My first book, Mountain Angel, came out almost five and a half years ago. It's had somewhere around three-quarters of a million downloads in that time, and has hit #1 (overall) in free books on Amazon more than once. I can say I made two-thirds of my annual teaching salary in one month, and I've been supporting my family with my writing for over three years now. The point of all this isn't to brag. The point is to show that I've been around long enough to see trends in this business.

I've also...