I think the most important thing we as writers can do is figure out how we define what success will mean to us and focus on that. – M. J. Rose
I’m not a good writer. It takes me a long time to get there. I write and then rewrite and revise and do it over and over until I’m satisfied. – M. J. Rose
There is no debate that social media is a great tool for networking with others in our industry. It can lead to friendships, support, and serendipitous connections with reviewers, agents, reporters, or editors. – M. J. Rose
There are many traditionally published authors who have hated the cover their publisher’s decided on. Or the title or the marketing or the advertising. But there was nothing they could do about it. – M. J. Rose
When I was a kid, I read many of my mom’s books. Sometimes, there were mysteries, but there were no delineations, and my mother never talked about book genres. Nor did we differentiate genres in school. – M. J. Rose
I placed my new novel, ‘The Book of Lost Fragrances’, in Paris, knowing it would be a challenge. But the book belonged in the city that is one of the greatest perfume capitals of the world and has been since for more than three centuries. – M. J. Rose
Buy other authors’ books when you go to their events. Even if you aren’t going to read it. Even if you are going to give it away. Even if you aren’t interested. Not just for the author but for the bookstore. It’s karma and just plain good manners. – M. J. Rose
I’ve always been fascinated by how the past impacts the present. For the first half of my career as a novelist, I wrote psychological suspense mysteries. I wanted to be a therapist but was told that while I was a fine diagnostician, I would be a terrible therapist because I wanted to solve everyone’s problems. – M. J. Rose
One of the biggest differences between you and a traditionally published author is that a self-pubbed author is responsible for everything. Not just writing the book – but cover design, editing, producing, distribution, and publicity as well. – M. J. Rose
Books on their own aren’t insanely expensive compared to other things; three large cappuccinos cost more than a paperback, and two and a half gallons of gas cost more than a paperback. – M. J. Rose
When writers stop to sharpen pencils or get up and make coffee to procrastinate, they still stay in their heads with their characters. But when you zip over to read email or check your Facebook page, you get zapped out of the fictive dream. It’s brutal on my writing. – M. J. Rose
Estimates are that in 2012, more than 32 million books were available – the explosion, thanks to the ease of self-publishing; 2013 could see even more titles grace our virtual bookstores! That means we are going to be awash in covers and titles, plot descriptions and characters. – M. J. Rose
When I was in advertising, I did a great deal of work on television commercials. A co-worker and I wrote a screenplay, which led to a few more screenplays, and some were optioned by production companies. I was advised to move to California but didn’t want to make the move. I decided to use another form of storytelling, so I wrote a novel. – M. J. Rose
I think that we need to live our lives for the present… as if it is our one and only wild and wonderful life. – M. J. Rose
The most satisfying thrillers send ordinary people into battle against the forces of evil – otherwise known as greed, ego, rage, fear and laziness – and bring them out bloodied but whole. – M. J. Rose
I always miss my mom. Mother’s Day would be just one more day I’d feel her absence but for the relentless commercialization. Thanks to that, this day is even harder to deal with. – M. J. Rose
I was taught to think outside the box. Before my grandfather was one of the original Mad Men, he and a group of other Air Force Intelligence officers formalized brainstorming as a problem solving technique. He taught the concept that creativity can be taught at Buffalo University. My dad invented toys. My mom was a photographer. – M. J. Rose
Sales don’t always have anything to do with good or brilliant or original. Sales are about appeal. – M. J. Rose
You can write the best book you can, and that might still not be enough. Appeal isn’t something that most writers can’t strive for or identify. It’s something even the best agents and editors can’t always identify. – M. J. Rose
Back in 1999 and 2000, a few of us… a very few of us… Douglas Clegg, Seth Godin and I… offered free electronic copies of our books in an effort to reach an audience we otherwise wouldn’t have reached and to test out a new marketing concept for books. Despite the industry screaming we were crazy, it worked. – M. J. Rose
It’s been more than a decade since I put that self-published novel, ‘Lip Service’, up on a website. Since then, many hundreds of authors have gone from self-published to traditionally published. – M. J. Rose
PR and marketing doesn’t sell books. It gets attention for them. It sends readers to bookstores and websites to read a few pages. – M. J. Rose
The Fiction Writer’s Co-op has 51 members, from celebrated NYT bestsellers to promising newcomers, and a waiting list. – M. J. Rose
Save yourself some grief. Check with the publicist you hire to see what other books he/she has coming out at the same time as yours. – M. J. Rose
We need to write books that publicists and marketers and booksellers and book club leaders and librarians and readers can get excited about. That have something about them that makes them stand out. That makes them shine. – M. J. Rose
From 1999 on – until 2003 – I covered publishing in a weekly column for Wired.com and wrote for several other publications – altogether writing over 150 articles. – M. J. Rose
Thriller novelists get asked – berated, sometimes – about whether their work glorifies bad behavior, even, exploits human tragedy for entertainment. – M. J. Rose
You shouldn’t talk about yourself all the time – most of us aren’t for sale. Our books are. Talk about them. It’s not a question of whether or not you’re fascinating on a personal level – it’s that your trivia and trials might not have any connection to the tone, tenor and sense of your books. – M. J. Rose
