Ask An Author

ASK AN AUTHOR – HAS THE ROMANCE GENRE GROWN?

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller, author of the free book Between Boyfriends

August 19, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - One of my favorite local authors, Jan Moran, is helping me to talk about romance and writing. Jan and I “met” on Goodreads.com when I reached out to her because she had recently moved to San Diego and my Between Boyfriends protagonist is named Jan as well. We've since done two local author events together and I've found her to be as smart about publishing as she is talented at writing. We also happen to each have a book included in the Finding Love in All the Right Places romance bundle, 12 novels for 99 cents.

How do you think the romance genre has grown? Is it overwhelmed, growing, dying, or in need of a face lift? – Annelle Willard, author of Frosted Sweets


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ASK AN AUTHOR - MEASURING SUCCESS AS AN INDIE AUTHOR

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller, author of the free book Between Boyfriends

Romance and women's fiction author Julie Farley has joined us today to help define success as an indie author, talk about her recent move to the West Coast, and discuss some upcoming book bundles just in time for summer.

How should small press/independent authors measure their success when the industry standards are set by huge distributors? - Stephanie Yuhas, author of American Goulash


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ASK AN AUTHOR – 'THE ULTIMATE CHICK-LIT READ' IS FREE AND THE TRUTH ABOUT PERMA-FREE BOOKS

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller, author of the free book Between Boyfriends

At almost every author talk, panel, and book-related event, people ask why authors make their books perma-free, or permanently free. I've heard many authors say they participate in giveaways but would never consider making the actual price of a book $0. It's easy to understand their point of view given the amount of months, if not years, it takes to write a book. Would you work for six months without compensation? Setting aside the reality that unless you have an advance you're effectively doing that every time you write a book, it's still reasonable to do so in hopes of getting paid eventually.


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ASK AN AUTHOR – SHOULD AUTHORS KNOW A NOVEL'S ENDING BEFOREHAND?

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

June 17, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Maryann Jordan, author of 17 published books including Sacrifice Love, Gabe, and Love's Taming, is joining us today to talk about an important aspect of the pre-writing stage in a manuscript's development – namely should you already know the ending before you begin? Maryann Jordan is an Amazon and Barnes & Noble best-selling author. Her novel Emma's Home will be included in the upcoming 12-book bundle Finding Love in All the Right Places. The collection is near and dear to my heart as it also will feature one of my novels, Aching for You.

Should an author have the ending of the novel decided before they begin writing? - Travis Norwood, author of Sugar Scars


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ASK AN AUTHOR – BOOK COVERS AND WRITING PARTNERS

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

Writing duo Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke are dropping by to talk book covers, chick lit and favorite spots in San Diego. Although Steinke currently resides in Chicago both authors are San Diego natives. The writers have been best friends for decades and have some advice for people thinking of writing with someone else. Their published works include The Year We Turned Forty, The Status of All Things, and Your Perfect Life.

They say, "Don't judge a book by its cover" but with today's market, how important are book covers to overall exposure and success, and by extension, does the same theory also apply to e-books as well? - Sahar Abdulaziz, author of Secrets That Find Us


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ASK AN AUTHOR - LOCAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR JENNIFER COBURN TALKS SEQUELS

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

May 5, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Local writer, award-winning journalist and USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Coburn is finally joining me to offer advice to authors and talk about her latest book, We'll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Memoir. I've been trying to get her here for months and have been a fan since reading The Wife of Reilly, though I had no idea at the time that Coburn lived in San Diego – not until we both ended up scheduled at a local author event at the Barnes & Noble in Santee. She was promoting We'll Always Have Paris, her first memoir. Coburn has also authored six novels and contributed to four literary anthologies, not bad for someone who originally thought she couldn't write a novel.

