MJ Rose the author of THE HALO EFFECT did a virtual book tour earlier this week. She is interviewed herewith.

CM: Welcome to Collected Miscellany. Can you tell us something about
your background?

M.J. Rose: I’m the author of five novels, Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh
Tones, Sheet Music and most recently The Halo Effect. I’m also is a contributor
to Writer’s Digest, Poets & Writers, Oprah Magazine, The Readerville Journal,
and Pages. I’m the co-writer of How to Publish and Promote Online with Angela
Adair Hoy of, and with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book.

I graduated from Syracuse University and spent the ’80s in advertising. I was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and have a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. I live in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and our very spoiled dog, Winka. You can contact me here

CM: Your first novel was self-published. How did you find a New York
publisher?

Getting published has been an adventure for me. I self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. Editors had loved it, but didn’t know how to position it or market it since it didn’t fit
into any one genre. Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a
readership for my work, I set up a web site where readers could download my book for $9.95 and began to seriously market the novel on the Internet.
After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format)
Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by
the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club and then my agent got back into the process and sold Lip Service to Pocket Books making Lip Service the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
Since then I’ve been called the “poster girl” of e-publishing by Time magazine and have been profiled in Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek, Poets & Writers and other publications, both in the U.S. and abroad. I’ve also appeared on The Today Show, Fox News & The Jim Lehrer NewsHour.

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This coming Friday I’ll be attending a Writers Conference. If you’ve never attended one, you should know that conferences are the wellspring of great literature.

Badges are color-coded. Editors and publishers are the rarest form of life at these things; there may be a half dozen of them and several hundred writers. To control the deranged behavior of the writerly mob, ‘pitch sessions’ are organized; editors and agents, the gatekeepers, are seated in a ballroom. They have little tables with their names displayed along with a pitcher of water, two glasses and a handy periodical in the event your pitch proves less interesting than the current cover of People Magazine.

The ‘pitch’ is typically ten minutes long. The writer has coughed up about twenty bucks for the opportunity to reduce years of work to a pithy ‘hook.’ After a quick handshake, it’s important to remember your name (it’s on your badge), title and genre of your work, reasons why you wrote it and your qualifications. For fiction it’s helpful to be really famous; if you’re on the cover of People that week, your pitch will go extremely well.

A waiter from an exotic land may stop by to spill water on your synopsis; don’t panic. Most literature is water soluble.

After your pitch, volunteers will lead you away to a crying room. There you’ll compare notes with other writers who suddenly recall in vivid detail what they’d intended to say during the now completed pitch.

You’ll lurk in the hallway while famous agents and editors speed by on their way to the restroom; even you’re trained in downfield tackling, it’s not recommended you leap at them with a story idea.

Thus refreshed, you sign up for another pitch. The atmosphere changes and a hush comes over the throng; book people retreat because THE FILM PEOPLE ARE HERE.

Pitching to ‘film people’ is different. First of all, they talk fast. The sunglasses they wear reflect the ballroom lighting in a weird and distracting manner. When they ask you see in the film version of work, say something like ‘Charles Laughton.’ Go ahead, it’s fun. Thumb through People; strike a pose.

A film pitch is kind of like receiving CPR for a heart attack you haven’t had yet. If they remove their sunglasses at any point during your pitch, make eye-contact. It builds trust.

This is how deals are made, careers launched, books and movies are bought. Adam Smith once said the marketplace is efficient; of course, he’s never been to a Writers Conference.

Sorry about the general lack of quality content around here (at least from me). I have just not been up to posting intelligent thoughts for some reason. I need to focus more on writing - which is why I got into this blog thing in the first place - but that also takes concentration and time. Far too often I end up surfing around the net wasting time and getting nothing accomplished. What I should do instead of trolling for posting material is read the books and articles I have stacked up and post on what I read. Quality over quantity I say.

That said my book addiction continues unabated. Like a drunk bellying up to the bar, I recently joined a new book club called Smart Reader Rewards. Like most of these clubs, the initial offer was simply too good to pass up. Here is what I got:

-The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations.
- Old School by Tobias Wolff.
- The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer.
- Aloft by Chang-rae Lee.
- The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.

I received all of these wonderful books - I make that assumption based on their positive reception by a number of literary bloggers - for the low, low price of only $23.43! What a deal. All I have to do is buy like three books in the next two years (tell me I am not going to do that anyway). As a member I get convient access to discounted books - handy but deadly I know.

I hope to dig into these as soon as I can get out from under a pressing pile of books from publishers (If I specifically requested a free book I feel a certain obligation to read and review it). Hopefully I can put a spark in my posting habits and offer some intelligent thoughts for the readers of this humble blog.

No more quizzes for awhile I promise . . .

Time to organize our thoughts, preview coming attractions and reassemble the well oiled machine of reviewing, interviewing, and recovering from the political moment.

Simon Kernick, interviewed earlier this week, is expediting the delivery of THE CRIME TRADE for review. Simon and I have exchanged numerous emails, covering a prodigious eight time zones and I’m looking forward to reading his latest novel.

