In the mid nineties, Vantage Press published my novel called Kamila. It takes place during the Algerian war for independence from France. Against this backdrop, a young Algerian woman is torn between the love of a Frenchman and the attentions of a fiery Algerian nationalist. For those who aren’t aware, Vantage is a subsidy publisher, which means the author pays up front for the editorial and printing costs. This is probably one of the most financially ruinous ways to become a published author. What you get is a bunch of your own books delivered to you with little or no marketing and/or distribution assistance from the publisher.
The novel is now out of print, with the rights having reverted to me. By an ironic twist of technology, author’s out-of-print books can now be reissued via Kindle and other e-readers like iPad, Nook, etc. All it takes is a scanned and formatted electronic version which can be uploaded to the e-reader site. Kamila can be found at Amazon’s Digital Text Platform at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049U4AIU
Obviously from the description, it’s a different kind of book from the mystery genre to which Darko’s stories belong: love, sex and war, some suspense, and some similarities to the film Battle of Algiers. The writing is a little green, as to be expected. One can’t start at the top, and the learning never stops.