1. Have enough passion about your brand/product that you appear alarming. (This one’s easy for me.)
2. Know more about your topic/product/genre than 98% of the population. (I interview experts and do research for every novel. I also read everything I can about the publishing industry and crime fiction, in particular.)
3. Choose an attribute somewhere between extraordinary and outright offensive. Stand out! (I’ve latched on to the words provocative and mystery/suspense to describe my stories. I could do more of this though.)
4. Treat your brand as if it were normal, not just a publicity stunt. (Yep. It’s who I am. Everywhere I post, I’m always L.J. Sellers. )
5. Work yourself silly at branding for nine months to
 three years. Don’t quit during a lull. Only the tenacious survive. (I’m coming up on three years of 70-hour weeks and I see it paying off. Finally!)
6. Sell something while you’re establishing your brand. Even if you think it’s not working, stick with it and keep
 selling. (I’ve been selling all along and recently added three books to my portfolio.)

Writers: Do you use branding tactics in your promotional approach?
Readers: Do your favorite authors have clear brands (or characters or themes?) Is that what attracts you?

Enter to win one of five free copies by e-mailing me with “Win The Baby Thief” in the subject line. The e-books are available in epub and mobi formats.

Here’s the back cover copy.
Jenna visits a fertility clinic, hoping to be artificially inseminated, but the clinic doctor takes one look at her patient and makes other plans. The doctor and her lover conspire to kidnap Jenna and steal one of her eggs—a simple procedure that the “donor” should no have memory of. Yet from the beginning, things go terribly wrong.

“A powerful, highly recommended, and cautionary tale about the dark side of fertility science.”
—Midwest Book Review

“This is an excellent piece of suspense work…a pulse pounding, thrill ride, can’t put down, page-turner of a novel.”—Readersviewpoint.com

Read the first chapter.

Friday morning: Get up 5 a.m. so I can workout and be at KUGN radio station by 7:30 a.m. I have a live interview scheduled with Storm Kennedy. We’re going to talk about my Eugene events for the weekend and my coming feature article in Mystery Scene magazine’s Fall issue.

Friday all day: Once I get home, I’m a guest on Barnes & Noble’s Mystery Book Club Forum hosted by Becke Martin. You should see all the book covers and photos and excerpts she’s put up. It’s like a documentary about me…on steroids. I’ll be responding to reader comments all day. Please stop in.

Saturday: I’m signing the first copies of THRILLED TO DEATH to hit the bookstores. Borders, at Oakway Center, is hosting me from 2–4:30 p.m. I’ve been busy designing new flyers and posters with my terrific new cover and great early reviews. I’ll be giving away a copy of THE SEX CLUB too.

Sunday: I’m hosting my first ever book launch party. I’ve invited 100+ friends as well the public and the media. It will be held at Territorial Vineyards’ bright and lovely wine tasting room (907 W. 3rd) from 2–6 p.m. I’m providing appetizers and giving away free books. I’ve been making lists of what to buy, what to bring, and what to expect. I still need to shop for a new black skirt.

Monday: I’m launching another standalone thriller on Kindle. THE BABY THIEF—“A gripping tale about the dark side of fertility science” (Midwest Book Review)—will be $2.99 like all my other e-books. I’ll host book giveway soon after.

The giveaway will continue until my next standalone thriller, THE BABY THIEF, is released. Then I’ll give the new one away for a while. Even if you don’t win, they’re both on Amazon for $2.99.

Here’s the back cover copy for THE SUICIDE EFFECT.

When Sula overhears a shocking revelation about a drug being developed by her employer, she’s paralyzed with indecision. She desperately needs her job to gain the judge’s favor in a custody hearing for her son. Yet hundreds of patient lives could be at stake.

Two days later when the drug’s lead scientist disappears, Sula is compelled to search for the incriminating data. But Prolabs’ CEO is a desperate man determined to stop her. Can Sula get the proof and expose the drug’s fatal flaw before the CEO risks everything to silence her?

While at the conference, I also pitched the first book in my series, The Sex Club, to a Hollywood manager and to a producer. The manager was very receptive and asked if he could have the copy I had sitting on the table. He said he planned to read the book right away. We’ll see. ☺

The producer also thought The Sex Club had potential as a movie, but he was skeptical about Detective Jackson as a character for a TV series. “Not enough hook.” He also said if the book were made into a movie, the first thing they would do is cut Kera, the Planned Parenthood nurse. Which I found mildly amusing. The story loses a lot of its complexity without her. The guy admitted he hardly ever reads anything, but he took a copy with him. Maybe he’ll give the book to his wife to read. She’ll love it, and say, “You have to make this movie.”

A writer can dream…

Before I started writing the Detective Jackson series, I wrote several standalone thrillers, both with medical themes. (I was a senior editor on a pharmaceutical magazine for years and medical information fascinates me!) I had a terrific agent for the stories, so I know they’re marketable, and it’s exciting to finally get them out for readers to enjoy.

The first, THE SUICIDE EFFECT, is on Kindle now for $2.99, but will soon be available as a print book, mostly through Amazon. Here’s the back cover copy:

When Sula overhears a shocking revelation about a drug being developed by her employer, she’s paralyzed with indecision. She desperately needs her job to gain the judge’s favor in a custody hearing for her son. Yet hundreds of patient lives could be at stake.
Two days later when the drug’s lead scientist disappears, Sula is compelled to search for the incriminating data. But Prolabs’ CEO is a desperate man determined to stop her. Can Sula get the proof and expose the drug’s fatal flaw before the CEO risks everything to silence her?

