The Great Ebook Debate
There is an ongoing debate, sometimes in public and sometimes in private whispers, about the quality of ebooks. There appears to be a general sense that you only turn to epublishing if you’re not that good or if all the traditional publishing houses hate your stuff - which may be code for, you’re not good.
I’m not a big believer in sweeping statements that go something like: I read 4 ebooks so I know they are all crap. We can all agree that’s not fair. The comments about ebooks not being any good - actually, there’s no reason to make it pretty, many people think ebooks truly suck - I’m thinking that’s not fair either. Or, at least, I hope this is a wild overstatement. Since I’ve read exactly 10 ebooks by 3 authors I am in no position to judge. Frankly, if I read 100 ebooks I wouldn’t be in a position to give a yeah or nay to the entire ebook stock that’s out there. My expertise would be limited to the authors I read.
Many ebook folks have made the transition to traditional publishing. Most of those seem to come out of Ellora’s Cave. Some folks are successful at doing both and actively pursue both (see: Sylvia Day) . Some people have been writing ebooks for some time and getting great reviews (see: Ellen Fisher then jump over and see how much Mrs. Giggles likes her stuff). Some are new to epublishing and so excited about it, they get me excited (see: Sasha White).
So, in an attempt to educate myself on ebooks and the decide for myself what I think of the quality, I’m off to find ebooks to read. In keeping with my general reading preferences, I likely will shy away from vampires and paranormal. Anything with a non-human hero is out. I’ve read some stuff on Smart Bitches about books where the hero has more than one penis. While tempting and certainly interesting, umm, no. One penis is fine, thanks. If anyone has a recommendations - other than the multi-penis dude and the undead, let me know.
May 26th, 2005 at 10:03 am
Can I kiss your feet for mentioning me so positively? Or would you think that was a little weird? *g*
It does seem like a lot of the authors making the jump to NY are from EC, but I know New Concepts Publishing authors C.J. Barry and Joy Nash (also an EC author) write for NY pubs now too. And a Changeling Press author just sold to NY as well. And of course, lots of us (like yours truly, among many others) have written for NY pubs in the past. This is why the “us vs. them” attitude is silly… we ARE them:-).
My absolute favorite NCP author (this is my publisher, so bias is a distinct possibility) is Jaide Fox, not to be confused with EC’s Jaid Black. Jaide writes fantasy romances and some hilarious futuristics– try INTERGALACTIC BAD BOYS. And the most recent ebook I read, which I liked very much, was Charlene Teglia’s DANGEROUS GAMES (EC).
May 26th, 2005 at 10:26 am
Ah Ms. Fisher, there is more praise coming your way. I’m reading ALL I EVER WANTED and it’s both clever and compelling. So, don’t be surprised when the fangirl post appears on my blog.
May 26th, 2005 at 11:20 am
I recommend Summer in the City of Sails by Shelley Munro from Ellora’s Cave. It’s a contemporary, no BDSM, etc.
Autumn Dawn has some nice historicals from New Concepts. The Woman Inside and The Other Woman are ones I’ve liked. They’re connected.
Jaide Fox from NCP also has a historical called His Wicked Ways.
Hmm…that’s all I can think of right now. I actually don’t like a lot of the more popular authors as much as many online seem to. Probably because I tend to go for vanilla sex that just really hot instead of the more adventurous stuff.
May 26th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Thank you, Wendy! I’m glad you like it so far:-).
May 26th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Nicole - thank you for the recommendations.
Wendy - Sounds as if Ellen’s book is a winner. Think I’ll pick up her ISN’T IT ROMANTIC and do some novella reading.
May 27th, 2005 at 5:31 am
I am excited about ePublishing and I’m so gad I’ve got you excited!!
And the thing a lot of people find really weird about that is . . I was print pubbed with Black Lace (and a few other publishers) BEFORE I looked into ePublishing. (and I’ll still do both in the future too) So not everyone is going from electronic to print…some of us are going the other way because opportunity is opportunity. And ePublishign is a whole new world.
May 27th, 2005 at 9:39 am
I can heartily recommend Sarah McCarty’s “PROMISES” series at Ellora’s Cave. Non-paranormal, historical Westerns, but unlike any Western I’ve read before. The charactization is phenomenal, and you get lots of book for your buck.
May 27th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
I would second that recommendation of Sarah McCarty. I am not by any means a western fan but she’s got some of the best characterization.
Also The Sweet Gum Tree by Kathy Alfred from the newly started Cerridwen Press (an offshoot of EC for all books not romantica)
One thing I wanted to mention, that you left out of the equation- the NY authors who have come to ebooks. For instance, Rachel Carrington now writes for EC. Susan Sizemore just released a book with Cerridwen. I have to believe that if what “people” say is true, then those authors wouldn’t have made the move to publish some of their books with epublishers. It gives validity to the arguement that there might be a little more freedom to write what you want when working with an epub.
But yeah, there ARE bad ebooks out there. There are a lot of small epubs that I wouldn’t consider throwing money at. But there are also many that publish books just as good as anything the NY pubs release.
Interesting topic!
May 27th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Katherine ALLRED LOl. Not Alfred. Wrote The Sweet Gum Tree and I guess I should have mentioned that it’s women’s fiction. Written in the first person.