3 posts tagged “laura major”

Can you afford to be a bestselling author?

On our Books n’ Business segment, 20 authors, visitors, and community leaders discussed the business side of publishing and becoming a published author. Find out how to gain more exposure without going broke!

Stephanie L. Jones, a prior publicist to major publishing houses, gives valuable information about an author’s media campaign.

Monica Carter Tagore offers readers and authors insight in to stay focused on the prize. Monica also offers the listeners great business tips!

Debra Owsley, owner of Simply Said Reading Acces. discussed preparing for trade shows and conferences. COS Productions also discussed how book trailers can increase sells at literary events.

Wanda Childs, owner of Blessed 24:7, shares with readers how she was "Pushed into Her Purpose" of steping out on faith.

Jessica Tilles, author and Xpress Yourself Publishing owner, educates the listeners with insider secrets to publishing.

Click here to listen to the entire motivating, literary chat at BAN.

Recession proof your book promotions with COS productions, Stephanie L. Jones, Monica Carter Tagore, Ella Curry, author and publisher Jessica Tilles, Wanda Childs, Lynda Sanders, Wanda B. Campbell, Nefertari Imani Baraka, KL the writer, Laura Major, Dana Pittman, Mikasenoja, Leroy McKenzie, and special guest Niona Green.

Currently reading : The Enemy Between My Legs By Stephanie L. Jones Release date: By 16 November, 2007

Can you afford to be a bestselling author?

On our Books n’ Business segment, 20 authors, visitors, and community leaders discussed the business side of publishing and becoming a published author. Find out how to gain more exposure without going broke!

Stephanie L. Jones, a prior publicist to major publishing houses, gives valuable information about an author’s media campaign.

Monica Carter Tagore offers readers and authors insight in to stay focused on the prize. Monica also offers the listeners great business tips!

Debra Owsley, owner of Simply Said Reading Acces. discussed preparing for trade shows and conferences. COS Productions also discussed how book trailers can increase sells at literary events.

Wanda Childs, owner of Blessed 24:7, shares with readers how she was "Pushed into Her Purpose" of steping out on faith.

Jessica Tilles, author and Xpress Yourself Publishing owner, educates the listeners with insider secrets to publishing.

Click here to listen to the entire motivating, literary chat at BAN.

Recession proof your book promotions with COS productions, Stephanie L. Jones, Monica Carter Tagore, Ella Curry, author and publisher Jessica Tilles, Wanda Childs, Lynda Sanders, Wanda B. Campbell, Nefertari Imani Baraka, KL the writer, Laura Major, Dana Pittman, Mikasenoja, Leroy McKenzie, and special guest Niona Green.

Currently reading : The Enemy Between My Legs By Stephanie L. Jones Release date: By 16 November, 2007

SLS Intimate Conversations Showcase

Mismatched1

Recently Ella Curry, CEO of EDC Creations (www.edc-creations.com) and founder of the Sankofa Literary Society (www.sankofaliterarysociety.org) had the opportunity to talk with the author of the  book Mismatched, Laura Major.

MismatchbyLauraMajor

Laura, for those of us who aren’t familiar with your background, please tell us how you came to write novels and what you went through to get published.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been attempting to express myself creatively through the written word. It initially started with trying to write songs at the age of six. Then I wrote an autobiographical anthology in the second grade while living in New Jersey. It was a school project where my second grade teacher selected a topic for the class to write about each week of the school year. She edited each page and we illustrated them for the finished product. By the end of the year, each student had their own personal autobiographical anthology. 

It included simple subjects like who I admired most, what my family did on vacation, what my favorite experience was and what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still have that completed anthology sitting on my bookshelf to this day.  

I finished elementary school in Arizona, I also became the class historian in junior high. That required me to save pictures and news clippings detailing the events of the year for the student body. This was also in book form. Then, I began preparing for college during my high school years. While in high school, I was a part of the yearbook staff for over two years. It was during high school that I knew English would be my major in college.

I got accepted to Arizona State, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. I chose to stay close to home and attended Arizona State, where I took lots of women’s studies classes in addition to my English coursework.

While I didn’t participate in any writing endeavors on campus, I did attain a freelance catalog copywriting position for three short months. I graduated from ASU and landed a financial proofreading position at a well-established financial printer.

After working there for two years, I lost direction and ended up in the finance and investing industry. I was laid off in 2001 and found myself in online higher education, an industry where I still work to support myself while I nurture my writing career.

