I think I’m gonna be busy for awhile…

Someone please remind me to never again try and schedule 8 blog spots all at once. I was certainly giving my calendar app a workout the other day! LOL! But I now have spots scheduled from June until October. Woot!

Many thanks to the below GRL Featured Bloggers for opening up your websites to all of us supporting and featured authors for guest spots leading up to the convention.

And special thanks to Prism Book Alliance for selecting me to be part of your GRL Team!

Here’s where I’ll be in the coming months…

The Novel Approach – June 6
The Blogger Girls – June 13
Sid Love – July 11
Joyfully Jay – July 25
TTC Books and More – August 8
Prism Book Alliance – September 11
My Fiction Nook – September 19
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words – October 3

I also have spots coming up on April 3rd at JP Barnaby’s site and May 19th at Lex Chase’s site.

Pardon me, have to run. Have a LOT of posts to write! 🙂

 

Come chat with me on Facebook on Monday!

Please join me for my first ever Facebook author chat! I’d love to get some questions from all of you. 🙂

1 Hour with Kate Sherwood, Jamie Lynn Miller, Maris Black & Andrew K. Kinley

Monday March 31st at 7:00pm CST

https://www.facebook.com/events/276326192533776/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=1

Fiction Friday with Sarah Madison

 

I’d like to welcome to my blog today author Sarah Madison, here to promote her book The Boys of Summer along with an excellent post called “The True Secret to Being a Successful Author”. Take it away, Sarah!

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It’s the end of the quarter.

You know what that means. Every author is getting that royalty statement, that email that validates them as a writer. They immediately head out to their favorite social media site to crow about their successes—real or imagined. I commiserated with a Facebook friend today about this time in the lives of writers. It’s a moment where too many of us compare ourselves with everyone else around us and decide that we’re never going to be part of the elite crowd, the best-sellers, the people being quoted on USA Today, or winning a prestigious award (you know, the kind that comes with an actual physical trophy to place on your shelf).

Well, guess what. Writing is a lot like acting. There are a lot of us out there, but very, very few of us are pulling in the kind of bucks that the cast of Friends used to make with every episode. I sat down and figured out once what it took to be successful as a writer. You either make it big with a phenomenal success, like the Harry Potter series, in which case almost everything else you produce will be brushed with the same golden touch, or you write a lot of stories. There really doesn’t seem to be a middle ground, as far as I can tell.

Talent alone doesn’t cut it. There are tremendous best-sellers that despite major flaws, somehow caught the public imagination and caused people who normally don’t consider themselves readers to buy the book. There are brilliantly beautifully written stories that only a handful of people have ever read. Luck has a role in it, as well as timing, two factors that are largely out of your control. Most of us aren’t going to have a runaway bestseller; that’s like winning the lottery. We might keep buying tickets, but it would be foolish to count on winning.

In fact, I believe the secret to being a successful writer is a lot like the secret to dieting and keeping the weight off.

Lovely review of Memory’s Prisoner

Received a lovely review from GayListBookReviews.com:

Title:  Memory’s Prisoner

Author:  Jamie Lynn Miller

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Length:  134 pages

Rating:  B List

Quad Shot of Love: Very Good Read

Blurb:  Detectives Mitchell Reid and Joseph Valentino of the Chicago Police Department have finally moved from friends to lovers, partners on the job and off. Then an escaped bank robber with a thirst for vengeance shatters their world. The police tactical raid to recapture the convict goes horribly wrong, leaving Mitch severely wounded and Joey with a devastating head injury. They both survive, but Joey’s long-term coma and memory loss will change their lives—and love—forever.

Review:  A bittersweet story of hope, loyalty, healing, grief and unconditional love.

This is not a traditional romance story where we watch the slow development of love.  When we meet Mitch and Joey they are already in love and just beginning to explore the physical side of a long friendship and partnership.  When tragedy strikes and things seem to just get worse Mitch has to make some tough decisions and their relationship becomes a test of endurance and unconditional love.

I felt for these men.  I cannot imagine the pain and grief Mitch felt as he struggled to hold on to faith and hope while trying to do what was best for Joey.  He never faltered in his commitment.  And poor Joey waking up to a different world where so much had happened while he was in a coma.  His journey back to a sense of normalcy and good health was daunting.

