Looks like the Kindle Elves were hard at work last night, because I woke up to a nice surprise this morning: my e-book debut His Forbidden Touch is now live on Amazon. I have officially joined the digital revolution. Today is 11-11-11, which I’m choosing to interpret as a sign of good luck, rather than an omen of the end of the world as we know it.

I actually uploaded the book to Amazon and B&N on Tuesday, so the official pub date is 11-8-11. It went live on B&N within 24 hours, but there was a three-day delay at Amazon. Seems they’re being extra-careful about copyright these days: they requested documentation that I own the rights to the book before they would proceed. I was not only happy to comply, I commend them on their caution. We authors take copyright seriously, and I’m glad they do, too.

I’m already enjoying one of the happy differences between being an indie author and being a trad-pubbed author: real-time access to my sales numbers.

When it comes to sales figures, New York publishers treat their authors like mushrooms: keep ’em in the dark and feed ’em a lot of…organic fertilizer. In my trad-pub days, getting sales figures required repeated demands by my agent and months of patience. Even when we did pry loose a number or two from my publisher’s cold, hard grasp, we had no way to verify the accuracy of their figures.

But now I’m an indie. And we indies have live, 24/7 access to our sales figures. No agent required, no months of waiting — and no more manure. One click, and I’ve got my exact sales numbers. I’m already addicted to hovering over that Month-to-Date Unit Sales page and hitting “reload.” I’m hoping the novelty will wear off. Maybe in a week or so. I’ve got books to write.

Meanwhile, I want to share every nitty-gritty twist and turn on this indie road — and that includes hard numbers. So here’s where I’m at on Day One of this new adventure:

Number of titles on sale: 1 book priced @ $3.99
B&N sales: 3
Amazon sales: 3
Total royalties earned so far: $16.15
Twitter followers: 174
Facebook page “likes”: 44
Newsletter subscribers: 10

Hmm, this is hardly what anyone would call a splashy debut. But this isn’t the trad-pub world where an author has to go big or go home. E-books are all about the slow build, the “long tail” of sales over the long haul. Right now, I’m just happy to be back in the game. It’s a genuinely joyous feeling to have my work available for readers again, after years of gathering dust on the bottom shelves of used bookstores. I just have to find ways to help readers find me, one book at a time.

Which reminds me, I need to get back to work on my next book. Right after I go hit “reload” on that Unit Sales page one more time.

I just got the final drafts of my first three covers from the amazing Kim Killion of Hot DAMN! Designs. I’m madly in love with these and excited to hear what everyone thinks.

This is one of those nerve-wracking indie author moments: I have no editor, agent, or sales department to offer input, so it’s all up to me. Which is incredibly cool. And incredibly scary.

I had originally planned to upload all three books this month, but I’m behind schedule because I’m revising FALCON ON THE WIND from start to finish. (The hero, Connor, doesn’t wanna be revised and is giving me all kinds of headaches.) Watch for these in July, just in time to heat up your mid-summer reading!

I know, I know, I’m behind on blogging. Things may be quiet around here, but trust me, there’s a flurry of activity going on behind the scenes.

I’m in the middle of a massive revision of FALCON ON THE WIND, my first published novel. I just did a light edit on HIS FORBIDDEN TOUCH, and FOREVER HIS will be up next. My formatter is scanning and proofing like crazy. I have a top artist working on a trio of gorgeous covers. And my new website designer is creating an all-new shellythacker.com that I think readers are going to love. So “Team Shelly” is crazy-busy right now.

But in the middle of all this madness, I got some amazing news today that I just had to share right away.

That WAHOOOOOO you heard this afternoon? It came from the direction of Minneapolis. When I went to the mailbox to get my People magazine, there was a skinny little envelope from Random House on top.

As I mentioned in my last post, I already own the rights to all seven of my Avon books. When I decided to launch this new indie adventure, I sent a letter to Random House to try and reclaim my two Dell books. To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes. My Dell books were lead titles, and fellow authors warned me that Random House is taking a tough stance on this issue. Writer Beware just reported that Random is in a bare-knuckled brawl with agents over backlist rights. Plus, they’re planning to launch RomanceAtRandom this summer to promote their romance novels directly to consumers.

All in all, I thought Random House would put up more of a fight than Avon did. Still, it was worth a shot, so I mailed my letter April 7. I figured it would take months to get a reply, if they bothered to reply at all.

But I’m holding in my hands right now a letter from an Executive VP at Random House, who has signed over all rights to my two Dell books. No fuss, no fighting, just a simple little one-paragraph letter saying the rights “are hereby reverted to you.”

I got tears in my eyes when I read those words. TIMELESS and INTO THE SUNSET are all mine. They’re two of my personal favorites, and it would have killed me to lose them.

But this letter makes it official: I now own 100% of my backlist. Every published novel I ever wrote belongs entirely to me. This is rather rare among traditionally published authors, so I’m astonished and overjoyed by my good fortune.

I’m free. Completely free. This will most likely be the last letter I ever receive from a New York publisher — because I’m done with New York. I no longer care what New York wants, what New York thinks, or what New York does. The traditional New York publishing industry broke my heart, kicked me in the teeth, and left me in a ditch.

If any man ever treated me that way, I’d get a restraining order.

But for years, I kept signing contracts and accepting this treatment as “normal.” Because there was no alternative.

Now there’s an alternative. Maybe going indie isn’t for everyone, but it fits me like a custom-knit sweater. Zero deadlines plus total creative control is an intoxicating combination. At this point, I have no idea if I’ll make one dime from this new career. I haven’t even uploaded my first backlist books yet.

All I know right now is that I wake up happy, every single day. I’m eager to get to the keyboard. I’m ready to tackle whatever challenges come my way. Writing hasn’t made me feel this good in years.

I’m not sure why Random House let me go so easily. My guess is that I’m a has-been with a capital “H” in their eyes. They probably thought, “Meh, she’s been out of print for years. Let her have her books back. She’ll never amount to anything.”

I hope to prove them wrong about that.

I certainly wouldn’t be the first.