By Brenna Lyons, guest blogger from EPIC (Electronic Publishing Internet Coalition) A lot of readers state that e-books should be sold for pennies, “because the money preparing the book was already spent on the print release and there is no physical printing and shipping involved.” In their mindset, that means there are no additional costs to preparing the e-book for sale, and therefore, a book should cost little or nothing in e-book. There are a lot of holes in this theory. For one thing, not all publishing ventures produce the print version first. Most indie presses either produce the e-book version first or the two concurrently. Even in NY conglomerate, lines like Carina Press and Spice Briefs (both Harlequin ventures) produce only the e-book version. If there is print, it will come later. That means the costs of producing the book fall solely or primarily on the -ebook version. Assuming the print version was indeed produced first, this line of thought disregards the fact t...

With the popularity of Kindle and the iPad, more readers seem to be hopping on the e-book bandwagon. I now have my newest book, Follow the Dream , on Kindle, so I’ve officially entered the “big time” of e-publishing. I was also recently was given the honor of winning an EPIC award for my first novel, Cowgirl Dreams . The first question I usually get is, “What is EPIC?” EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Internet Coalition, is a professional organization for published and contracted e-book and print authors. It was established in 1997 to provide a strong voice for electronic publishing. Even though E-Publishing is a relatively new venue in the big picture of publishing, many readers, writers, and traditionally published authors believe this is one of the major marketplaces of the future. EPIC was designed to help professional writers learn more about the best publishing opportunities on the Internet and to provide networking opportunities for information about promotion and market grow...

I seriously wrote fiction after a presentation by Chicago-North RWA at our local library in which the members told everyone how they got their start. Listening to them made me realize that authors are real people. If I tried hard enough, maybe I could be like them and get published. I joined the chapter, made some wonderful friends, and learned a lot about writing from critiques and conversations. I served as secretary, manuscript chairperson, president, then chapter advisor. Chicago-North RWA is one big reason I finally got my first publishing contract in 2006. So, Romance Writers of America , RWA , does mean a lot to me - yet, again, it's a source of disappointment. Not my local chapter, but the national organization which goes out of its way to protect NY publishers and snubs many small presses who valiantly struggle to make a decent livelihood and support their authors. MWA - When I first started writing, the first conference I attended was Of Dark and Stormy Night...