Flathead authors Kathy Dunnehoff and Deborah Epperson had few expectations when they placed their books for sale on Amazon’s Kindle bookstore. Both had their hearts broken before when literary agents accepted their books but never secured publishing contracts.

But these days, both Dunnehoff and Epperson can’t stop smiling as their novels jump up the e-book charts and they finally see their years of effort starting to pay off.

On a recent Monday, Epperson’s dark comedy novel “Breaking Twig”  was advertised on Amazon Kindle’s bookstore in the top 5 for “Dark Humor,” top 25 for “Southern Fiction,” top 30 for “Women’s Fiction,” top 75 for “Women’s Fiction Bestseller,” top 100 for “Historical Fiction,” and top 100 for “Contemporary Women.”

Dunnehoff’s first e-book, “The Do-Over,” was promoted as the e-book No. 2 Kindle bestseller for “Romantic Comedy” and top 100 for “Romance Contemporary.” Just released at Christmas, her second book, “Plan On It,”  made the top 5 for “Modern Romance,” top 20 “Funny Romance,” top 30 “Award Winning,” and top 50 in “Contemporary Women.”

For the uninitiated, e-books refer to electronically formatted, paperless books that people buy on websites such as Amazon and download to a variety of reading devices such as Amazon’s Kindle or the Nook from Barnes & Noble.

Dunnehoff laughs as she recalled swearing in an interview three years ago that she would never self-publish. She couldn’t imagine paying thousands of dollars to publish a physical book and drive around selling them herself.

“Because they don’t really cost anything, this is the kind of gamble that an independent author can take,” she said. “I can’t compete with physical books but I can with e-books. I haven’t left the valley and I now have books going all over the place.”

Epperson feels almost giddy with her e-book breakthrough. She can’t tear herself away from the computer as her sales tick up and up.

“I have to get some other stuff done. The dogs are complaining because I haven’t gotten up to feed them,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just so amazing after having it [her book] sit there so long. Just to finally get it in people’s hands.”

Both members of Authors of the Flathead, Dunnehoff and Epperson are part of a wave of other local writers self-publishing a variety of genres of e-books. The group’s mentor, Dennis Foley, author of e-book “A Requiem for Crows,” was the first to publish electronically.

Among the local authors offering e-books are Dr. Betty Kuffel, Nancy Moser, Ellen Traylor, L.D. Robin, Bob Brown, Bob Faulkner, Carol Buchanan, George Stringfellow, Judy Guralchuk, Leslie Budewitz, P.D. Moore, Angela Townsend, Dixon Rice and Frank Owen du Bois.

Both Dunnehoff and Epperson credit their e-book debut and success to Internet marketing and e-book guru Roxanne McHenry of BumbleB Media Inc. A resident of Kalispell, McHenry has a decade of Internet marketing undergirding her relatively new work with e-book authors.

She first became an expert on website optimization, the skill of making a website pop up first when people type a query into a search engine.

“I actually started because I was interested in writing a nonfiction book related to my work,” she said.

McHenry recalled going online in about May of 2010 and reading Joe Konrath’s site called “Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.” She read his blog about how well he was doing publishing on Amazon.

The more she investigated e-books, the more excited she became.

“I could see there was a possibility of just publishing direct without having any middle man, without spending three to five thousand dollars and having a thousand books stacked in the garage,” McHenry said.

With a friend also experienced working online, she started a website called unrulyGuides.com focusing on e-publishing, Kindles, and e-readers with tips for authors on how to get started. A year and a half later, she has now worked with about 10 authors to format their text documents and cover art to upload to publisher sites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

According to McHenry, her background working on the Internet gave her a bird’s eye view of the growth of e-books.

“I could see that e-publishing was really going to take off,” she said. “Even in 2010, the numbers were staggering.”

She first worked with Dunnehoff, then Epperson and other writers after a presentation at Authors of the Flathead. As a pioneer working in e-publishing , McHenry said she constantly adapts to format changes and develops new marketing techniques to give authors better position and visibility on sites like Amazon.

“It’s all very new and exciting,” she said.

Although e-books have made big inroads, McHenry doesn’t see e-books replacing physical books. She said some books, like craft books, fit best as physical books and some people will prefer reading a physical book because of some navigating drawbacks of e-books.

A big plus in e-publishing for writers is the percentage they receive for their books. At Amazon, they receive between 35 and 70 percent of the sales price compared to less than 10 percent through traditional publishing.

Writers also leave rejection letters behind with e-publishing.

Anyone can open a publishing account and either format their book themselves or pay an expert like McHenry to format and upload their book for sale to Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another e-book website.

McHenry admits that without scrutiny some books may be terrible just like some YouTube videos. But also like YouTube, e-books expand the information universe with all sorts of specialized subjects.

She used the example of YouTube videos showing how to make a veggie burger from tofu and spinach.

“It’s the same with e-books. If you have a great book and you have something to say, you will have an audience,” she said. “They will find you. I think that’s what’s great about this whole thing.”

People interested in contacting McHenry may do so at rox@roxanne.com.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.