How do you decide whether to write a sequel? - G. Elizabeth Kretchmer, author of Women on the Brink


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ASK AN AUTHOR – HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOUR WIP IS READY

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller



April 23, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Aidan Donnelley Rowley and I tackle works in progress (WIPs) in this week's column, specifically the part of the process when they stop being “in progress” and become completed manuscripts. Rowley is the author of Life After Yes and a Yale University graduate with a law degree from Columbia University. Her latest novel The Ramblers is a “sophisticated tale of entangled urban lives” about three 30-something Manhattanites whose lives are forever altered over the course of Thanksgiving week.  

How does an author know when to stop editing/changing/reading the WIP and send it out into the world? Linda Crawford


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ASK AN AUTHOR – MJ SUMMERS AND WRITING WITH A PEN NAME

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

April 14, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - We're going to talk about pen names and book promotion in today's column. To help me with this is my second favorite MJ, international best-selling author MJ Summers! She is the author of the steamy romance breakout novel, Break in Two, which propelled her career forward all the way to a six-figure book deal. She's since published four novels in the Full Hearts series and the novella Don't Let Go, a prequel to Break in Two. Her fifth Full Hearts novel, The Break-up, is available for pre-order.


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ASK AN AUTHOR – ANDREW CASE TALKS BENEFITS OF SEEKING A PUBLISHER

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

Andrew Case joins us on the Ask An Author column to answers a question from a reader and a few from me while fitting in a nice nod to La Jolla. Case is an award-winning playwright and the author of The Big Fear, currently the #2 best seller in the kindle store on Amazon.com.


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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

ASK AN AUTHOR – VALENTINE'S DAY WITH BEST-SELLING AUTHOR ROBYN CARR

 

by Sárka-Jonae Miller

February 14, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Just in time for Valentine's Day, 10-time #1 New York Times best-selling author Robyn Carr drops by to give writing advice and to talk about her new romance, What We Find, coming in April 2016. During her more than twenty-five-year writing career, the former California resident has authored nearly 50 novels that blend romance and women's fiction. The RITA award winner is also ranked among the top 100 authors on Amazon.


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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

ASK AN AUTHOR: HOW TO MAXIMIZE A BOOKBUB PROMO

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

“I've got a Bookbub promo on Dec 5. I want to maximize this opportunity. Any advice? The promo is 99 cents for High Strung, the first book in my series. My main goal is to build readership for the next book in the series (which is already setup as pre-order on Amazon) and beyond. One thing I'm struggling with is the number of days to run the promo.”Janice Peacock

January 23, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- BookBub is far and away the most effective and most well-known book advertising service. The company sends email blasts to hundreds of thousands of subscribers who enjoy a particular genre, from chick lit to mystery and everything in-between – even non-fiction. Therefore, let me start off by saying congratulations on getting a promo with them at all, especially during the competitive holiday season. Other authors are turning Christmas tree green with envy.


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ASK AN AUTHOR - SHOULD SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS SEEK LITERARY AGENTS

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

October 27, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Leigh Bennett joins us from the land Down Under to give advice about literary agents. Bennett is the author of the hilarious contemporary romance Flirting With Magick and the brand new urban fantasy Avalon's Child.

Leigh began as a self-published author before being recruited by me to join the publishing house Booktrope. Both of us have free giveaways coming soon, so be sure to check out the free books list at the end of this week's column.


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ASK AN AUTHOR - BUILDING AN EMAIL LIST FOR MARKETING

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

October 26, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - A scientist, a novelist, and now a guest columnist... Ask An Author is happy to welcome multiple award-winning author and physicist Massimo Marino, whose science fiction trilogy sold more than 10,000 copies in the US and abroad before being picked up by a publisher. Also, get one of his novels free Nov 9-14, as well as 200 more!


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ECM'S NEW ASK AN AUTHOR COLUMNIST TAKING QUESTIONS, OFFERS ROMANCE TRILOGY GIVEAWAY

 

May 14, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--East County Magazine is launching a new column called Ask An Author that allows readers, students, writers, and anyone with questions about writing, publishing, and publicity to get answers from local award-winning novelist, publicist, and journalist Sarka-Jonae Miller.


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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.