My early readers say this is a unique and compelling story with terrific characters. I hope you’ll check it out.
Very shortly, I’ll release a second thriller, THE BABY THIEF, a novel unlike any you’ve ever read. I’ll have more details when the book is ready.

What you do think? Am I crazy to do this? Have you self-published e-books?

1. Lust: the anticipation of pleasure, which we crave
2. Mystique: unanswered questions, which intrigue us and makes us want to solve the puzzle
3. Alarm: the threat of negative consequences, which demands immediate response
4. Prestige: symbols of rank and respect, which earn us status and admiration
5. Power: command over people and things, which draws our focus
6. Vice: rebellion against rules, which tempts us toward “forbidden fruit”
7. Trust: certainty and reliability, to which we give our loyalty

What do you think? Aren’t these triggers also the building blocks of a great story and/or character?

It’s hard for me to admit something is too challenging, but that’s the truth of this situation. Because I’m still a full-time freelance editor, as well as a novelist and book marketer, I have a lot going on. I feel overwhelmed most days and my writing time is limited to mornings only. Being creative moments after waking up is challenging enough without trying to write a novel that is outside my comfort zone. That’s part of the reason I wanted to do it, but I’m making such slow progress that it feels like not writing at all.

So I’m setting aside the futuristic thriller  for next year when I hope to have more time and focus to write. My priority right now is to get to a point where I’m actually making money from my novels and can give up some of the freelance work.

Which is why I’ve been in revision/edit mode all year, another reason the novel wasn’t moving forward. First I had to write and submit the second draft of PASSIONS OF THE DEAD (Jackson #4). Then I worked through line edits from my publisher for THRILLED TO DEATH (Jackson #3), which launches in print soon. I also worked through line edits of THE BABY THIEF, a standalone thriller that will publish next year and possibly sooner as an e-book.

If that weren’t enough, I decided to dig out a thriller I wrote years ago and revise it. That took time and focus. The plan is to publish the story, FATAL FLAW, on Kindle as early as next week. Now that Amazon is paying a 70% royalty, the income from this book will take me a step closer to my goal of making a living as a novelist. It’s possible my publisher will release it as a print book someday. It’s also quite likely that print books will become less and less of a consideration when I think about my future as a novelist.

I feel relieved and excited about my new direction, but also a little guilty.
Writers: Have you faced this situation? Have you put aside a novel because you just didn’t feel able to write it at the time?
Readers: When series authors take time off to write standalones, do you get frustrated waiting for the next series book? Do you try their standalones?

Monday morning, a young mother disappears after a doctor’s appointment. Monday evening, a young socialite leaves a risqué lounge and never makes it home. Detective Jackson lands both cases, but at first he can’t find signs of foul play. When the socialite turns up dead, his investigation uncovers her dirty secrets, which complicates everything. The case runs into even bigger trouble with a suspect who hasn’t left his house in a year. Jackson must push all the boundaries to find the connection and answer the question: Where is the other missing woman?

Click here to read an except of the first chapter. To win a copy, post a comment about:

• birthdays
• why you want this book (don’t be afraid to flatter me ☺)
• your best advice for staying cheerful in this down economy (don’t be afraid to make me laugh, please ☺)

One winner will be randomly selected and one winner will be a personal selection based on comments. Please e-mail me too (just click and send) so I have your contact information. Happy July 4 weekend!

Gatekeeper is no longer even the right term. The floodgates of self-publishing have been open for years. In the future Miller imagines, when most books are self-published, what readers may seek instead is a seal of approval or at least a threshold of acceptability. Readers and writers will look for screening services that guarantees a list of books that meet minimum standards of readability.

No one in their right mind reads slush for free, and it seems safe to assume that many authors will be willing, if not eager, to pay to have their book screened with the hope that it will be branded with a seal of approval. Even now Kirkus Reviews, for example, offers a service called Kirkus Discoveries. The website says, “The Kirkus Discoveries program gives independently published authors a chance to obtain an unbiased, professional review of their work, written in the same format as a traditional Kirkus review”—for only $425. Many in the industry are scornful of the service because everyone who pays gets a review.

But if a book-screening service did not guarantee approval or review—just offered an unbiased thumbs up or thumbs down of the novel—would indie authors pay for a chance at approval? Would readers seek out the website to discover new authors?

We’ll soon find out. An author I know has launched such a service at IndieProse.com, with a screening fee of $50. The site says, “Our reviewers will evaluate the professionalism of your cover including images and typesetting. Interior layout will be evaluated and the book will be read for typographical errors, grammatical errors, word use, and writing style. If the work passes all of these tests, it will be read for impact.”

If the book meets both the professionalism criteria and is considered “compelling” by a reviewer, it is given the IndieProse seal of approval. The author then pays an additional $100 fee to be listed on the Indieprose site and to have a review of his/her book posted on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and GoodReads. Authors who don’t pass the screening receive a letter explaining why. (That’s a step in the right direction!)

I think it’s an innovative concept, and I agreed to be the first author to submit a book for screening, even though I’m not self-published. (My small publisher is certainly an indie press though.) I’m relieved to report my novel passed.

In the future, as more books are independently published in a variety of ways, I suspect more such gatekeepers will arise to read the indie slush pile and hand pick the best of the offerings.

What do you think? Authors: Would you use this service?
Readers: Would you visit such a website to discover new authors?