Hung Jury: Pros and Cons

I'll admit, I was slow to catch on to the 'e-book craze'. I found out they existed in either 2001 or 2, when I first saw the founder of Ellora's Cave on Montel Williams. I went to the site, signed up for my free newsletter, and perused the front page. Several thoughts went through my mind:

"Oh my god...these sound GREAT!"

"But wait....they're all about sex!"

"So what? You write bedroom scenes; just...not this explicit."

"See?"

"Kenzie...you're nearly forty years old, and blushing because there's a naked couple on the cover."

"Say I were to write a book like this: What will my family say? Or even my parents?"

"I repeat: You're old enough to quit blushing. You have two kids, for Christ's sake! Everyone KNOWS you've had sex!"

"That's not what I'm objecting to. Isn't this....porn?"

"Didn't your agent say you were writing erotic romance?"

"Well....yes. But still, I didn't use words like that excerpt had! That sort of language belongs in Playboy or Hustler."

"But you heard Jaid...her books are being snapped up by the thousands! Get over yourself and be a part of that market. Sex sells, woman!"

"But....how the hell do you MARKET an e-book?"

That one had me stumped. How did one go about marketing a virtual book? Could you download it to a CD and sell it? Get a laptop and hope people would fall in love with the premise and download it on the spot or remember twelve hours later and pull out your business card?

I liked having a book in my hand. I already spent enough time in front of the computer, reading my email and writing my own books. Would I be comfortable reading a book on the computer?

I settled on two books which sounded interesting, and got the consent of the SU to order them. I read them both eagerly, and was slightly disappointed they were so short. One left me hanging...until it bugged me so much I had to reread it. And discovered I'd read it wrong. I actually found myself reading that book four more times.

And then locked myself in the bedroom and tried to conquer my shyness over the use of certain anatomical slang terms. I wrote on and off for several days...then hit a wall. I still have it; I just haven't gotten around to typing it up yet. I think it's got the potential to be a pretty damn good story; my brain's just been busy with other projects. When the time is right, Brock and Tricia will clamor for their story to be finished.

But in the meantime, I was determined to get my 'other work' out there. My first two books actually arrived in print form first. And I timidly handed them out to people, convinced I was about to be raked over the coals for the language and the content. Surprise, surprise...people liked them!

And during the time the second one was being published, I discovered how one markets an e-book. Chat loops, blogging, social media. And yes, I could certainly show off my tasteful e-book covers and explain the CDs aren't audio. Sales have been good; especially since my e-books are considerably cheaper than the print ones!

So yes, this jury is unable to make a decision which is better. Although....if e-readers and books had been around while I was growing up, I'd have had one: I was the kid who packed an entire suitcase full of books for a two or three week vacation...and still ran out of reading material!