Author of Paranormal Romance
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More books!

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Publishing Stuff | Blog - Writing - (4 Comments)

This hit Publisher's Marketplace a little earlier today, and I wanted to share it here. :)

Jill Myles writing as Jessica Clare's WHEN SPARKS FLY, in which a woman seeks romantic revenge on the boy-next-door turned hockey hunk who did her wrong in high school, until they reunite and she finds herself caring more about the romance than the revenge, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley Heat, in a two book deal, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (World English).

I'm really excited about these books! The first one is already half written, so look for it to come out summer of next year. These books are contemporary romances, and, unlike my paranormals, are told from third person POV. So it's a bit of a change for me, but it's still fun, sexy romances. The Berkley Heat line publishes Jaci Burton and Lauren Dane, so I'm going to be in good company!

This IS a trade paperback line, though, so just be warned that the format is going to be a little different than the normal mass market paperbacks.  Jessica Clare is going to be my steamy contemporary name, and I'll continue to post updates here so you don't have to follow a jillion websites to figure out when my books come out.

You might be wondering what this book is about? Both of the sold books are set in a small town in South Texas called Bluebonnet.  In the first one, Miranda Hill is the local librarian, with a naughty, unjustly deserved reputation for being the town slut. It's left her with a few hangups, you see, and she can't get past the moment that her reputation was destroyed. So when the man that destroyed it returns to town, she decides to get her revenge on him...but finds herself falling for him instead.

It's a LOT of fun and I'm so excited to write these!!

Wicked Games – going on sale!

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Publishing Stuff | Blog - Writing | promo | Uncategorized - (2 Comments)

Hi all,

For the rest of March, I'm putting my contemporary romance, WICKED GAMES, on sale for 99 cents. Here's the link:

And here's the blurb:

Abby Lewis never pictured herself on the survival game show, Endurance Island. She’s just not the ‘survival’ type. But when her boss offers her a spot on the show and the opportunity of a lifetime, she packs her bags and heads to the tropics to be a contestant.

Once in the game, it’s clear that Abby’s in over her head. The game itself is full of competitive, aggressive people, and no one’s more aggressive than sexy, delicious – and arrogant – Dean Woodall. Sure he’s clever, strong, good at challenges, and has a body that makes her mouth water. He also hates Abby just as much as she hates him. That’s fine with Abby; she’ll just ignore the jerk.

But the rules of Endurance Island are working against them. Abby and Dean are teamed up – alone – on the beach. It’s either work together, or go home. Stuck with no one else’s company but their own, they learn they do make a good team after all. And that with just a little bit of kindling, the flames of hate can quickly turn to flames of passion…

This book features enemies, lovers, enemies who become lovers, and lots and lots of tropical heat.

#

Right now it's available on Nook and Kindle. If you're international, I'm going to try and get it up on Smashwords this weekend if at all possible, so please be patient with me. :)

Length: 59,000 words

What I’m Up To

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing | promo - (15 Comments)

Hey guys! I know it's kind of quiet over here, but I wanted to give an update on what I'm up to so you don't think I died! :)

 

Update for HEAT - 90% sure that the title will be changed to BEAUTY DATES THE BEAST. I like it because it's fun and frisky, much like my stuff! What do you think? There's some other stuff going on with BDTB and as soon as I have stuff to share, I will keep you all posted. :)

Update for Succubus #4 - right now I'm calling this SUCCUBI ARE FOREVER. And I have one chapter written. And I will have more info on it soooooon, my pretties. Soon.

 

Update on Kindle Projects - Okay, so those that follow my journal and have for a long time know that I try to keep a project going at all times. AT ALL TIMES. This means that a lot of stuff that I write never makes it to New York or my publisher. Sometimes I'm not happy with the way a project turns out because I'm really picky. Sometimes I'm waiting on revisions. Sometimes I start something and never finish it. I have a 'crap I need to finish' folder that's getting larger than it should. And sometimes I finish something and it's just not right for NY publishing. Maybe it's only 55k instead of the 85k+ it should be. Maybe it's a weird genre. Maybe it's both. Anyhow, I have a few projects that have sat on my computer for a long time while I pondered what to do with them. MIRRORLIGHT was one, and I ended up Kindle-ing it. It's actually done really well and I'm really happy with it, so I'm going to Kindle a few more things. Starting with...

