Local author to publish e-book

Forget paper. Local author Pinkie Paranya's latest book is getting printed on electrons.

Paranya's "Tasmanian Rainbow" is taking the high-tech route, coming out as an e-book before hitting the shelves in physical, paper form. Like more and more books around the world, "Tasmanian Rainbow" is available for purchase on the Internet, where downloading is only a click and credit card away.

This is Paranya's first book to debut in cyberspace, but she predicts that it certainly won't be the last.

"I don't know about Yuma, but everywhere else people seem to love e-books. Authors at conferences tell me they are making more money with e-books than print versions."

"Tasmanian Rainbow," which the author describes as romantic suspense, came out as an e-book this month and will be printed in February 2009.

Paranya, one of this area's most successful commercial authors, lives in the Winterhaven area. Publishing houses around the country, including such big names as Harlequin and Silhouette, have bought and published eight of Paranya's books.

Her books are available locally on her Web site and at Barnes and Noble.

"Tasmanian Rainbow" tells the story of Flynn, a pretty concert violinist who answers a man's advertisement for a nanny, not knowing that he's also looking for a wife. A online book reviewer, Rebecca Savage, called Paranya's book "one of the most heart-warming, memorable stories I've read in a while ... You'll want to buy up every title under the name Pinkie Paranya and gobble them up the moment you finish 'Tasmanian Rainbow.'"

Paranya has another title out in e-book form, but that book is a virtual reprint of an older title. "Secrets of Sebastian Beaumont" went online last month, which is 10 years after Silhouette published the book.

She revamped much of the book for its Internet debut, Paranya said, freshening up parts, bringing them up to date. The print version with the changes is expected out in October. The original book was Paranya's first, which was published by Harlequin under the name Carrie Peterson and sold around the world in English, Italian and French.

E-books generally sell anywhere from $3 to $10 and often come with special features such as hyperlinks to more information, dictionaries and search functions. E-books can be read on personal computers, printed out as PDF files or downloaded onto often-expensive electronic book readers.

Paranya sang the praises of e-books, saying that they eliminate printing costs, are more affordable for readers and allow authors and publishers to "test the waters" with a book before committing to actual printing.

She recently sold the two before-mentioned books, plus another called "The Saga of Sourdough Red," to the Wild Rose Press in Maine. She said she doesn't know when this latter title will be released. She is currently finishing the last editing of the book.

Paranya's other books include "Raven Woman," "Tiana: Gift of the Moon," "Treasure of the Amazon" and "Herr Schnoodle and McBee." The first two were written as part of her Women of the Northland Series, which Paranya says marks the best sellers of her career.

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Darin Fenger can be reached at
dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.