Today we have Louise Cusack sharing her thoughts on Digital Publishing. She is also giving away 3 copies of her book The Destiny of Light so leave her a comment.
Louise Cusack on Digital Publishing
A decade ago my Australian agent Selwa Anthony was submitting the first novel of my Shadow Through Time fantasy trilogy to publishers, and at that time e-books were a curiosity. People ‘in the know’ were saying they were the future of reading, but they hadn’t taken off yet and weren’t on my radar at all. I was only interested in print books, in getting one of the big Australian publishing houses to buy my fantasy romance trilogy, after which I wanted it to sell across all the English speaking territories and have it made into blockbuster movies, hopefully directed by Baz Luhrmann (big dreams!). Five Australian publishers did consider the series, two bid on it, and we went with Simon & Schuster Australia who did a good job of promoting it. Shadow Through Time sold well in Australia and was selected by the Doubleday Book Club here as their ‘Editors Choice’. It garnered passionate reader feedback and good sales, but for some reason it didn’t sell overseas and much to my dismay, eventually went out of print.
Flash forward a decade and Pan Macmillan Australia are contacting my agent to say they’re opening a digital only imprint, Momentum Books, and would I consider placing my backlist trilogy with them for a worldwide digital release. I had a Kindle by then and was reading e-books myself, loving the convenience of an instant download (read: instant gratification) and also loving the price which was often half that of a paperback. At last I was feeding my voracious appetite for reading with zero guilt. Momentum proposed listing my e-books at AUD$4.99 each, and even better, the novels would be repackaged in fresh covers that reflected the strong love stories within. I was thrilled, and now six months later the books are in every e-book store you can imagine: Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and more.
I’ve loved these characters all along, wanting them to have a wider audience than their first release allowed, and thanks to Momentum they’re finally achieving that potential.
Now, to work on the blockbuster movies dream…
Ebooks are great for many reasons. One of them is that a lot of new authors are published. But it’s also marvelous to be able to read books which were not printed any longer. It feels like a new life for a novel. Congratulations for that!
Reading out of print books has been one of great things about e-books. Congratulations on the second life for your series!
I think there is a place in the world for both print and ebooks, at least ebooks may get authors into markets they wouldn’t have had a hope in the past! I like both! Good luck with your book!
Congratulations Louise. Will be checking them out.
Thanks Aurore, Carol, Janine and Fleur. It *is* exciting to have my babies back in the world again. I appreciate the good wishes!