I decided to go with e-publishing (my first sale was “Love and Brimstone” to Amira Press) after I realized that it was silly to sit on viable manuscripts and wait years to possibly see them published, when I could market them now and make money on them. Would I love to be “traditionally” published? Sure. But many of my books are now in print (POD) and do pretty well on Amazon.com, so I’m not complaining there. And actually, I make more money percentage-wise on e-books than on paperbacks. And yes, piracy is an issue and it’s gotten worse lately, but I’m still fortunate enough I’m able to make a living doing this. There are enough honest people in the world paying for my books and not pirating them that my publishers still want to publish me. *LOL* I do know some writers who have gotten so discouraged by pirates that they’ve decided to stop writing, which is really, really sad. The pirates don’t care about the books they steal or the authors they steal from, just that they’re stealing. Ugh.

But my point is (to drag myself back on topic) is at this point in my life, why would I pay an agent to do what I’m doing for myself? I know several writers making good livings publishing with independent houses. So for now, it’s working, and I don’t want to mess with a profitable process. LOL

Sometimes, the best promotion is just to be visible, by participating on email lists, keeping an active blog, up-to-date website, and social networking like Facebook and Twitter. I tend to cycle, I try to update my blog at least once a week, and I do spits and spurts at MySpace when I think about it. Offering free reads and excerpts on my site also helps bring readers in.