A little more than a year ago, I spent a couple of weeks going crazy as I taught myself how to format one of my out of print books, Secret Lives, for the Kindle. I thought I was not only losing my mind, but wasting my time as well. I had no idea how wrong I was! I never could have guessed that those baby steps I–and a handful of other authors–were taking into self pubbing our older books would turn into one of the most rewarding and satisfying experiences of our writing lives.

That handful of writers grew at a rapid pace. We shared what we were learning, branching out from formatting for Kindle to formatting for every other e-reader on the market. We learned how to create intriguing covers and experimented with pricing our books. (We also learned who to hire to do these tasks when we found ourselves in over our heads).  As we began listing our books for sale, we were stunned–in a good way–by the demand. I know that when I truly love an author, I want to find everything that author has written and it seems many readers are the same way. We were also surprised that the age of a book didn’t seem to matter to most readers. So the character has no cell phone and drives a car model that hasn’t been around for a decade? Loyal readers didn’t seem to care. They were hungry and we were determined to find new ways to satisfy that hunger.

As our numbers and enthusiasm grew, two of the authors,  Doranna Durgin and Pat Ryan, branched off to create a website where we could have all our work in one place, along with information about ourselves, our reborn books, and  easy “buy” links for (nearly) every e-reading format. The work these founders put into the site was substantial, but now it’s ready for prime time. While all of our books can also be purchased in the Kindle store and other e-reader venues, it’s fun for us to have them all here in one spot.

Maybe you’ve recently discovered an author you love, but his or her early works are out of print and impossible to find. Or maybe you remember a book you’ve been longing to reread. Or possibly, you’d like to discover new authors and are willing to give one of their books a try for a very reasonable price. You can be sure that the books you’ll find at BacklisteBooks were professionally edited and published by major print publishers. Many were award winners and best sellers. (Occasionally, one of the authors will add new work to his or her catalogue, but that will be clearly stated.) If you have an e-reader, I hope you’ll come visit us. It’s so much fun to know that my older books are back in the hands of my readers!