Hi there!
If you’re a friend of mine, you’ll know. If you follow me on Facebook, you might know. But here’s the official news. I, Cathi Bond, potential idiot or brave pioneer, have decided (after a hideously long soul ripping period of time) to publish my first novel Night Town with a digital publishing house. Yeppers, you got it, an E-Book.
Why did I do this?
First off, digital publishing is no longer considered vanity press. Stop snorting with laughter and saying, “she couldn’t get a real house to publish her book so she’s gone electronic.” Those in the know (can somebody say Kindle, Kobo or Amazon?) insist digital publishing is to books what iTunes and mp3s are to music. They’re the future and I believe them.
Second reason? I’ve worked in new media since 1998 when the tornado of change swept away my life as a print journalist. I survived by jumping online to do an arts blog for compuserve, a bitch column for Sympatico (and got fired for being too bitchy) and have pretty much staggered along, shaking my money can at whoever might pay, learning how to earn a living in cyberspace. My pal Nora Young and I are podcast pioneers and heck, I even get the chance to talk about this new world on CBC’s Spark. So, as they say in Hollywood, it all feels so organic. I think digital is where I fit.
Finally…I’m not completely sure that books as we know and love them, will still be around in 2-3 years. That’s how long it usually takes to get a new book to market. Well I’ve spent five years of my life writing Night Town and I’m not prepared to let it languish in the slush pile of eternity.
So stay tuned to my adventures on the E-Book frontier. I’m going to write a brief dispatch every week until I publish in Spring 2013 taking you through the experience. How does it work? What are the players like? How does it differ than the traditional model and most importantly – will my decision culminate in a success or a stunning car accident of a failure?
Next week meet the publisher as we take a walk through my new digital publishing house.
Until then,
Cathi
Go Bond, you are smart to do it digitally!
I had trouble with the subscribe link. And I want to follow you. You are a pioneer.
Looking forward to reading more. This is exciting – congratulations Cathi!
Hi Cathy
Thanks for this. I will follow your journey.
Hey all! Thanks for the follow and this is a soft launch, meaning that I’m looking for any and all ideas as to how to make this a must follow story, for the offical launch in Sept where I try and get some larger sites to link to my wee blog.
Any feedback would be appreciated. So far I’m thinking of asking people to post photos from Toronto in the 1970s and music and film links. Plus as time passes I’ll be doing readings and posting excerpts.
Thanks again for the interest and support. Cath
Hey Cathi: This will be very interesting. Says I’m already subscribed, so I’ll be listening/watching!
Congrats Cathi! Looking forward to more………..
Cathi, it’s true. Just a few years back, e-publishing was considered “vanity press”, and not REAL publishing. But today, if you know the inside of the publishing industry, only the hacks are left. It’s a dead industry and has been for years. All the new writers have grown up with e-publishing and the older writers are adapting to the technology. A publisher’s name means nothing. People go by the quality of the writing. The main challenge will be getting the word out on your book. I suspect you’ll be very good at doing just that!