#DFRAT Guest Author (+ a Giveaway): HelenKay Dimon

Please join us in welcoming Helenkay Dimon to Book Binge. She’s one of our favorite Southern California based authors and is one of the nicest (and funniest) people you’ll ever meet.

She’s here today to discuss her experiences in publishing digitally so let’s let her take over from here.

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I came to digital publishing a little late, which is a bit of a reoccurring theme in my writing life. I didn’t discover the romance genre until I was 30 and didn’t even think about trying to write a book until a year or so after that. By the time I stumbled across ebooks, I’d been writing and releasing single title romance and romantic suspense in print with Kensington for years and had just inked a deal with Harlequin to write for Intrigue. Since starting down the digital road, I’ve written a short for Samhain, am in the middle of writing a novella series for Carina and have two related shorts I self-published digitally, the second of which, Down To Business, comes out this month.

The reason I tried writing for digital-first publishers and trying a series of erotic romance shorts on my own can be summed up on one word: nosiness. At the time I started there was all this conflicting information about ebooks – they sold well, they didn’t sell well, they had superior editing, they lacked quality. The arguments went round and round, my favorite one being: ebooks aren’t real books, which is ridiculous. The misinformation and guessing and all of the my-friend-told-me stuff got a bit confusing. I decided rather than depending on all this second-hand information I’d try it myself and see. The experience turned out to be really positive.

I loved the short story I wrote for Samhain, A Proper Seduction. It was this erotic romance I always wanted to write but couldn’t figure out how to fit into a NY publishing program. I quickly realized digital publishing, either through a publisher or on my own (with the help of an editor), was a great way to write the other stories I loved – my favorite being the not-quite-politically-correct office sexy time romps with the boss types – in whatever length I thought worked for the story. Then an editor I always wanted to work with, Angela James, emailed and asked if I’d be interested in writing for Carina Press. With her I’ve been able to write this contemporary series, novella length, that I truly love.

So, for me, digital publishing started out with me wanting to know more and finding that the opportunities are endless. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get stories out there in different ways. The next one up is Down To Business, a follow-up to my self-published digital short, Risque Business. It’s about a wealthy businessman who breaks up his work day with trips to the coffee cart in the lobby of his office building. Then he meets the woman from the office across the glassed-in atrium from his, the same woman he watches when he should be focusing on work, and coffee is no longer his favorite afternoon relaxation tool.

Thanks so much to Helenkay for stopping by and participating in our Digital First Read-a-Thon. It’s really interesting to see why each author decides to go the e-publishing route from time to time and I can tell you that I’m mighty interested in reading these erotic shorts by Helenkay. Especially Down to Business.

GIVEAWAY ALERT: Because Helenkay Dimon is amazing, she’s offering up a couple copies of her digital short, Risque Business up to a lucky commenter of this post. All you have to do is leave a comment letting us know which book you’re looking forward to reading by Helenkay Dimon and why and your name will be entered into the drawing.

Happy reading and good luck!

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