An Indie Author No More?
Well, that’s not entirely true, as I will
ALWAYS (and proudly!) consider myself an indie author. But I do have some really
AWESOME NEWS to share!
About two months ago, I was contacted via
email by a senior editor at Amazon Publishing in New York (names have been
omitted to protect the innocent). It read:
Subject line: Hi from Amazon
Dear Dina,
Apologies for
tracking you down out of the blue like this. I’m in the middle of ONE PINK
LINE, and I wanted to get in touch to let you know how much I’m enjoying it.
Your characters are so human and Anne Tyleresque, and your sisterly dynamic is
so relatable, as is the dynamic between Sydney and her mom. I also love your
ear for dialogue—overall, just a terrific piece of writing and I think more
people should know about it.
Anyway, enough
gushing (although I have yet to meet a writer who didn’t enjoy a good gush).
I’m writing because I’d love to talk to you about including your title on our
publishing schedule here at Amazon. We’re a small division of the company—a
boutique publisher at this point—but we do have all the data, marketing and
merchandising power of Amazon.com
at our disposal, and I’d love to put those forces to work to give ONE PINK LINE
a chance at an even wider audience.
If you’re
interested, maybe we can set up a time to talk. And if you’re not, no pressure
whatsoever. Congratulations on writing a fabulous book!
See if you can guess whether I was interested or not…I’ll wait.
After I lifted my jaw off the desktop, screamed, and hugged my cats; I emailed her back and began
the process of being officially welcomed into the Amazon Publishing family.
About three or four years ago, Amazon created their own ‘traditional’
publishing house, equipped with fancy, decisive, talented editors who are
seeking out new (and seasoned) authors, and publishing and distributing their
books under the Amazon Publishing label.
So here’s the scoop. Amazon Encore will be re-releasing One Pink Line, with a copy edit, a
bikini wax, and maybe a new cover; and Amazon Publishing will publish my third
book sometime next year. The third book is a spinoff of OPL, focusing on
Grace’s adult life and introducing another female character.
This is a huge, bittersweet deal for me. As many of you know, I’m a
foam-finger-waving-fan of self-publishing. In fact, if it weren’t for the gift
that self-publishing is, I would likely never have caught the attention of any editors…let alone
readers. Lord knows my old agent didn’t have any luck.
So why give away my rights if I already have access to readers? Because
at some point, there’s only so many I can reach on my own. There are only so
many friends and strangers that I can impress with my shameless self-promotion.
And I honestly believe that there’s a huge untapped audience for my books that
I can’t possibly obtain without further assistance. Thankfully, the editors at
Amazon Publishing agree, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have such an
industry powerhouse in my corner.
I liken it to sending my kid off to college one day. By the time he’s
18, I’ll have done everything in my power to make him the best person possible.
I’ll never stop praising him, encouraging him, and molding him into the man
he’s capable of being. But at some point, I have to let him go and hope that he
studies hard, meets lots of fabulous new people and limits his number of keg
stands. I know he’s going to accomplish great things, and I feel the same way
about my books.
The number of people to thank are countless, really. This indie
community of authors, bloggers, reviewers and especially readers has astounded me with their support, camaraderie
and enthusiasm. I truly feel as though I’ve been part of a movement that has
re-shaped the publishing industry in only a few years time, and I’m so humbled
by everyone who has supported my books and me along the way.
Lest you’re concerned…I’ll still be out there everyday hawking my
titles like a shoe salesman working on commission.
Now, please have a glass of wine with me tonight from wherever you
are!
