J.J.’s Comments (group member since Apr 09, 2010)

J.J.’s comments from the Q&A (and brownies) with J.J. Murray group.

I did some research, and only 45,000 titles (of the many millions of titles out there) are available for whispersync. I'm not "big" enough yet I guess. Since whispersync seems to be the wave of the future, though, I imagine some of my future titles will be whisper-synced (is that a word?). Until then ...

Call it romance!

My next title (Until I Saw Your Smile) is romantic comedy suspense, and Kensington simply markets it as contemporary romance.

According to the head fiction buyer at Barnes & Noble, chick lit is dead. According to many literary agents, it's only on hiatus until the quality improves. Chick lit flourished until the market became saturated with inferior "knock-offs" like so many other sub-genres.

If your novel has a first-person female narrator who's generally whiny, full of angst, and lives on the surface, it's most likely chick lit.

Yes, it is, Denise!

Update: You Give Good Love debuts on September 24, 2013. .

You Give Good Love is the new title of my Fall 2013 title, and Until I Saw Your Smile been accepted by Kensington for publication ... after an incredibly long wait. My editor has been swamped.

A Good Man comes out in March 2013, You Give Good Love debuts in October 2013, and Until I Saw Your Smile (working title) arrives in March 2014. Coupled with my new H. M. Mann Kindle title (Sisters of Grace), that will give me four titles in fifteen months.

It's going to be an exciting year!:~)

Sisters of Grace will be available for purchase for the Kindle by midnight tonight (November 29, 2012). I know you will enjoy it!

I have also placed all but Paint (my bestseller ... the boys still need new shoes) in a 5-day FREE holiday giveaway from November 30-December 4. Stock up!

I promise to be more active. This is going to be an incredible year for me with this new Kindle title and three Kensington titles coming out within the next fifteen months.

I have revised Renee and Jay 2, and it is now available worldwide as a Kindle book. It was selling in Italy as of midnight last night!

In 2004, I printed and sold 525 copies of this book, some of which still exist but are hard to find for less than $20. I'm only charging $2.99 for the Kindle edition, so if you know anyone who has wanted to read this book, please let them know.

UNTIL I SAW YOUR SMILE is done, done, done. All I have to do is send it.

I got to go through the edit for THE PERFECT GIFT electronically for the first time. Kensington is finally into the 21st Century. It's kind of cool. My novel appears on the left, and the copy editor's marks and remarks appear on the right. I simply make corrections or OK her corrections and ... I don't have to send anything in the mail. It also seemed to take less time.

I have posted the new cover here and on my website (JohnJeffreyMurray.com). I like it very much.

Nyeisha wrote: "Are you available on the Nook as well?!"

Sorry! I am (well, "H. M. Mann" is) exclusive to the Kindle for now.

Romantic Times has given I'll Be Your Everything four and a half stars!

Here's the link to the review:

Romantic Times Review of I'll Be Your Everything

In the meantime ...

I'm giving away lots of H. M. Mann Kindle titles (over 5,000 and counting) and working on Sisters of Grace, an IR romantic comedy that takes place at a country church in Alabama and features my first love triangle.

Having two sisters (in every sense of the word) fight over one man ... priceless.

Every Dog, a multicultural, coming-of-age, action-tragi-comic romance (yes, it's all that) under my pseudonym H. M. Mann, should be available on Amazon for download to your Kindle on 2/26/12.

This is the novel Kensington has been sitting on for over two years, and I'm tired of waiting for folks to read it.

The novel stars David Planter, who is one of my favorite narrators so far. The story takes you from David's dysfunctional childhood to a detention center (where I work) to several dysfunctional multicultural romances to the U. S. Army to marriage to his soul mate to Afghanistan ... and you will learn that the lightning of love sometimes strike twice because every dog will have his day.

... for the Kindle Lending Library as of 2/25/12. If you own a Kindle and are an Amazon Prime member, you can "borrow" my titles for free with no due date for the next 90 days.

