AMAZON

Oh, the wonders of Amazon! Okay, I know some people don’t like them, because there’s an ugly American trait to despise success. People adored Titantic when it first came out (and I guess the comparison is accurate in terms of size) and the moment it became a (I can’t spell phenomenom today but you know what I mean) it became the butt of constant jokes. I live in the boonies, and Amazon brings books and lately, everything else to my doorstep without my having to drive 65 miles each way. Plus, it gave us the Kindle!
Before the Kindle, no one really “got” ebooks. There was the Sony e-reader (I have one, and it’s very nice), and various other machines, but the technology wasn’t there. Most of all, the ease of acquisition. Kindle was the first, from the get-go, where you could instantly buy books, and from a massive library. And carry hundreds and hundreds of those books around with you on a slim tablet. Heaven! The Nook came out with a gorgeous one, then the iPad, which, of course, is amazing. The funny thing about the iPad is so many of us scoffed the day it was announced. Saint Steve (he does seem to be sainted nowadays, even though I adored him) seemed to have made a major blunder, and on top of that, they named it after a woman’s sanitary product. What a debacle! Well, we know how wrong we were with that.
But the iPad is for everything. The Kindle (like its owner, Amazon) is still book-centered, though you can buy games). You can read it in broad daylight, anywhere. And there are all those glorious books.
I have to admit I’m even more partial to Amazon since they took my romantic suspense backlist and put up my brand new, beloved ICE book, ON THIN ICE. It’s been selling steadily since it was given a soft launch, hanging out down at around the 5,000 level in sales (we writers check these things obsessively). A couple of days ago, while I was immersed in doing revisions and didn’t check my email, they sent out an email to Kindle romance readers about it. And low and behold, I’m now in the 400s). Which means, children, that people will read the book I was so desperate to have them read that I wrote it for love, the first book I’ve written without an advance. It’s a crap shoot, but then, publishing is a casino, not a business, as someone said. And fortunately or unfortunately I was born to write, and to write is to need to be read.
So I have even more reason to bless Amazon. Not only that, but MOONRISE, RITUAL SINS, SEEN AND NOT HEARD, THE MAGGIE BENNETTS, and AGAINST THE WIND are now also available, and I am one deliciously happy camper.
I gotta get back to the revisions, but I needed to celebrate. Here’s a glass of virtual champagne for you all. It’s a Brave New World.