I swore 2008 would be different. (A note from Debra Hyde.)

I made that pledged after the Orion Publishing Group canceled the Neon erotic imprint line and returned the book rights to me. During the two years they sat on my novel, I saw a lot of my short fiction into print -- pleasant successes, each and every one of them -- but I also witnessed repeated rejections from agents and publishers for my longer writing. Over time, I realized that much of my writing simply didn’t meet the immediately needs of most print publishers. My work didn’t fit into their templates.

But an outlet did exist for my work: the ebook world. There, I discovered a ready avenue for my work. And in a quarter of the time my novel sat in England, it came to life as an ebook. It’s called Inequities and it’s about a widow reclaiming her erotic life as a dominant women.

Why ebooks, though? Let’s just say I reached a personal tipping point.

Shortly after I signed for the return of my book rights from Orion, the Sony Reader made a surprise appearance at my local CompUSA. Three weeks later, a new and improved model appeared at my local Borders. Ten days later, the Amazon Kindle was announced and released. The readers were what I had always wanted in a dedicated unit, and I felt the market was now, more than ever, poised to leapfrog forward.

At the same time, I discovered that the ebook world had a far broader definition of erotic romance than I realized. While I had always viewed Inequities as an erotic novel, it also qualified as a romance. In fact, all of my unpublished novels did by the mere virtue of a positive, satisfying ending. Erotic romance did not have to hinge on alpha males, uncertain female protagonists, or what always struck me as a passive-aggressive tug-o-war between the sexes. Erotic romance did not require a happily-ever-ending. Or, for that matter, a once-upon-a-time. It could be edgy, unusual, and in any genre I wanted.

The tipping point had, I guess, also led me to a fork in the road. I could continue to struggle to secure an agent and publisher in the print world or I could take a new path and adventure forward.

With Inequities’ release, you can see which decision I made.

I hope you’ll visit me at Weaving Erotic Wonders, my new author site, at Thin Air Codex, my ebook blog, and at my tried-and-true blog, Pursed Lips. Let’s see where the adventures takes me.