Sarka-Jonae Miller

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 - 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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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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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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SANTEE BARNES & NOBLE TO HOST JAMES PATTERSON DAY, LOCAL AUTHOR EVENT

East County News Service

 

July 21, 2015 (Santee)--On Sunday, July 26, Barnes & Noble in Santee welcomes five local authors for meet & greets as well as offers fifty percent off all of best-selling author James Patterson's books for James Patterson Day. July is pop-cultured month, offering numerous pop-culture related giveaways for items such as posters, comics, pins, and more at San Diego locations.


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LEARN HOW TO GET A BOOK DEAL FROM SARKA-JONAE MILLER AT THE CASA DE ORO LIBRARY

East County News Service

July 13, 2015 (Spring Valley) -- Local award-winning author and publicist Sarka-Jonae Miller will be answering questions about writing, marketing, and publishing books at the Casa De Oro Branch Library (9805 Campo Rd., #180, Spring Valley, 91977) on Saturday, July 18th at 10 a.m. SJ will give instructions for submitting manuscripts to her publisher Booktrope as well as offer tips about self-publishing and pursuing a traditional publishing deal.


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ASK AN AUTHOR: BUILDING AN AUDIENCE, NO. OF DRAFTS, & IDEAL WRITING ENVIRONMENT

 

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

 

July 13, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --This week I'm happy to welcome #1 best-selling author, Caroline Fardig, to the Ask An Author column.

Caroline is the author of the Lizzie Hart Mystery series of hilarious cozy mysteries. She recently got a book deal with Penguin Random House for an upcoming mystery novel, Death Before Decaf, and she just self-published her third novel, Bad Medicine. Caroline also happens to be one of my favorite authors.


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ASK AN AUTHOR TIPS & FREEBIES: KDP SELECT GIVEAWAYS-- THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WASTE OF MONEY

 

June 10, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --How do you run a successful KDP Select giveaway? You seem to always rock them. – Jennifer Gilbert

Anyone who visits my SJ Publicity Facebook page regularly can see I'm an advocate of KDP Select giveaways. There are some authors who balk at the idea of giving away free books, but I look at a free ebook as a free sample. Don't you love free samples and the people who give them out?


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ASK AN AUTHOR WRITING TIPS - FREE MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, PUBLISHING UNDER ONE'S INITIALS

 

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

How can I get free material on formatting my manuscript for eBook conversion, and where can I find a good free eBook conversion application? Do you know any eBook retailers who pay through PayPal, since I can't receive payments through a US bank and prefer PayPal to posted checks? Also, can I find quality material on how to use Social Media to promote my books? – James Badmos

June 1, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - I recommend Draft2Digital.com for quality ebook conversion. You can upload a Word document and they will provide you with a mobi and epub file for free. Their program can create a table of contents, dedication page, copyright page, etc. so you don't have to do much formatting. In your case, you might want to allow them to do your distribution since they pay via PayPal.


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ASK AN AUTHOR COLUMNIST SARKA-JONAE MILLER SPEAKS AT ALPINE LIBRARY JUNE 6

 

East County News Service

May 28, 2015 (Alpine) – Local award-winning author Sarka-Jonae Miller recently launched “Ask the Author,” a column for East County Magazine.   You’re invited to join us as she discusses her experiences as a publicist and journalist at the Alpine Library on Saturday, June 6th at 1 p.m.


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ASK AN AUTHOR: PLANNING A SERIES, INDIE PUBLISHER PROS, INCREASING READERSHIP


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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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READERS & WRITERS CALENDAR: FROM APRIL 5, 2015


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ROMANCING SAN DIEGO 2.0: WITH CELEBRITY GUEST DEBORAH PRATT

April 11 in La Mesa

March 27, 2015 (La Mesa) - Noted author, five-time Emmy nominee and co-executive producer and head writer of the award-winning science fiction series, Quantum Leap, Deborah Pratt, will lead an array of local literary talent at an event titled Romancing San Diego 2.0. With her latest book, The Tempting: Seducing the Nephilim, this promises to be an entertaining and informative session. This accomplished actress will be the featured celebrity guest at the Grossmont Center in La Mesa., which will feature an author panel and book signing.


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READERS & WRITERS CALENDAR: MARCH 22-APRIL 14, 2015


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SINGLE IN SAN DIEGO: BETWEEN BOYFRIENDS OFFERS AN ESCAPIST ROMP FOR READERS

Between Boyfriends, by Sárka-Jonae Miller, San Diego

Review by Miriam Raftery

February 18, 2013 (San Diego)--Between Boyfriends hit three Amazon best-seller lists the week after Valentine’s Day, ranking #9 for humor books, #11 for humor e-books and #54 for women's fiction.  Written by San Diego-area resident Sárka Jonae Miller, this book is the ultimate chick-lit read—a light-hearted romp focused on the travails of Jan, a college student dumped by her boyfriend, an SDSU student.  The moment proves an epiphany, as Jan resolves to stop dating and find fulfillment as a single woman.

Raised in pampered privilege, Jan’s problems soon get worse when she loses her parents’ financial support and must learn to be a self-sufficient.

After  two days spent  wallowing in a a self-pitying stupor  following  the breakup with her boyfriend, Jan awakens in her apartment. Appalled upon looking in the mirror, she whacks her hair with manicure scissors. Then she clears out the medicine cabinet of souvenirs from losers she has dated, determined to rid herself of ghosts of boyfriends past.


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