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But despite her prodigious productivity, you won't find any of Childer's books on the shelves of your local bookstore; in fact, not one of her romance novels has been published in a traditional print format. Instead, she produces, as she rather obliquely puts it, "books in electronic bindings" -- or, as the popular media would call them, e-books: electronic books, books that come in pixel format only. And she's quite happy with that fate.

"I live in a small community, and the access I had to the traditional publishing houses was very limited," Childers explains. "When I was pursuing publication ... I had a vision of them getting my package and looking at the postmark and laughing and saying, 'I didn't know anyone in South Dakota knew how to put crayon to paper.'" Instead, Childers turned to a startup e-publishing company called DiskUs Publishing; for moral support, she began a mailing list called "e-authors," through which than 120 authors, mostly romance writers, chat daily about their electronic careers.

The main topic of conversation these days, though, is not how to write steamy scenes, but how to command respect from the "professional" romance publishing industry. Their prose may be as purple as any supermarket novel, but because they've chosen pixels over paper, writers of e-romances are being left out of the industry's prestige organization, Romance Writers of America (RWA). The traditionalists argue that the e-publishing industry has yet to develop professional practices, and so far doesn't deserve as much respect as the bodice-bursting Harlequins gracing the checkout counter.

This, of course, frustrates the e-authors, who are considering creating their own organization. "I can't emphasize enough that one of the things that authors [of] electronically published books face every day is so many myths and misconceptions and misinformation that is purposely spread and purposely perpetuated, that couldn't be farther from the truth," complains Childers. "We represent change, and change is a scary thing. But we're not out to destroy traditional publishing, and there's no reason that both traditional and e-books can't coexist in the world."

Next page | Romance is gushing from electronic formats