I tried to post this comment on Huffington's Post story about successful writers like Barbara Freethy who've gone indie but HP's log in doesn't recognize me so here it is:
I'm another successful TradPubbed author gone indie. My books (DECADES, HUSBANDS AND LOVERS, LOVE AND MONEY, MODERN WOMEN and THE LAST ROMANTICS) were million-copy New York Times bestsellers, translated into 19 languages and published in 30 countries. My U.S. publishers include Random House, Simon & Schuster and St. Martin's Press. Over the years, I reverted the rights because my publishers weren't interested in them. I had no idea what I would do with those rights but felt strongly that I wanted to control them.
Then two things happened: The first was that I couldn't sell a new book (a romantic comedy-mystery featuring a Baby Boomer couple). Although editors "loved" it, they didn't "see a market for it." I was known for my women's fiction and a romantic comedy was out of my genre. The second event was the advent of ebook publishing. The rights I had reverted suddenly had a place to go.
I've indie published my backlist and am about to publish my Baby Boomer romantic comedy-mystery, THE CHANEL CAPER. In addition, I've written and published two thrillers, HOOKED and BRAINWASHED, both written with my husband, Michael. We've also indie published Michael's two national print bestsellers, THE ATOMIC TIMES, a memoir about his experiences as a young soldier sent to "observe" the US H-Bomb tests in the Pacific Proving Ground, and ALWAYS ON SUNDAY: An Inside View of Ed Sullivan, the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra & Ed's Other Guests, his memoir of his years working on the Ed Sullivan show.
Once authors experience the freedom to write in various genres, the ability to create their own covers, control their own brand and the infinite shelf life of their books, they will not return to the strictures of publishing-like-it-used-to-be. —Ruth Harris
