56
Arts
July 6 – July 19, 2013
www.SanTanSun.com
Local ‘young adult’ author dives into e-books BY ANA ANGUIANO
THE ‘WRITE’ STUFF: Gilbert’s Sharon Baum has created and published two young adult novel series that tackle adolescence in sci-fi and paranormal worlds. Submitted photo
Taking her young adult novels into her own hands, a Gilbert author has made a place for herself in the competitive online market of self-published books. Sharon Baum, or S L Baum as her penname reads, loved paranormal books as a child. A fan of Anne Rice and “Star Trek,” she now has two book series of her own. A math teacher with a passion for English, Baum began writing several years ago but her life as a teacher, mother and wife took over and she left her book behind. Once her youngest son entered kindergarten she wrote her first novel, “A Chance for Charity,” in four months. Baum didn’t want to send it to agents or try to appease publishers, so the novel sat in her laptop for a year. When her husband, David, brought home a Kindle she discovered Amazon’s Independent Publishing feature, which allowed her to self-publish. “I found it to be a very self-empowering experience because you were in control of your destiny at that point,” Baum says. “If it was bad, it was your own fault you didn’t get it edited. If the cover was bad, again it was your own fault you didn’t find a good cover creator.” There was a definite learning curve but Baum found other authors and readers on Kindle who were more than willing to give advice and help her edit. Her first book is actually on its third cover due to these revisions but it is also her most popular
novel. Baum’s first book series, “The Immortal Ones,” follows a 17-year-old girl named Charity who is more than mere mortal so her life is constantly in danger. The fourth book in the series, “The Eve of Destruction,” is set to be released this summer. Her new book series, “Lush,” is set in a dystopian society where the government raises children from the ages of 5 to 18. The protagonist is another strong female character named Bluebell. The first novel was released in April; the next book in the series, “Hush,” is expected to launch this October. It might seem odd to release three books in a year but Baum is constantly trying to challenge herself and speed up her writing process. She says some selfpublished authors publish a book every other month to satisfy their impatient readers. “I think now that there are e-readers customers are starting to want their books faster than what they used to. The demand is for writers to come out with more than one book a year, which is very challenging, especially being a mother of three,” she says. Baum is a part of a new market aimed at voracious readers with electronic devices rather than paperback novels in their hands. She is part of a movement online but says she just writes what she would have liked to read when she was younger.
FORTHCOMING NOVEL: The fourth book in the series, “The Eve of Destruction,” is set to be released this summer. Submitted photo
“It’s an escape into another world,” she says. Ana Anguiano is a staff writer who lives in the East Valley. She can be reached at news@santansun.com.