Look for all 11 of my titles under the pseudonym H. M. Mann.

I finished the first draft of Until I Saw You Smile (or The Love that Sets You Free) yesterday after running it through the most evil grammar checker known to the universe. PICKY!!! (But this is an essential step if you want to be published ...)

I'ma gonna let it percolate for a spell before I find, oh, six or seven consecutive hours to add some more "texture," those significant details that make the work richer and more complex.

You ask, "Why didn't you add texture as you wrote it?" I did, but I can always add more, especially in the area of setting and physical description. I have to put the reader in the Bronx, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Manhattan, Queens, the VA Hospital, a coffee shop, a courtroom, a theater, a couple restaurants, on a bunch of streets ... And there are more people in this novel than in any of my other novels. They deserve to be "seen" by the reader.

For those of who you who like to experiment with point of view: This novel is tight third throughout from Matthew's POV, so we only "hear" his thoughts. This is a departure from many of my books, but I feel confident you will enjoy his mind--as well as the rest of him. Tight third is usually most effective when writing short stories, so I amazed myself that I could extend it to 120,000+ words.

I posted part of my first review for I'll Be Your Everything from Publisher's Weekly on my website. To see it, please go here: J. J.'s Website

It only took 12 years for PW to notice my books. The entire review sounds noncommital at times but it ends well.

I'm about to break 100,000 words, so I thought I'd drop back into the real world for a spell.

I have a number of titles for this book, none of which Kensington will like:

ANYTHING FOR LOVE
EVERYTHING FOR LOVE
UNTIL I SAW YOU SMILE
UNTIL I SAW YOUR SMILE
THE HALF THAT MAKES ME WHOLE

Okay, they're getting too long to fit on the cover.

In Chapter 24 (of @ 35), Williamsburg (Brooklyn) has just survived a blizzard, and our couple (Angela and Matthew) has just finished an erotic game of Sorry!--and the laundry.

What else are you supposed to do during a blizzard?

Chapter 25 promises to be a busy chapter with interesting use of a coffee shop after hours, his cell phone blowing up because of his exes, and a phone call from his parents where he "introduces" her to them for the first time.

I'll write that one while my Jeep is getting its oil changed in the morning. That's right--I write everywhere. (I'm also taking a day off from teaching on a Wednesday! Shh. Don't tell.)

How y'all doin'? :~)

Under H. M. Mann (human). All are IR books Kensington (and other publishers) passed on because they're not exactly "happily ever after" romances. Too gritty, I guess. I did a LOT of experimenting with them, especially when it came to mixing genres. You'll see what I mean when you read the descriptions.

Interesting and twisted as always, V.

You need to have someone follow you around with a camera. You are a reality TV show all by yourself.

I'm always a little slow (ask anybody). Welcome to the group.

I, too, have books on Amazon (using a pseudonym), but they aren't selling very well. Maybe you could give me some tips.

Sorry for the silence. I've been holidaying (no, it's not a word) and not writing a durn blasted thing ...

... until recently. :~)

I have outlined the thing, know where I want to go, and know how I want to end it, but I want to make it as authentic as possible. Thus, I need your help. You see, I haven't had a date since 1989.



I mean, a real blind date. So ...

I want YOU to describe for me a date (or three) from hell, the deeper the better.

There is, as always, a method to my madness.

I am having my female lead (part Dominican) set up the male lead (a "Matthew McConaughey" type) on five dates from the pits of darkest hell so that he will run screaming to her for "true" romance. She hooks him up with:

*A Trini party girl with the brain of a raisin
*A Haitian (hi V!) somewhat reformed church woman who goes to church 24-7, 365
*A Manhattan socialite who brings her friend with her on the date
*An ex-con from Queens who eventually gets arrested during the date for fighting her ex-girlfriend
*A mixed (and mixed up) "whiter than black" girl who will later stalk him

I mean, what are best friends for, right?

Get to writin', and if I double over laughing, I may use all or part of it, okay?