Why write an ebook? (Part Two)

You can read Part One here.

The ebook market for erotic romance also exists because that’s where the majority of the readership lies. Having decided to persevere in my quest to write for Loose-Id, my first step was to study the market more closely. I needed to pick apart some of the books I was reading, think about what worked “for me” and what didn’t. After all, if I was going to write a book, I wanted it to be something I could be proud of, right?

Point: You see, I’d realised my biggest mistake. I thought writing a book with a romantic element was going to be easy. Having had a break from my manuscript when I came to review it I realised that I hadn’t put my heart and soul into it. I’d written a nice story but it lacked intensity of any sort. It was hardly surprising: I’d written it with a light and carefree attitude. I expanded the type of books I was reading and came across “The Syndicate” series by Jules Jones and Alex Woolgrave. I loved these books. Although they were rather light in the science-fiction plot they were extremely funny. Oddly though, they were m/m romance, and damn if an idea didn’t creep into the back of my mind.

I spent a few days wondering what I was going to do with this idea. For one thing certain elements were missing. I pictured a man sitting on a bench with a thief about to creep up on him. Within a couple of days I had decided both characters should be male but I still had no idea as to who this man was or why he sat there. Then I stumbled across a name: “Shavar” (meaning Comet). I had my story. The trouble was what to do with it? I couldn’t write a same-sex story! Could I? How would I explain that to my husband, my friends, my father…my mother-in-law! Also, this was too serious a story for this market. I didn’t believe they’d take it and I wasn’t sure I wanted to write something so in-depth. I then realised I had to accept what I knew already. I don’t do “light” very well. I write better when the story is intense even though it makes the process more exhausting. As for the market…this was love between men — if the erotic romance market refused to take it then no one would. I also noticed Loose-Id were producing more gay stories. Maybe they’d be interested in my idea?

I spent the next six months writing it, revising it, editing it, revising it again. There came a point when I knew it was ready. It wasn’t going to get any better just sitting here. I had to submit a synopsis and first three chapters. I did. Two days later I received a lovely email from a very lovely woman called Lorri-Lynne. She was an editor and reader at Loose-Id and liked the world I’d created. She wanted to see the whole manuscript. I sent it off…and waited.

That makes it sound like such a calm process. I was anything but calm and went from “They’re going to accept; they ‘must’ accept it,” to, “Today I’ll receive the rejection,” in a blink. I believed in this book so much that I felt if they rejected it, I’d be sorely tempted to throw my computer out of the window, even knowing while I made this vow that I’d do no such thing. Writers write because they have to. I knew if they rejected it, I’d start again. I’d already started writing a m/m contemporary. The work was flowing and I was waiting… A month later I received good news and a contract. Not only that, management at Loose-Id asked if it was a series. They said it screamed series to them. OMG! I was an author! I needed to tell everyone that I’d written… an homoerotic romance. OMG! Head:Desk! LOL.

Subject matter aside, the reason I believed in this book was that I’d produced a full story. I’d set out to write a fantasy and I’d done just that. The book had intrigue and action/adventure. I’d set out to write a romance, and it was that, too. I’d set out to make it explicit because that was what the market demanded, but I’d set out to make those scenes push the story forward, and again, big achievement and a new first for me. It wasn’t perfect. Lorri-Lynne taught me loads just in the editing process of that first book. I’ve studied writing and I understood patterns and creating character depth but this was a new genre for me. What I learned has reflected favourably in all my work, both in structure and just freeing my mind. I recall Anne Rice once saying that writing explicitly was incredibly freeing. Regardless of whether you like her as an author, she’s right. I’ve always said that to write well you need to “write” and not worry about what others will think. Let the story dictate its needs. In the case of “Uly’s Comet” the story dictated that although we never get into Ryanac’s head and I had intended he be a background character, he simply refused to be left in the shadows. Lorri loved Ryanac. I loved Ryanac. Ryanac loves himself most of all. I let him loose and he took the books to a new level. This was supposed to be Uly and Markis’s love story but I quickly realised these two wouldn’t be who they were without Ryanac’s influence. They wouldn’t evolve. The trilogy began to take form. I’d made it happen. My name was going to listed among the Loose-Id authors! I’d written an ebook.

A what book? What’s an ebook?

I’d expected everyone to be shocked over the gay content. A couple of people were with hysterical results but most said, “Well done. We hope you sell a million.” What I didn’t expect to hear was, “What’s an ebook?” or, “Oh, an ebook! I thought you meant a proper book.”

Ebooks are proper books. Ask any author, editor, or publisher that works with them. Ask us what hours we put in. Ask us about the effort involved. Ask us how much hard work it is. Then stand there and say these aren’t real books. As to what the difference between ebooks and print books means to the writer, I’ll cover that next time.