E-BOOKS AND E-PUBLISHING: A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES
                                                        By Judith Bagshaw

When I talk about my writing, I begin with, 'I am, as of August 4th, 2000, a published fiction author. My genre of choice at the moment is romance. My stories almost always feature a plus size heroine. My books are ebooks and my publisher is a epublisher.'
It's at this point that faces in the audience take on that blank, glazed eye look that tells me I've just lost them. And the question I know in their minds is, 'what the heck are ebooks?'
The simplest answer to the question is, that ebooks are books, just like any other books. They differ in that they are published in electronic format. That means you can download them from an Internet site directly into your home PC, or you can purchase them on diskette or CD which is mailed to you.
'Oh so you're just self publishing then, like a vanity press? You can publish any kind of garbage online', this usually accompanied by a dismissive gesture. I count to ten and answer that, although that option also exists online, that's not the avenue I chose. My publisher is a royalty-paying publisher just like any other legitimate publisher, print or otherwise. My publisher rejects 90% of the manuscripts submitted to her, so I know her standards are high. And from my experience to date, I know the amount of editing that goes into the work, and the amount of promoting that my publisher does after the book is released.
At this point, most people shake their heads and hold up their hand as if to say stop. 'I couldn't stand to sit at my computer and read a whole book', end of discussion. My response is, you don't have to. You can read them on your laptop or on your PDA (Person digital assistant) On the market now, are little hand held dedicated reading devices designed for reading ebooks.(Franklin eBookMan, Rocket Reader to name two) They're light weight and compact. The screens are backlit and sized about the size of a standard paper back book. You can adjust the font if your eyesight needs larger print. You can store up to 10 books on a device, more if you add memory. Some formats even allow you to print out a few pages at a time, if you need to, but in my mind that defeats one of the advantages inherent in choosing ebooks over paper books-the desire not to kill trees. But if you must have a print version, many epublishers and online companies are beginning to offer POD (Print on Demand) versions of ebooks.
Free software is available for reading ebooks. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free downloadable software that allows you to read PDF files. Microsoft offers free, their Microsoft Reader. And with your browser you can read HTML files. PDF and HTML seem to be the most popular format choices at the moment.
'So what advantages are there to choosing ebooks? I can just go down to my library or bookstore and get a book.' Well, yes you can, but I can think of reasons why ebooks are an exciting alternative.
First of all, ebooks are cheaper than their print counterparts. Because epublisher's overhead is so low with no need to have a certain print run to offset the costs of publishing, ebooks are priced lower and a much larger royalty can be offered the authors. 35%-50% as opposed to 8%-10% in the print world. Direct downloads run generally around the $5.00 US mark and diskettes around $8.00 US.
For someone with limited mobility or physical restraints because of health issues, ebooks allow them to shop from their home computer, have access to an enormous wealth of literature in all genres, catering to all tastes, and not be financially burdened. Ebookstores are becoming prevalent (Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles online, Powells Books online to name a few) There are even ebook lending libraries (like netLibrary.com) And there are a plethora of free ebooks available online (such as I E Books.com)
Ebooks are environmentally friendly. In this age when natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate, it's nice not to be killing more trees to provide my entertainment.
Print publishers are a cautious lot and not really willing to take many chances with a writer or a book that isn't a sure thing. It's just too expensive to produce a print book to try anything too far off the proven beaten track. Publishers of ebooks, for the most part, are daring to extend the boundaries and give voice to writer's who otherwise are considered too alternative for the traditional print market. Maybe their stories have non-traditional heros and heroines, or un-conventional plot lines. Maybe their steamy romance is a bit too steamy, or their humor a bit too dark or off the wall. As a reader as well as a writer, I find that ebooks are a breath of fresh air, something new and exciting to enjoy. And it allows me to write about characters I care about-fat people leading rich lives, having real experiences, and not just as some weird or comical or evil presence.
For aspiring writers, the publishers have writer's guidelines and often a sample contract available at their site, as well as information about any special projects they have going . This allows you to see ahead of time what you're getting into and saves you time waiting for guidelines from a publisher, or even for news if they are accepting submissions. And for the most part, epublishers are much faster getting back to you than print publishers. I generally hear within a month of submitting something to my publisher, a far cry from the two year wait I experienced with the print company!
No one is getting rich yet in epublishing (unless you're a Stephen King already), but for me, that doesn't matter right now. I'm part of a young, growing, brand new industry. I'm prepared to work through the bumps that come with this growth. It matters to me that I have a place for my kind of stories, a place that welcomes my vision and supports my ideas. And I foresee a time when ebooks will have a place just like paperbacks do, not to replace current paper books, but to be an alternative, another choice.
Generally at this point in my talk, the blank look has left the faces to be replaced in some cases by scepticism, in others by cautious interest and in a few by the light of excitement at the prospect of finding out something new.
If you, as my audience this time, have any questions about ebooks or epublishing, you can contact me at judy_bagshaw@yahoo.ca. I'll be happy to try and answer your questions, or find someone who can. If you want to plunge in right away and check out some of these royalty paying publishers, let me recommend my own publisher, Real Romances (http://realromances.tripod.com) .They specialize in alternative romances, specifically romances featuring plus-sized heroines. Other publishers to visit are Awestruck E-Books (www.awe-struck.net),  Diskus (www.diskuspublishing.com),  New Concepts Publishing (www.newconceptspublishing.com) and Short Stuff Books (http:shortstuffbooks.tripod.com) (Also a publisher of my work). And there are many more available.
Ebooks and epublishing have allowed me to realize my dreams. May they do the same for you.
                                                                        -Judith Bagshaw; March 17, 2001
                                                                            -updated October 13,2002