I'm surprised by how many people have asked me if 'Mothers, Fathers & Lovers' is coming out as a paperback - from what one reads in the press, you'd think you print-readers had gone out with carrier pigeons, 45" records and men who stand up in a room when a lady walks in - but no - and sadly, there's not much I can do about that.

When my publishers, Hookline Books, published 'Seven Days to Tell You' in 2011, the e-book version seemed like an experimental, supplementary, add on...but three years later, the e-book was outselling the paperback by 500-1. This is why my new book is coming out first as e-book and maybe, if sales do really well, it will be released in the printed form.

And this is the way most publishers have already gone or are going. I haven't even caught up with the change myself - not to touch the results of years of writing or being able to line it up on my shelf, not to be able to send the book to those who've been so kind to help me on the way...nothing to sign! Pressing a button...that wasn't the dream.

As a reader, I welcome the break from the 15th century ways of communicating - I converted to e-books a long time ago and every time I pack for a holiday I'm grateful for it - but as a writer - I'm grieving too.

Mothers, Fathers & Lovers

Seven Days to Tell You

Ruby Soames