Q & A with MJ Rose

MJ was here a few weeks ago talking about The Memorist which is new in paperback.  We’re thrilled to have her back to talk about the May 1st release of The Hypnotist, the 3rd Reincarnationist book!

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Be sure to visit MJ Rose’s Web Site to learn more about the Reincarnationsist books.

Learn more about this fascinating subject at her Reincarnationist Blog.

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BotH:

I’m thrilled to welcome you back for a return visit as a featured author on Books on the House, MJ.  Your new release, The Hypnotist, has received amazing reviews [starred review from Publisher's Weekly].  What is it about the Reincarnationist books that speak to people?

MJ:

I think readers find reincarnation both fascinating and hopeful. On a deeper level I believe it’s a metaphor for how our conscious, subconscious and unconscious work together. But that’s a bit more intellectual that what you actually read on the page. It is though why I think it resonates the way it does.

BotH:

You run The Reincarnationist Blog.  How did this start, and what do you feature there?

MJ:

The blog is a news and entertainment blog about the subject. We run anything and everything that has to do with reincarnation. It came out of my research – I was finding all this information and thought other people might like to read it too.

BotH:

You’re so great at highlighting and helping other authors showcase their books.  How did you get started as a writer?

MJ:

Getting published has been an adventure for me. I self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. My agent said the 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, and against my agent’s advice, 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.

I was the creative director of a 150 million dollar ad agency – I knew how to do it.

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 as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house. Pocket Books bought it 3 weeks later. They had been one of the publishers who’d given it one of those rave rejections.

BotH:

You have done quite a bit of freelancing/journalism, as well.  What do you like about writing nonfiction?

MJ:

I actually don’t- I did it to learn the publishing biz. I didn’t like being a small fish in a big pond and my background was advertising. I figured if I became a journalist specializing in publishing I could interview everyone and get to who was who fast. So that’s what I did. I like helping authors though – and pointing out the oddities, ironies and irrationality of business – so occasionally I still write some non-fiction.

BotH:

You had a lot of success with Lip Service as an e-book and self-published book.  Having experienced several publishing platforms, what are your thoughts on the changing industry, growth of books in digital format, and self-publishing?

MJ:

That would take a few hours. But I find it very exciting and wish everyone would approach change as positive as not get hysterical. Change gives us a change to be innovative and create solutions we never would have gone in search of if not for the challenge.

BotH:

Anything else you can tell us about The Hypnotist?

MJ:

I’m very excited to say The Hypnotist is my third Indie Next pick and starred PW review in a row.  It’s in the world of reincarnation and historical suspense again and again is a stand alone in my non-series series. It’s about a 1500 year old piece of sculpture from ancient Greece of the God Hypnos and the battle to find out who its true owner is. It takes place in New York City – a lot of it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ancient Greece, Persia and Paris. It’s got everything in it that I like to read – adventure, culture, suspense and even a love story. It’s my favorite of all my books. (Except from reading old interviews I see I say that about which ever one is about to come out.)

Read an excerpt HERE!

BotH:

We’ll be waiting for the next Reincarnationist book!  Thanks for being here, MJ.

MJ:

Thank you.

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MJ Rose is the international bestselling author of 10 novels;Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix,The Reincarnationist, The Memorist, and now The Hypnotist.

Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of , and with Doug Clegg of .

She is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs; Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory.