SinC Links: The Ebook Edition

By Ellen Hart

If you're anything like me, you wait eagerly each month to see what Nancy Martin and her team of web foragers have gathered and sent out as SinC Links, the Sisters in Crime monthly alert to news of industry importance.

This service has helped me stay connected to what's happening in the publishing industry. It's timely. It's targeted information. It's relevant.

Now that so much of what's going on in the book world today has shifted to ebooks, the national SinC board decided it might be a good idea to put out a second monthly issue of SinC Links, this one aimed at all things digital.

You may have little interest in ebooks, but for those who do, for writers who understand that this may be a way to keep a backlist in print, or a way to publish a book that an agent loved but was unable to place, this kind of timely information may prove valuable.

Case in point: When the rights to eight of my older mysteries reverted to me a year ago, it seemed like a timely idea to put them up for sale as ebooks. The problem was, I had no idea how to go about it.

All of the novels were so old that no digitized copies existed. Without a Word.doc, I couldn't put them into a digital format -- whatever that was. It was a big puzzle, with few people who seemed to know exactly how to do what I needed done. Knowing that a good 70 percent of the ebooks currently sold are sold through Amazon, I wanted the books in Kindle format. I also wanted them up on Barnes & Noble and other, smaller sites. It took me months to find knowledgeable people who could shepherd me through various aspects of the process. Honestly, it shouldn't be that hard. None of this is rocket science.

With SinC Links/Ebook Edition, we'd like to connect members to information that will help them negotiate the transition. Not only that, we want to provide you with the latest information -- the best of the web -- on what's happening in the brave new world of e-publishing.

As I write this, another ebook link just popped into my mailbox: "Maybe the Mayans were right ... but they were talking about the publishing industry."

Hmm. All I can say is, wait for April. You'll find that link in your inbox.

Finally, a request. If you come across an article, a blog, an interview, anything you feel might be of interest to the membership regarding ebooks, e-publishing and the digital future, send them to ellenhart@earthlink.net.

Look for SinC Links/Ebook Edition to arrive in your mailbox on the 24th of each month. Many thanks to Lori L. Lake and Nancy Martin for joining the team and making the first edition possible.


Ellen Hart is the award-winning author of the 18-volume Jane Lawless mystery series and the eight-volume Sophie Greenway series. Her most recent book is The Cruel Ever After, a Jane Lawless mystery. Ellen is the member of the Sisters in Crime board of directors in charge of SinC's publicity efforts.