I have the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Lynne today.  Please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of her book.  Thank you.

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1. 1.      How did you get started writing?

I feel as if I’ve always written. I was certainly hooked on romance reading through my teenage years (blame Mary Stewart’s Nine Coaches Waiting and the mysterious Raoul for that!). But it wasn’t until I was at university, studying Literature, that I got into romance writing. Someone dared me to write a Mills & Boon, so I did, and sent it off. Of course it was rejected. They told me I had a strong  voice, but needed to learn about emotional punch.

I joined a then fledgling organisation, Romance Writers of Australia, way back when there were only a handful of members (they are huge today!). I devoured my monthly issue of Hearts Talk, the RWA newsletter, and my spare time was spent writing romance, while my day job included business and corporate writing in marketing and PR. But fear of rejection stopped me submitting a manuscript again until many years later.

After a difficult and painful divorce I realised I had to try and live my dream. So I rewrote an erotic romance I’d been working on, Seducing Serena, and subbed it to Red Sage. They bought it for their Secrets Volume 28 anthology, Sensual Cravings, which released in 2009, and after 20 years, my  writing career was born!

2.    What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write mainly in contemporary erotic romance, usually with a touch of the paranormal. I also have a sensual romance (slightly lower heat level) called Educating Ethan that will be out from Breathless Press in February. Regardless of the level of heat, I’ve always written in the romance genre. I read across many genres – including classical literature, young adult, fantasy, mystery, thriller, you name it. But when I analyse what I like to read, there is almost always an element of romance in the story. I love chemistry between characters, and I love the possibility that romance offers for a happy ever after.

3.    Tell us about your current series.

I published my first indie romance in December. Platinum Passion (Gods of Love #1) is the first in a series of stand-alone novellas with the erotes as a common theme. So who are the erotes? There are many different versions of the ancient Greek erotes myth, but the one I like is that they are aspects of the primal god of love, Eros, and the children of Aphrodite, goddess of love and sexuality. The erotes in my stories include Pothos – the god of sexual yearning, Himeros – the god of sexual desire, and Anteros – the god of requited/unrequited love.

Platinum Passion blurb:

Three people. One erotic fantasy. And a twentieth wedding anniversary like no other.

 

Jeannie yearns for the return of passion in her marriage. Jake wants new excitement in the form of another man, in a way that won’t upset the balance of his relationship with his wife. Pothos is one of the erotes and an aspect of Eros, the Olympian god of desire. On the last night of winter this couple’s distinctive yearning has called to him, and by the power of the erotes he intends to rekindle the flame of Jeannie and Jake’s passion in a night of desire that could be the ultimate platinum anniversary gift.

 

And when the gods of love decide your marriage needs a boost, they never do it by halves.

 

Platinum Passion is available from Amazon,  Smashwords and All Romance ebooks.

Right now I’m in the midst of writing Aphrodite Calling (Gods of Love #2), about Himeros, the Greek god of sexual desire, and I’m happily in story development on Gods of Love #3, tentatively titled Sex Club Secrets – Anteros is turning out to be quite a naughty god.

4.    What is your favorite part of writing?

My favorite part of writing is when the muse is right there. I have the scene in my head. I know exactly what the characters are going to do and say and my fingers can’t type fast enough to keep up with the creative buzz going on in my mind. Love it! When I get to the end of that spurt of inspiration and read it back, and it actually sounds ok – yeah. Really love that bit.

I also love it when readers contact me personally to discuss my stories. Not long after my first erotic romance, Seducing Serena, came out, I got an email from someone thanking me, and saying that I had inspired them to follow their dream and write a book. Wow! That is something to treasure.

5.    What is your least favorite part of writing?

When I’m sitting at the computer and nothing is there. No idea what to write next. Just a big, blank screen. Erk. Bad feeling. Best thing to do at that point is get up and walk away. Do something else for a while and let it stew in the back of your mind. Eventually, something stirs, and even if it’s not genius, it is usually enough to start the process going again. I can always go back and edit it later, right?

