at the time the only way to read an e-book was on a computer. Also, there was no easy way to purchase much of anything from the Internet.
The Rocket E-Rader became available and was a great way to read e-books. It was back-lit and shut off when you fell asleep. They were bought out by a company that created another e-reader that was slicker looking but not nearly as good.
During this time I was promoting e-books at all sorts of writers' conferences. At a large conference I mentioned that e-books were coming and was booed. The main speaker made fun of me. He said people would never read e-book, they loved the small of paper books.
At another conference, a writer poo-pooed the whole idea of e-books. Guess what, her books are all available on Kindle now.
There were many such instances, but I kept telling people e-books were coming.
Finally a large conference asked me to put on a workshop about e-books, which of course I did. Only a few people came, one was Barbara Hodges, and we've become good friends over the years.
A few years passed and I was asked to be a speaker at the LA chapter of Sisters in Crime to talk about e-publishing. No boos, and lots of interest.
I was invited to be a panelist about e-books at another big conference. The room was packed.
Now e-books are accepted by many.. I have a Kindle and read books with it and I also read paper books.
I wonder if any of the people who scoffed and verbally attacked me when I spoke about e-books even remember.
And yes, all of my books are available as e-books--and in paper too.
Marilyn
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