MJ Rose. We’ll have an interview with the author of THE HALO EFFECT posted later today. MJ discusses her career and her recent virtual book tour, revealing just how far we’ve come, blogosperically speaking.

Steve Hamilton’s ICE RUN is on hand. The review will appear early next week. Steve was nominated for an ANTHONY for BLOOD IS THE SKY. I think he’ll win when autumn comes to Toronto.

More books are on the way. Remember, in ancient Rome when a play was badly received the writer was dragged through the streets then hurled onto the Tarpeian Rock. That was criticism. Dale Peck? Bring it on.

The fun continues here Collected Miscellany Silly Quiz Headquarters:

You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.

What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I must admit that this quiz is accurate as I am an elitist in most things (beer, wine, books, the important things), but I hope I am not snobby about it.

Without being able to explain why, two news items have coalesced in my mind and require further review. On the one hand we have John Kerry’s ceremonial first pitch last weeked at Fenway; on the other the impending release of Pamela Anderson’s novel entitled Star.

Kerry took the mound and threw a fastball into the grass, maybe the dirt, but well short of the catcher’s mitt deployed behind home. The Democratic hopeful employed an overhand delivery whereas Bush went more sidearm at Camden Yards. Presidents and would-be presidents have been doing this for years. Dick Nixon had the most presence on the hill because of the sweat factor. LBJ invented the sport of beagling wherein a pet is lifted by the ears.

Thanks to Sarah and Grimm, possibly others, Pamela Anderson’s perspectives on novel writing are now available. One of her best ideas was to hire someone to write the novel.

Maybe John Kerry ought to turn the ball over to Nolan Ryan when the urge for ceremony rears its head. Hire it done John!

I’ve not read Star. I didn’t know that Pam had been the Labatt girl back in the day. This must have been a manuscript that screamed publish me because we know it’s all about the writing.

John, take a page from Pam’s book. Dubya, don’t even think about developing a two seam fastball. Find a professional.

Due to a variety of factors I have been uninspired of late so in the long tradition of blogging I offer this quiz as a lame substitute for content:

be sorted @ nimbo.net

I am not sure what it means that I was sorted to the same house as Harry Potter and Ron Weasly but I will leave it to you to decide whether I am likely to be more like the former or the later. Perhaps that type of question is disturbing (comparing yourself or others to characters in a kids book). Or perhaps you find it disturbing that I have read all the Potter novels while at the same not having read Lolita or anything by James Joyce . . .

Last week it was Kevin Wignall. Today we have Simon Kernick author of THE CRIME TRADE. Simon offered to answer some questions.

Thanks for your patience. Here are the answers to your questions:

Let’s start with your bio.

I’m a 38 year old former software salesman, currently living just outside London with my wife and two young daughters, and I’m the author of three London-based crime thrillers: THE BUSINESS OF DYING, THE MURDER EXCHANGE and THE CRIME TRADE (the latter just released in hardback in the UK in June 2004, and set for release in the USA in July 2005). The stories are a loose chronological series and are told from the points of view of both the criminals committing the crimes and the men and women out to catch them. In the case of my first novel, THE BUSINESS OF DYING, which is about a detective who moonlights as a hitman, and told in the first person, you get the view of both sides of the fence from the same man.

Who do you read?

These days, mainly mysteries and thrillers. I like to see what the competition’s doing!! A list of my favourite authors would include from the US: Lawrence Block, Dennis Lehane, Jason Starr, Harlan Coben, and the late and very much lamented Lawrence Sanders, who wrote the Deadly Sin novels, as well as the Archy McNally series. He’s the only guy I’ve ever read who wrote cosies as well as the hardboiled stuff. I also loved Victor Gischler’s debut novel, GUN MONKEYS, which has a great first line. From my side of the Atlantic, I make it a point to read Irish authors, John Connolly and Ken Bruen, and UK writers I tend not to miss include Val McDermid, Ian Rankin and Mo Hayder. Her latest, Tokyo, is a disturbing but very intelligent read, and in my opinion a step up from her first two.

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**I posted this over at Blogcritics and thought I would share with you here.**

Ben Arnold’s latest release, Calico, is an eclectic blend of catchy pop tunes, rocky blues jams, and melancholy ballads. What unifies the album is Ben’s rather husky voice. Others have compared it to Randy Newman or Graham Parker but for some reason it reminds me of Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz. Regardless of who it reminds you of, all or none of the above, Ben’s voice and his lyrics provide the focus on this wide ranging album.

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There’s quite a discussion raging over on TEV in response to Steven Policoff’s brave essay on things that went bump in the night as he wrote, found an agent, lost an agent, found an editor and publisher for Beautiful Somewhere Else.

Laura Strachan is a literary agent who entered the fray by pointing out that Steven’s experience is not unique. I respect Laura Strachan; she’s chosen to represent difficult novels like Ginny Good and she writes a beautiful rejection letter. Her distillation of current realities in the publishing world seems all too accurate.

Steven Policoff went through the wringer that awaits many novelists. The saddest moment in his narrative is the observation that he’s writing a second novel and isn’t sure why. It’s like root canal, Steve, you’ll feel better when it’s over. Hats off for chronicling your trip through the looking glass. Kudos to your mother as well.