The story moves back and forth through time, giving us glimpses into the men’s pasts and moving forward in their lives.  You have to pay attention to the time changes or you can get a little lost.

I enjoyed this story.  It was sweet and sad while still being full of hope and love.

Reviewed by Nina

Burnin’ for You – coming soon!

Signed another contract with LuLu last night to self publish my firemen/paramedic stories, Burnin’ for You (Books 1 and 2). They just partnered up with Amazon, which is awesome. Now with the press of a button my ebooks will be available on LuLu, iBookstore, Nook, Amazon and Kobo. Sweet! And paperback versions will also be available, too.

Thanks to everyone who voted in my cover design poll the other day. We have a winner!

I feel like such a professional now

My good friend HL Holston is heading to Tampa for Rainbow Con in a few weeks, where she and her writing partner will have a table. She graciously offered to put out any marketing materials I had about my books. Problem was, I didn’t have any!

So I sat down and created a postcard for myself. Got a fantastic deal from Staples for printing and they arrived just two days later. I love them, they look great. I couldn’t help but smile when I took them out of the envelope. My first marketing material! I feel like a professional writer now!

Here’s hoping it’ll translate into some sales for me. 🙂

What have I gotten myself into?

In a fit of obvious insanity, I signed up to read at the Hot Night Critique event at the upcoming Romance Writers of America spring fling conference here in Chicago.

What does this entail, you ask? Me, standing up in front of God knows how many people, reading an explicit three page m/m sex scene out loud then getting feedback on it.

[facepalm] What was I thinking?? LOL!

This was the most popular event at the last Spring Fling, drawing more than 200 people. Since I want to get my name out there this seemed like a good way to do it. And in a spectacular way, too, since as an m/m author I’m going to be in the vast minority at this event. Thought I’d get up there and shock a few people! And maybe open up a few eyes.

Like our Dreamspinner shirts say: “The only women who don’t like gay romance are the ones who haven’t read it”

It will be very interesting to see the reaction I get when I announce my characters are two men. Will some people get up and leave or will they afford me the same consideration as me sitting through a dozen m/f scenes? I’m interested in possibly joining a local RWA chapter and I thought this would be a good way to feel these women out, if I’d be accepted.

My final choice is a scene from Burnin’ for You after sending it and one from Out of the Shadows to several of my friends, asking which they preferred. My hot firemen won! It happened to be my favorite of the two scenes as well.

Wish me luck next month!

Vote for my new cover art!

While “Out of the Shadows” is working its way down the self-publication pipeline I’m prepping my firemen/paramedic stories next. I decided to combine both Burnin’ for You and Where There’s Smoke into one novel, so I’m going to need a new cover. I love making covers for my books. 🙂

I’ve got it narrowed down to three choices and I’d love for all of you to vote for your favorite, to help me decide.

I’m on Facebook!

So my friend Gina X. Grant brow-beat suggested that I should get on Facebook since it’s where all the writers hang out. 🙂

I always listen to my friends, so here I am!

www.facebook.com/jamielynn.miller.3

For those of you who don’t have a WordPress account (or just prefer Facebook) this is a way for you to Like and Follow and leave me comments and keep up with my ebook career.

Stop on by and say Hello! And please feel free to share posts that I make if you know anyone who might be interested in the books I write. I’d greatly appreciate it!

iBookstore resolution and my first sale!

I’m happy to report that LuLu contacted Apple and told them that they had mis-categorized my book Out of the Shadows and as of yesterday afternoon it’s in the correct category of “Romance”. It’s absolutely ridiculous that there is no “Gay Romance” sub-category. They’ve got “Contemporary”, “Western”, “Fantasy”, “Historical” and “Suspense”.

But despite Apple’s best efforts to hide gay romance, it’s where I made my first sale yesterday! LOL!

Not quite sure how someone found Out of the Shadows, but I’m glad they did. 🙂

Also found out yesterday that it’s been accepted into the NOOK store as well and the listing should be up in the next few days.

I’m holding off on posting all of the Buy Links until I’ve got all my ducks in a row. Still waiting to hear from LuLu about their new partnership with Amazon. I was all set to publish it there myself but if I can have all my revenue coming from one place it would be so much easier.

Now I’m off to work on the new cover for Burnin’ for You so I can get that self-published, too!