The Tales of Einarinn comprises five novels: The Thief’s Gamble, The Swordsman’s Oath, The Gambler’s Fortune, The Warrior’s Bond and The Assassin’s Edge. They were originally published by Orbit in the UK and Eos (a division of HarperCollins) in the USA. They have been translated into many languages including Russian, German, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian and Czech.

In a series of posts on her blog, McKenna has talked about the challenges facing an author wishing to make her backlist available as ebooks. This includes converting a paper book to digital format, ensuring that she does indeed own the ebook rights when there is no mention of them in the original publishing contract, and considering issues such as whether to impose Digital Rights Management (DRM).

McKenna noted: “Seeing online dissatisfaction with some of the early ebook backlists rushed out by publishers who didn’t pay sufficient attention to such detail makes it very clear that readers expect – and make no mistake, they deserve – the same quality of text in an ebook as they would get in a paper edition.”

The ebook editions will be prepared by Antimatter ePress and Wizard’s Tower, bringing with them the same attention detail that has already been applied to McKenna’s short fiction works: A Few Further Tales of Einarinn and Turns and Chances. The books will have the same high-quality covers by Geoff Taylor that graced the original UK editions.

Securing worldwide English language rights to the ebook editions involves complex legal issues which McKenna has explained in her blog posts. Wizard’s Tower and Ms McKenna thank Orbit UK and HarperCollins USA for their cooperation in these matters.

For Wizard’s Tower Cheryl Morgan said, “Our objective is to help authors with backlists put out a quality product by taking care of the technical and business issues, leaving them free to concentrate on what they do best: writing new books.”

For Antimatter ePress Elizabeth Campbell added: “Preparing a scanned copy for e-publication is a labour-intensive process. This couldn’t happen without invaluable assistance from two proofreaders who have donated their time to make McKenna’s  ebooks the best that they can be. It is an honour and our delight to be able to do this for her, bringing to a new electronic-based audience some of our very most favourite books.

The Tales of Einarinn will be available through the Wizard’s Tower bookstore, on the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and through other online venues.