I have had ten books published, nine of them with traditional publishers, so, you see, I'm not an untested newbie or (I hope) an untalented hack. I am, what in the parlance of this Brave New World of 21st-century book publication, is known as an established author. Two of my books are scholarly, published by Indiana University Press and Rutgers University Press. The other seven are mystery novels, four of them published by Doubleday and three by Poisoned Pen Press. These are my credentials. I could tell you about the reviews and the awards--yada, yada, yada--but that gets boring.

So, when having changed genres and presented agents with, not a mystery, but a historical novel, The Kashmiri Shawl, I didn't know what to expect--but what I got was nothing like I could even have imagined: consistent praise, on the one hand, and universal rejection, on the other. The Market, it seems, was not interested in historicals set in 19th-century New York City--not unless, as one agent said to me in person (with a straight face), "they're about serial killers." She continued, "Now, if you want to rewrite this manuscript and set it in London during the Regency period, I'll take another look."

"No, thanks," I said. "No serial killers and no decadent dukes." So what was I left with? Anna Wheeler, a runaway missionary wife who flees her abusive husband by train in 1857 India, only to steam into the midst of the brutal Indian (Sepoy)Rebellion. Or, as my amazon promo says: An epic journey from the sultry climes of nineteenth-century India to the cosmopolitan chaos of New York City on the eve of Civil War--and then, inevitably, back again to India in quest of a kidnapped daughter and a lost, forbidden love. Yes, there is violence involved, but no serial killers. There's an Anglo-Indian tea-planter, but nary an English Duke.

It seemed I had written an unpublishable novel.

But if there's anything I learned during my two and a half decades in the academic world, it was to trust my own instincts--even if--especially if--the powers-that-be are in established opposition.

I knew I had written an original book with a fresh, untold story--a story, perhaps, about what would have happened if someone like--a little bit like--say, Jane Eyre, had made the mistake Jane almost made and married someone a little bit like the pious St.John Rivers and gone to India with him? Jane Eyre, if you remember, says she knows that if she goes to India, she'll die there. Anna Wheeler is stronger than that (as Jane, herself, probably would have been!), and her story begins with marrying the missionary; it doesn't end there. What if? What if? The options fascinated me. So I wrote the story.

And, it was, it seems, unpublishable.

So, Reader, I published it myself. It was the only option I had. And working with CreateSpace (yes, a subsidiary of the evil amazon: see below) allowed me to do it. It liberated me as a writer. It liberated my novel.

To make sense of my situation, I looked back to scholarly studies--the work that's been done in History of the Book in America. I seem to recall that historically whatever establishment--be it the Church or be it the Government or be it Mammon--has had control of the "means of the reproduction of texts" has always resisted change. In the 1670s the Governor of Virginia wrote: "I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing ; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy ... and printing has divulged them ..." In other words, once you let the rabble get their hands on the means of distributing ideas and information (and stories), all hell will break loose. More recently megabestseller James Patterson, (James Patterson!!!) fretted publically about a brand new upstart's role in book publishing as leading toward a "national tragedy." He fears that amazon's venture into digital publishing (and actual paper-book publishing)is going to cause "the quality of America literature ... to suffer."

My experience counters Patterson's fears: it feels to me as if a window has been thrown open and fresh air has entered the publishing scene. Oh, sure: there'll be a lot of garbage published(as if there isn't already!), but the control of the American publishing establishment (mostly owned now by multinational conglomerates)has been challenged and the book world is getting a much-needed shake-up. Again.