E is for Book

E-book or P-book? I heard an interesting presentation on this a few weeks back. The P-book was new to me (or so I thought) but it is - get this - a Physical Book, and an E-Book is an Electronic Book. And both, it seems, are books. One doesn't need paper or binding anymore, a screen in your lap will do.

While it's tougher now to get published as a P-Book, it's easier than it's ever been to do the E-Book thing. The potential is huge for writers who want to get their work out there. It's certainly worth looking into if you're clutching a manuscript that hasn't got, well, physical yet.

Lulu.com  is one place a writer can publish their own E-Book (or P-Book). There are other sites too - but Lulu seems to be the biggest.

There are also E-Book publishers out there now who will assess a manuscript, edit and promote it. One of those is NZer Penelope Todd (formerly of Longacre Press) with the brand new Rosa Mira Books who is soon to publish her first E-book and is working on another. She comments

The first manuscript is being edited: The Glass Harmonica: A Sensualist's Tale —  a joyous and lyrical novel set between Corsica, Paris, and New England in the late 18th century — by Dorothee Kocks of Utah. We're planning an October launch. I'm currently considering stories from NZ and abroad for the second title Slightly Peculiar Love Stories. 

Which sounds really E-groovy. Good luck, Penelope. Now must get started on that peculiar love story...