by Megan Hart

Created on: November 06, 2009

I love the internet like school kids love snow days. I shop on the internet, talk to my friends on the internet, pay bills on the internet. I write and publish on the internet, too.

I started writing fiction before there was an internet for us common folk to use. I wrote first by hand, then on a typewriter and later a word processor and a computer. I sent away for submission guidelines using self-addressed, stamped envelopes, and I mailed my submissions that same way. I wanted to see my books on the shelves of bookstores and in the library, because that's what being a writer meant, to me. A book to hold in my hands.

But I was first published by an electronic press.

In fact, my first twenty or so novels, novellas and stories were published electronically (though my publisher also used print-on-demand technology to sell paper copies, too.) I was a published writer at last, and people bought my work. They read it. I even got paid! I was doing what I'd always dreamed of.

I never considered my electronically published work not as good as "real" books, or myself anything other than a "real" author. I wrote stories. Someone paid me for them. People read them.

My success with online publishing, however, didn't keep me from pursuing publication with traditional publishers. Not because I felt inadequate with what I was doing, but because as with any career, I wanted and expected to grow. I wanted to reach more readers. I wanted to sell more books. Writing is more than a hobby for me, it's a job. I wanted a raise.

I'd never stopped looking toward traditional publishing, and after several years of writing for online publishers, I finally sold to a major print publishing house. The differences were astounding. I got paid an advance instead of being paid only royalties. I got my book into stores that wouldn't carry my other titles, therefore assuring I'd be put in front of audiences I didn't have to search as hard for. I had publisher support for advertising and promotion. I still wrote the books I wanted to write, but I was making more money and reaching far more readers.

My belief, however, that print publishing is more beneficial than online publishing, isn't based purely on money. In fact, the truth is that it's difficult to choose one publishing model over another because both operate so differently. Both have advantages and disadvantages in the way and amounts authors are paid, the input they have into the editorial process and the amount of publisher support provided.

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