Friday Friend - Anne Patrick and the E-book Revolution

Welcome to today’s Friday Friend, Anne Patrick.

Anne is the author of more than a dozen novels of Romance, Mayhem & Faith, including the award-winning and best-selling Fire and Ash, Kill Shot and Lethal Dreams. Her heroines are usually strong willed, witty, and often very opinionated…combinations that usually land them in situations where death seems imminent. When she's not working on her next novel she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She makes her home in Kansas.

To learn more about Anne, please visit her website: http://annepatrick.weebly.com/index.html or blog: www.suspensebyanne.blogspot.com. She loves to hear from here readers!

I'm Proud To Be An Ebook Author

For those who are not familiar with what an ebook is, they are electronic books that come in many formats, including PDF. You can read them on your computer or an e-book reader, and if you haven’t heard, they are VERY popular. E-books sales have sky rocketed over the last four or five years. Even the major publishers are dipping into the pool.

There are a number of reasons these devices are so popular. Most e-books are a whole lot cheaper than print books. You can purchase and download e-books in minutes. They’re environmentally friendly. Your books take up less space because you can store thousands on a computer or e-reader. The print is adjustable, for those of you, like me, who don’t like to wear your reading glasses. It doesn’t matter if you like romance, suspense, inspirational, science fiction, or westerns. All your favorite genres can be found as e-books.

The only downfall is the e-readers can be expensive. However, the prices are starting to come down and some are very affordable.

There are a number of companies, which are strictly e-publishers, producing award winning books by talented authors. Desert Breeze Publishing, White Rose Publishing, Whiskey Creek Press, and Samhain Publishing are just a few of the more popular e-presses.

There used to be a stigma, and maybe there still is to a certain extent, that authors who went the e-publishing route were authors who couldn’t land contracts with New York publishers. This is no longer the case. There are many authors, formerly with big publishing houses who have pursued e-publishing because it is very lucrative. Instead of the usual eight to twenty percent of royalties most print publishers pay, an e-book author makes thirty to forty-five percent on sales. Now who wouldn’t want to double their royalties?

Another trend in the making is edgy Christian fiction. With the smaller independent e-book publishers, authors are given more leeway as to what they’re allowed to write. They’re tackling tough issues that the market used to shy away from, and dealing with situations that affect people every day.

Romances are spicier than the norm or in my case thrilling stories of sweet romance and suspense with inspirational messages weaved into them. I know it’s hard to imagine a story about murder and mayhem being inspirational, but I love suspense and I want all my writing to reflect my faith so that’s how my muse works. There is both evil and good in this world and I like combining the two and watching how my characters deal with it. So is the publishing industry just going through a phase? Some want to think so, but the numbers don’t lie. We are forging into the electronic age whether we want to or not. Look at how much the music industry has changed. Now I’m not saying the print book is going to be obsolete like the eight-track (I’m giving away my age here). People love the feel of books. They like thumbing through the pages, making notes in the margins. But the times are a changing, and I for one welcome that change. More people than ever are reading. So don’t be afraid of the future. Embrace it. Try an e-book!

Anne's Newest Release – Fire Creek

Kasey Montgomery has returned to her hometown of Fire Creek Montana after the apparent suicide of her cousin. Within days of Beth's funeral, Kasey begins to find inconsistencies in her death. The local sheriff is quick to dismiss the allegations as figments of a writer's imagination. Kasey is determined to prove otherwise. Does the bronzed skinned stranger from Beth's funeral hold the answers?

Local park ranger, Jimmy Little Raven suspects foul play too. Beth was engaged to his best friend who died months earlier from a mysterious accident. Risking his heart and his job, he teams up with the famous mystery writer to find the answers to both deaths.

Available at: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-315/K.T.-Randall-Book-One-cln-/Detail.bok You can also purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most online bookstores.