6.    What is your next project and when will it be released?

I have quite a few projects on the go at present.

My next release will be Educating Ethan, a sensual romance with a tentative release date from Breathless Press of February 24^th. This one is an older woman/younger man story, about two people who need to learn how to put aside the past and live for the moment.

Short blurb: When the much younger Ethan moves in to Ida’s neighborhood, an innocent flirtation quickly becomes passionate. But who is educating who in this cougar encounter?

In addition to Aphrodite Calling (Gods of Love #2) and Sex Club Secrets (Gods of Love #3), I’m also developing an erotic fairy tale idea – a straight M/F romance but with plenty of spice.

My aim is to have all of these stories written and released some time during 2012.

7.    What is your typical day like?

I don’t have a typical day, unfortunately. I would love to have a set routine with time that I know can be used for writing, but I have too many other commitments to be able to do that at this stage. I have a day job, a fiance, two teenage daughters and two young adult stepchildren, most of whom need my time – and taxi skills. Why is it that children take up more of your time the older they get?

I’ve also had a few health hiccups during the past year that have eaten into valuable writing time. I had a breast lump (benign), minor stomach surgery, a blood clot in my hand, and topped it off with shoulder surgery which put me out of action from August to December. I decided to make the time work for me as much as possible, and wrote Platinum Passion with my left hand only, tapping it out VERY slowly in between resting and physiotherapy appointments! A crazy year, for sure. One good thing about convalescing at home, though, was my realisation that I have to write in order to be fulfilled. So from now on, that is definitely a priority.

8.    How much time do you spend promoting your books?  What works best for you?

With Platinum Passion I’ve spent a lot of time on promotion, simply because it is my first self-published work and I feel it is part of my “job” as an indie author to market to the best of my ability. What works? I like the Goodreads site – it is a community full of book lovers, just like me. I think guest blogging is a great tool, but it is time consuming because you need to think up topics that will hopefully appeal to the readers on the particular site you are visiting (and not just promote your book to the exclusion of anything else). Do giveaways and contests with your guest posts, too. Interviews are always great – but even there it can be hard because you are exposing a little piece of yourself every time you answer questions. Having your own website and blog is probably my number one suggestion for any author in terms of developing an online presence.

9.  How has your experience with self-publishing been?

I’m very new to self-publishing. Platinum Passion was my first indie release, but so far the journey has been exciting. I had two traditionally published stories prior to Platinum’s release, and while there are pro’s and con’s to both types of publishing, the main plus to self-publishing for me has been the level of control I have over the process – from the story itself, to the cover design, to timing of release, decisions about where to sell, the price, promotion and marketing, you name it. It is all in my hands. That, in itself, can also be a negative. There is so much more work involved when you have to do it all yourself! My intention is to keep doing a mix of both indie and traditional publishing, if I can. There is definitely a good feeling when you are part of a traditional publisher’s “family”, just as there is an indie author “family” out there as well. The best of both worlds, hopefully!

10.  What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?

I would say go for it. You can self-publish at very low cost, particularly if you shop around for editors, cover designers, formatters and even book marketing companies. What have you got to lose? If it stays in your drawer, or in your head, or half-written on the computer, you’ll never have the joy of seeing your published work out there – either in print or on the web. When you hit the “publish” button on Amazon, it is one of the scariest yet most exciting moments you can have as an author.

On a practical level, join some indie chat groups. Look for them on Yahoo. Follow self-published authors on Twitter or Facebook and see what they do. You will learn mountains of things you didn’t know before, especially from some of the chat groups on Yahoo. Do a Google search to find blogs that provide advice for self-published authors. There are plenty out there. I’m learning every day.

And finally, don’t expect that once you’ve published your first book, you can just sit back and relax. You need to get out there and promote through blogging, approach review sites, be active on social media. Then get back in your writing seat and start the next one. It is not easy self-publishing. There are days of doubt and fear and exhaustion. But if you’re up for a challenge, the reward is that you will be a published author. Nothing better than that!

Find Jen on the web at:

 

Website/blog  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon