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Author MJ Rose

KATE: MJ, your books have been described by reviewers as lush with elegant prose, sexy, and literate--not quite fitting in any particular genre. Flesh Tones was even described as following in the tradition of The English Patient and Rebecca. High praise indeed. How would you describe your work?

MJ ROSE: I'll take those descriptions. But I usually call them psychological suspense. With Sheet Music Diane's Books of Greenwich, Connecticut said "SHEET MUSIC reads like a smart, sexy, grown up Nancy Drew." And I liked that.

KATE: Quite a compliment! I'm very impressed by the fact that you originally self-published Lip Service. You so successfully promoted the book, it was ultimately picked up by a New York publisher, Literary Guild and Doubleday Bookclub... the first e-book to ever achieve such an accomplishment. Share with us the initial reasons publishers rejected Lip Service, and what publisher ultimately picked up the book?

MJ ROSE: Lip Service was rejected mostly because of what you said in your first comment. My books cross so many genres no one knew how to position me and booksellers need to put a book in a category. But after the media picked up the story and my agent took out Lip Service again, Pocket Books -- a division of S&S -- picked it up.

KATE: Did your background in advertising help with the promotion of Lip Service as an e-book? For the many self published authors out there, care to share some advice on how they might go about promoting their books?

MJ ROSE: Yes, I don't think that I would have had any success without coming from an advertising background. It was the most important added element other than having a book that people responded to. My advice for other authors is in my two non fiction books. How to Publish and Promote by me and Angela Adair Hoy and Buzz your Book by me and Doug Clegg. I've written over 150 articles and two books on the publishing biz and marketing books. There is no one piece of advice I can give an author except to take out as many books on marketing as you can from the library and learn as much as you can about the biz of publishing and realize that you can make a difference in how your own work sells, but it takes time and effort and a commitment on your part.

KATE: Poets and Writers recently ran an article you wrote about the realities of publishing, and how their [publishers] promises for pushing a book are so easily and quickly forgotten. (http://www.pw.org/mag/0305/rose.htm)... One of the finest articles I've read about publishing, by the way. Were you the least bit aware of the often disappointing realities of this business when you sold to a New York publisher?

MJ ROSE: Thanks -- and no, I had no idea. My background was all in advertising. I was in for an amazing eye-opening experience. As a creative director at the agency I got to see how dozens of businesses worked because I was doing their advertising. No other business operates in the strange way that publishing does.

KATE: Publishing is a strange animal, no doubt about that. When I began my own career, I was very big into self promotion until my publisher told me to "go home and shut up. When we're ready to make you a bestseller, we'll do so." Knowing how publishers can control and manipulate an author's career, do you feel that author self promotion, when you're published by a New York publisher, really does any good?

MJ ROSE: Yes. But the trick is to figure out how to work with the publisher and not against them. You need to become a marketing partner with the publisher and not try to do what they say they are going to do, but do other things they never would do. Such as create a strong online presence and do Internet marketing.

KATE: Certainly, the Internet has been a blessing for authors promoting their work. Reviewers are singing the praises of your latest book: Sheet Music. Tell us about it.

MJ ROSE: It's a story about a journalist who goes in search of a story, winds up involved in a missing person case, and is forced to emotionally confront the people missing in her own life. It's also about how we often see the people we admire through rose-colored glasses and how that colors our own lives. Not always to our benefit.

KATE: Your titles are unique and create an immediate impression. How do you come up with them?

MJ ROSE: Sheer torture. Hey, that sounds like another title.

KATE: I hear you! Do your publishers have input on the titles?

MJ ROSE: They have to approve them, of course. But they haven't rewritten one. Yet.

KATE: That's great! Sometimes they don't make the most logical choices. I understand you enjoy listening to music when you write, as do I. With each book I've written, I've had a particular CD that inspired my muse. What type of music do you listen to while you write?

MJ ROSE: A combination of classical and current. But I only get to hear the first five minutes of whatever I put on and then I disappear into some blue nowhere and don't even know what I write until I surface a few hours later.

KATE: I understand completely. Of the books you've written, which is your favorite and why?

MJ ROSE: The one I am currently working on is always my favorite. After each book is published it's almost as if it dies for me. The characters are no longer in my head and I no longer can enjoy living with them, through them. It's actually quite sad.

KATE: I agree. Very sad. Saying goodbye to characters is tough for an author.

MJ ROSE: Isn't it?

KATE: Between writing your novels and your non-fiction work, what is your writing schedule?

MJ ROSE: I write every day. Or at least six days a week. About three to six hours a day.

KATE: Ah, a very dedicated writer! Gotta love it!

MJ ROSE: It's more that if I am not writing I get depressed.

KATE: What books/authors do you enjoy reading?

MJ ROSE: Oh, so many. You know the line. So many books so little time. I have a list at my website. But some of my favorites are Dan Brown -- and I knew him before The DaVinci Code -- Daniel Silva, Alice Hoffman, Salley Vickers, Daphne DuMaurier. Carol O'Connell, John Dunning, Caroline Leavitt, Katharine Weber, Margot Livesey, Laurie R. King, and two new debut authors Gretchen Laskas and Lisa Tucker.

KATE: How do you connect with your readers? Through characterization, etc? What about your work do you feel keeps the readers coming back for more?

MJ ROSE: Ok. I think that it is much harder to read a book than watch TV or a movie. A book is active the others are passive. So if you are going to read a book it has to give you something other media doesn't. For me that means real psychological insight into the areas of a character's life that the reader can relate to, can feel, can put him or herself in the character's place and feel what the character is feeling. So that means that I write about emotions. And in movies and TV you only see the character's emotion, it is much harder to feel it. Especially when it comes to sex. You can see the characters falling in love on screen but on the page you are falling in love yourself. Plus I think that because my books do cross genres, there is a lot there for the reader. It's not formulaic.

KATE: I agree completely! Readers tell me they are more interested in understanding what makes the characters tick than they are in plot. Any upcoming book signing events you would like to share with RR readers?

MJ ROSE: There is a list on my site, www.mjrose.com under events. Please look, please come. And I'll be at BEA signing Sheet Music.

KATE: Very good! I'm sure they'll turn out in droves!

MJ ROSE: I hope so.

KATE: Okay, MJ, we thank you for spending some time with us. Continued success with your wonderful books!

MJ ROSE: Thanks for a great interview and good luck with yours!!!

KATE: Thanks!

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