Hudson romance writer gets mention in Time magazine

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HUDSON, Wis. -- For a budding novelist, Beth James of Hudson has already gotten some big-time publicity.

The Dec. 10 issue of Time magazine contained a story on electronic book self-publishing in which James was quoted.

A few years ago, self-published authors were given a bad rap, but that is no longer true, James said in the story by Andrew Rice.

The article appeared under the headline “The 99 cent best seller.”

James is preparing to have her first romance novel, “Gitana - Life Plan,” published on e-readers like Kindle and Nook.

She was at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago last April when a sales representative for Smashwords, an e-book publisher, asked if she was willing to be interviewed by a journalist writing a story on electronic publishing.

The interview was done in the spring but it was not until the first day of December that Rice emailed James to say that his story would run in the Dec. 10 edition of Time, and that she would be quoted.

“I have to admit, it was quite a thrill to see my name in Time,” James said.

A business analyst for the state of Minnesota by occupation, James has been writing as a hobby for a long time.

“I have been wanting to be an author for many, many, many years, but I let life get in the way,” she said.

Now that her two children and a stepdaughter are grown, she has more time to devote to her dream.

She has completed the novel, except for some polishing, and is in the process of getting it published electronically. She hopes to have it available for Kindle, Nook and other e-readers by spring.

“I am doing this all on my own. I’m not going through an agent or a publisher. I am the publisher,” James said.

She is one of many new authors going that direction, which is the subject of Rice’s article in Time.

It is extremely difficult to get a book printed by a major publisher nowadays, James said.

“They have to be very picky. They want the best sellers,” she said. “But there are some really good, fun stories out there that are written, but never read. That’s why I decided not to go that route.”

James is hopeful of finding an audience for her book through e-publishing.

“My editor loved it. She said I had very strong characters, a good storyline, (and that) it was very enjoyable to read,” James said. “So now that the writing part is done, I have the learning curve of getting it on e-book… then I can start marketing it.”

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