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

Comments

Unknown said…
You correctly judged the future. Nice to be able to wear an I told you so smile. I buy both formats.
Thanks for your comment, Dee. At the time, I knew I was right, but oh, people were so mean. Good thing I have thick skin.
M.M. Gornell said…
I remember you talking about e-books around 2009 period--fortunately my publisher (Aberdeen Bay) was into them too, along with paper. And the Kindle edition wasn't "perfect" by any means, but oh so convenient! Then electronic books got better and better. You're a pioneer, Marilyn. I currently like audio books a lot, but don't know if they'll catch on. Always something new and neat in our futures. Happy New Year!

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