It was a faithful Sunday afternoon in February 2005, where I chose to attend a local chocolate affaire and I came across a table of romance writers. With the exception of Frances Pascal’s Sweet Valley High collection, I was not a romance novel fan. I hadn’t tried to write a novel up to this point because I was not sure what story I could tell.

Anyway, when I saw these women sitting behind the book signing table, they seemed like ordinary women. I was in awe, but I also thought that maybe this scenario was not out of reach for me. I began talking to two of the women, Judi McCoy and Jennifer Ashley, and they invited me to a Romance Writers of America (RWA) chapter meeting that was taking place the following week.

I attended and felt at home instantly. I attended another chapter’s meeting two weeks later and it was during that meeting that the idea for my first novel, Mismatched, came to me. I realized that while I was not a reader of romance novels, everyday life in some way dealt with love. We are seeking it, giving it, trying to sustain it or in some ways trying to avoid it in our lives. Even in the absence of it, love touches us in some way.

I became a member of both RWA’s local chapters and immersed myself in the industry and made many friends with both published and aspiring authors. I even organized our participation in the next year’s chocolate affaire for my fellow romance writer groups. I volunteered heavily to the detriment of my writing, so I had to step back and focus on my goal.

With lots of self-doubt and the lack of support for interracial themes in my area, it took me over a year to write the novel. I could have finished it a lot quicker but doubt caused me to take long breaks from writing. I also did some minor freelancing during this time which I think built some confidence but also distracted from the book I needed to write. After the book was written, I edited it twice and then solicited the help of a few avid book readers to get some feedback. I didn’t really use critique partners because of the subject matter and the difficulty in finding people who understood what I was trying to convey.

During this time I joined MySpace and began connecting with a lot of other authors and publishers. One in particular, Dyanne Davis, pointed me in the direction of a multicultural/interracial romance reader and writer network on MSN. I joined and for the second time in my writing career I felt I had found a home.

Shortly after joining that group, I started querying my book to two agents and two eBook publishers who accepted electronic submissions. I was in the middle of remodeling my house, so my plan was to query the traditional publishing houses via the US mail system once I got my house back in order. In October of 2007, I received two rejections from the agents and one rejection with a request to see other work from one of the two e-publishers. On December 10th, 2007, I received a response from the last e-publisher I had contacted.  To my surprise it was a contract offer from Amira Press.

While Amira Press is a small e-press, I thought this was an excellent opportunity to get my work out there and get my career the attention only a small press can provide. In addition to liking Amira’s cover art, I also liked their multicultural philosophy and the possibility of writing other types of multicultural novels.

After two edits, the eBook version of my novel Mismatched was released on February 15th, 2008. Shortly there after, I was notified by my publisher that my book would be released in paperback sometime in May.

I really like your title. Do you pick your titles first, and then write the stories? Please explain.
Thanks. The title came about as I was finishing the book. Originally, the working title was Tessa Makes her Own Match. I felt this seemed wordy and not entirely accurate so it later evolved to Mismatched.

What makes this novel different from others in its genre?
While this novel is classified as an interracial romance, I feel that it is truly multicultural. Often romance novels do not reflect real life in that a traditional romance may only have Caucasian characters and an African American romance may only have African American characters. I wanted a book that reflected real life where people of different races and ethnic backgrounds interact with one another and also fall in love. So in my book, there are Caucasian characters, African American characters, older characters as well as gay characters.

Is any of this story autobiographical? Were any scenes from the book inspired from what you know, or it is through your imagination?
I would say the book is inspired by events in my own life as well as being mostly inspired by my imagination, however it is not autobiographical. I have dated briefly on the Internet, I have been involved in interracial relationships in the past, I did live in New Jersey at one time, and I was in the finance industry, but those are the only similarities.

How are you marketing and promoting your new title, Mismatched?
In addition, to marketing on MySpace, and the various writers Yahoo groups and MSN groups to which I belong, I am also attending two writer’s conferences where I will be contributing to the goodie bags with promotional material about my book. My book will also be featured in a Romantic Times ad this summer. I am also seeking reviews and I am researchig how to query movie producers as I think this book would make a great date movie.

Please share some resources you recommend for new authors writing their first book.
I recommend joining a writers group like RWA or some other groups more aligned with your genre of choice. This is beneficial for the networking opportunities as well as support and industry information.

I also recommend subscribing to as many writer magazines as you can stand. I subscribe to The Writer, Writer’s Digest and Romantic Times.

Take online writer’s classes, some are very affordable and provide a wealth of information. Also read in your genre to see what is selling and to learn how to improve different areas of your own writing.

Ella D. Curry, President/CEO of  EDC Creations

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