Stories and Secrets with MJ Rose
MJ Rose: internationally best-selling author of nine novels, most recently, The Reincarnationist.
Founding member and board member of ITW.
Founder of the world's first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com.
Co-Author with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book, the writer's marketing bible.
Teacher of the famed Buzz Your Book class...
The list goes on. MJ's resume is as amazing as she is, and the ITW Debut Writers were thrilled beyond measure when MJ agreed to field our marketing questions recently. (Hint: if you qualify and haven't joined the Debut Author group, this is what you're missing!)
Founding member and board member of ITW.
Founder of the world's first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com.
Co-Author with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book, the writer's marketing bible.
Teacher of the famed Buzz Your Book class...
The list goes on. MJ's resume is as amazing as she is, and the ITW Debut Writers were thrilled beyond measure when MJ agreed to field our marketing questions recently. (Hint: if you qualify and haven't joined the Debut Author group, this is what you're missing!)
We were also treated to a little background about MJ's own debut history.
MJ's first career was in advertising. In fact, one of her commercials is housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A graduate of Syracuse University, she attended art school where her training was in painting and print-making, something she thinks most of her readers will find very surprising.
Perhaps more surprising is the fact that MJ's writing career began in 1998 as a self-published venture. Her first book, Lip Service, had been turned down by traditional publishers because of its unusual mix of genres. Based on her own advertising knowledge, MJ didn't think the publishers were right and despite her agent's advice (she still has the same agent today) went online to test her theory. She offered the novel as an
electronic download on her website and began to market it on the Internet.
The result? Lip Service soon became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club. It was also the first e-book to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
The funniest thing that happened on the road to publication? "That it worked," MJ says.
Unfortunately, the day that MJ actually received "The Call" is a reminder how tenuous and fragile our lives can be.
"I was in a hospital room with a loved one who was in very, very serious condition. The "Call" was totally irrelevant at that point. And that's what I remember thinking. All this waiting - all this wanting - and now it doesn't even matter."
Much time has passed since that moment, and MJ has received numerous accolades for both her fiction and non-fiction work. She now helps other writers find their audiences through AuthorBuzz and her books and classes.
For MJ, challenge represents opportunity. If she had to do it over again, she'd only change one thing: "I'd keep my first name and not use initials."
MJ's first career was in advertising. In fact, one of her commercials is housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A graduate of Syracuse University, she attended art school where her training was in painting and print-making, something she thinks most of her readers will find very surprising.
Perhaps more surprising is the fact that MJ's writing career began in 1998 as a self-published venture. Her first book, Lip Service, had been turned down by traditional publishers because of its unusual mix of genres. Based on her own advertising knowledge, MJ didn't think the publishers were right and despite her agent's advice (she still has the same agent today) went online to test her theory. She offered the novel as an
electronic download on her website and began to market it on the Internet.
The result? Lip Service soon became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club. It was also the first e-book to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
The funniest thing that happened on the road to publication? "That it worked," MJ says.
Unfortunately, the day that MJ actually received "The Call" is a reminder how tenuous and fragile our lives can be.
"I was in a hospital room with a loved one who was in very, very serious condition. The "Call" was totally irrelevant at that point. And that's what I remember thinking. All this waiting - all this wanting - and now it doesn't even matter."
Much time has passed since that moment, and MJ has received numerous accolades for both her fiction and non-fiction work. She now helps other writers find their audiences through AuthorBuzz and her books and classes.
For MJ, challenge represents opportunity. If she had to do it over again, she'd only change one thing: "I'd keep my first name and not use initials."
