WELCOME MWD SUBSCRIBER BARBARA JEAN MILLER
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Thursday, 22 August 2024
MWD Subscriber Feature: BARBARA JEAN MILLER
Please welcome author, educator, and nature observer BARBARA JEAN MILLER with a behind-the-scenes look at her writing process and more.
MWD: One of the things I find fascinating about your career is how long you've been publishing and the variety of genres in which you've been successful. Can you share a bit about how you started publishing and something about how the industry has changed since you began? Do you see positives or negatives in the changes? You're an early adopter in the self-publishing industry. Can you add something about that? If you have any predictions about the future of publishing fiction/non-fiction, please share.
BJM: I started with Harlequin and managed eight books with them before they asked me to write Medieval novels. My husband, Don, bought me a broadsword, but I missed my Regencies. I wrote four of those for Pocket Books before they got tired of my time period and me.
So, I started sending books to the Ellora’s Cave Regency line thinking I could advise my SHU (Seton Hill University) students on how to handle electronic submissions and rejections. To my shock Ellora’s accepted them one after another. Unfortunately, Ellora’s Cave went under but gave us back our rights. Since then, The Wild Rose Press has accepted all those Regencies and more.
I like the industry better now. No advances, but that was never free money. If you did not earn out you got dropped. Online presses like The Wild Rose Press give better care and a fair shake. I do appreciate the editing expertise. It used to be easy to get books reviewed. Now with few exceptions you have to pay to have someone review your book. And the exceptions don’t care for Regencies.
Since many electronic books cost what paperbacks used to cost I am worried about adding readers. So much else is free in terms of music and movies. I just hope people continue to enjoy books whether paper or electronic. My favorite non-fiction topics are histories and how-to books. If I had a bookstore, that’s what I would stock.
MWD: Can you briefly describe your writing process for a story from idea to published book?
BJM: My writing process has morphed into just writing dialogue and then filling in all the other words later. Once you get to know your characters they guide you. I don’t plan or structure books anymore. Mine are more organic. Yes, they have crises and dangerous action, but that grows out of the character concerns and the intervention of villains.
MWD: What advice would you give to (a) aspiring writers and (b) established writers?
BJM: If you write something off-beat, don’t be afraid to bring it out yourself (self-publish) on Amazon. It will be right there on your Amazon author page with all your other books. At least mine are now all together after I inserted my middle name. There are hundreds of Barbara Millers, but only two Barbara Jean Millers. If you plan a series it might be best to do it yourself on Amazon or another self-publishing site, so it never gets truncated by a publisher. I advise writers to always have a book under construction, even if you have no idea what to do with it. You must keep writing or you will have bad dreams.
MWD: If you have any future new books coming out, please share.
BJM: We recently brought out the third Laurel Creek Antiques book. Case 4: Missing Madonnas and Case 5: Evidence of Evil. These are collections of cases about works of art and antiques. The Wild Rose Press has just released Good Likeness, another Regency story.
Portrait artist Ann Clayton has a secret. She is desperately trying to support her mother and little brother, while the world thinks her mother is dead. Brixton Tremont, a disillusioned war veteran, decides to rescue Ann and marry her. With his father’s aid he spirits her away to the family estate to paint portraits of everyone. When Ann learns his father is in love with her mother, she reveals Evelyn Clayton lives and has a young son who is heir to an estate. The happy future both couples hope for is shadowed by attempts on Ann’s life and the abduction of a child.
Thank you, Barb! You are an inspiration to us all. 😊
CONNECT WITH BARB ON SUBSTACK. She publishes serial fiction for all readers.
https://substack.com/@barbarajeanmiller
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JOY E. HELD is an author, educator, editor, entrepreneur, and literary citizen responsible for this site and its contents. She is the author of
Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020)
Writer Wellness Workbook: A Guided Workbook and Journal to Accompany Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2023)
The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, 2024) Young Adult Historical Fantasy
She writes spicy historical fiction under a pen name.
She is the winner of multiple writing and book awards:
West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest, Honorable Mention, Novel, 1998.
New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention, Writer Wellness, 2020.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Writer Wellness, 2021.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, Member of the Year, 2020.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, First Book Award, 2020.
She is an adjunct faculty member in the Southern New Hampshire University Online MFA Creative Writing.
She is a proud graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction.
She is a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Joy is the founder and CEO of My WRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers and readers.
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