Happy mid-week check in! I just paid all my bills and transferred some to the savings account. That alone is cause for celebration around here.

Don’t forget to check out Thriller Thursday tomorrow. I’m interviewing New York Times Best Selling Author Allison Brennan. She talks about her writing process as well as the changes in the publishing industry, and I’m really excited to share the interview with you.

This week has been productive in a different way for me. Ever since my good friend Donna Galanti (who’s enjoying vacation at Disney right now!) signed with Echelon, I’ve been doing a lot of research on digital publishing and smaller presses. At this point, I’m not ready for self-publishing, but there is A LOT of appeal to publish with one of the e-publishers like Echelon, Carina, or Wild Rose. The royalties are much higher, they’re author friendly, provide cover art and editing, as well as marketing help. No, you don’t get as high of a royalty as you do on Amazon, but when you consider these publishers ebooks sell for a few dollars more and they’re providing services a self-publisher has to look to out of pocket, it evens out at the least. In case you missed it, James Scott Bell spoke about the digital publishing trend here and basically reaffirmed my thinking.

You still have to query, your book still has to be great, and that appeals to me as well. I want the feedback and the chance at getting my work edited. Of course, I want the affirmation, just as we all do.

I’m not saying agents are going the way of the dinosaur. I don’t think that’s the case with the good agents. They’ll evolve, and I’m certainly still going to query them. I want the experience and hopefully the feedback. But after speaking with Donna, my critique partner and good friend Catie Rhodes, and TJ Proofs, a great lady with industry knowledge and an eye for proofing, I’m going to be focusing on the e-publishers. To make that decision is monumental for me.

So I’ve spent the last few days researching, creating my spreadsheet of publishers and agents I want to query, and fine tuning the novel. Not a lot of writing done, but important tasks.

I’m heading out of town this afternoon to visit family in Indianapolis, so the rest of the week will be a bit of a wash. That’s all right, though. Family comes first.

What about you? How’s your week been? What are your thoughts on e-publishers verses agents/Big Six?