It was late 2014 and I had been writing fiction novels for four-and-a-half years. With my nine-volume hardcover Steam railway series behind me, I believed I had "retired" from that field. Writing, publishing, producing and distributing hardcover books for a small (but loyal) audience is incredibly stressful. To wrap things up, I decided to gradually offer my published titles as ebooks.

My first choice for an ebook was To Stratford Under Steam. It had been out of print for almost six years. I set about preparing the volume for electronic release. But my readers were lukewarm about the idea of an ebook. What to do?

Well, I would first create a very short book, a minibook, and publish it in electronic form. That would give me a smaller project on which to start. And I would not sell the book to my readers; I would give it away. That would give them a free sample of an ebook to see if they liked it or not.

The natural choice for such a sample ebook turned out to be Steam at Washago. It was my favourite real-life railway location at the time (as described in background posts/videos for other titles). I had adequate material and historical data. So, I created Steam at Washago as an ebook and released it, free of charge, in December 2014.

Overall, my existing readers loved Steam at Washago. But, almost speaking in one voice, they said: I don't want an ebook. Print this book and I will buy a copy from you.

That led to my 'Never Say Never Again' return to railway book publishing. One year later, in December 2015, I printed and released Steam at Washago. I was delighted to reconnect with my friends at Ampersand Printing, who thought they had seen the last of me in April 2010!

In future posts/videos, we'll pick up my "second career" in railway book writing and publishing after Steam at Washago. And you likely already have this ebook, if not the print version, in your possession. You've probably already seen the series of three videos on production of this title. But here's one more video for you, as an overview of Steam at Washago:

Introducing Steam at Washago

Our video trailer (above) offers a teaser on the scope of Steam at Washago.

Now, as a thank-you for having read this post, I offer you a chance to purchase Steam at Washago at the original all-inclusive pre-publication price of $19.95 CAD to Canada or $19.95 USD to the United States or overseas (a savings of at least 20% in each case). Click here to request that I send you a custom PayPal invoice at the special price. Alternatively, Canadian readers may remit funds by e-transfer to ian@ianwilsonauthor.com for the special price.

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