 

My conquistadors and dinosaurs book. I always talk about this one as my 'weird' project but it's really not THAT weird. I've always been fascinated by the Bermuda Triangle, and for Nanowrimo one year, I decided to write a Bermuda Triangle book. What if this chick's plane goes down in the Bermuda Triangle and she's stranded on a deserted island? Except the island is not so deserted? It's full of dinosaurs and neanderthals and bugs the size of her arm. It's a place where time doesn't exist properly, and those that are shipwrecked there end up staying for longer than they anticipated. It also has a rather sexy Spaniard for a hero. This book is just a hair under 60k, and it's sweet and romantic and fun (I think). So I stuck it up on Kindle and Nook. BEHOLD THE MANTITTY GREATNESS:

Now, my husband was not thrilled to make a mantitty cover for me, but he did a spectacular job, I think! Anyhow, if you want to read ISLAND HEAT, it's available on Nook and Kindle for $2.99 and I hope you enjoy it. :) There's an excerpt (a short one!) on both the Amazon and B&N pages if you click. This weekend, I'm going to take a stab at getting my stuff up on ARe if you are international and want to read.

(And if you are one of my book blogging peeps and want a review copy, please do let me know.)

 

But that's an OLD project, right? What am I doing right now, since I find myself between deadlines? Why, I'm working on another Kindle/Nook project. This one is set in the Succubus Diaries universe, but it's not about Jackie. (BLASPHEMY, I know). This one is actually about a woman named Olivia who was once a demimonde courtesan and was turned into a succubus against her will. She hasn't had an easy time of oh, say, the last 120 years because her vampire master has been cruel to her, so she's a little bit more broken and brittle around the edges, and she is totally pulling at my heartstrings. I cannot wait to write a happy ending for her, which sounds totally dippy, but it's true! Anyhow, this one is all ironed out on paper and I'm about halfway done with it. It's probably going to be around 30k long, and it'll be going up on the Kindle/Nook as well. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and even if you don't want to buy it, that's okay! Noah has a role in the story, but it is absolutely not going to be essential to read it to follow along with the regular Succubus Diaries books.
Intrigued? Here's a snippet - let me know what you think! (click on the 'more' tag at the bottom of the post)

(more...)

Mirrorlight is available on Kindle & BN

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Publishing Stuff | Blog - Writing | promo - (8 Comments)

Thanks to the awesome powers of some truly wonderful critiquers, I got wonderful feedback on how to fix my novella, and spent all weekend tweaking due to their suggestions. The result is now up on Kindle and BN.com for 99 cents.

The description:

When Cora Grames is abandoned in England at a haunted castle, she feels very sorry for herself…until she sees the sexy man in the mirror that only appears to her. And when she finds out that she can touch him, he suddenly becomes more than a fantasy. But how can she fight for a man that doesn’t exist in her time?

This novella (19k) includes a man that might be a ghost, a neighbor that might be a fairy godmother in disguise, and possibly sex involving a mirror.

If you read it, please let me know what you think!

All work & no play

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing - (4 Comments)

Makes Jill go stir-crazy.
I took tonight off from massive edits on my next Pocket book. It's not that it sucks, it's just that it needs to be better. I'm ripping out huge portions and layering in a brand new plot that I'm really pleased with, but it's a lot of mind-breaking work in the meantime. I finished draft 3 last night and I'm about to start draft 4, which will entail rewriting about 7 or 8 key scenes. Then I'm doing yet another read-through to make sure everything is coherent and then doing the last cleanup round. If I'm still nervous about it at that point, I'll fling it at my unsuspecting agent and cry on her shoulder. Or something.

In the meantime, I'm going to be kind of loosey-goosey and mostly not here until I get it done. Maybe end of January? Maybe earlier if I'm lucky? (Please, pleeeease let me be lucky.)

:)

Last Night

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing - (3 Comments)

I dreamed that I was going to catch a flight. But when I went to catch the flight, the taxi dropped me off at the wrong airport. And then I realized as I got into a new cab, that I had left my husband at the hotel, so I had to go back and get him.

And then when I got to the hotel, the person at the front desk was all, "Don't forget all your packages!" And I looked behind the counter and UPS had delivered about a dozen brown-paper-wrapped paintings (I don't even know...) that I had to take to a shipping center before I could get to the airport, and when I got to the airport, I had to use the bathroom but I couldn't find the bathroom!

And by the time I got to the ticket counter, I had missed my flight by 5 minutes, and then I started to panic but they said they could get me on another flight, but it was at a different airport...

I think this is stemming from missing my Nano wordcount for two days in a row. I told myself I wasn't bothered by it (I'll catch up over the weekend or when I am on vacation on Thanksgiving week) but apparently my subconscious is bothered by it?
Who knew?

Let’s talk about book comparisons

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing - (0 Comments)

So I was discussing query letters with a friend the other day, and there's one particular portion that a lot of people get wrong and yet almost everyone includes it in their query letter.

Comparisons.

This isn't a debate about whether or not you should even put one in your letter. I think if you do, you need to do it well or else you're shooting yourself in the foot. Some people think it's a bad idea to have a book comparison in your query letter ("It's like Anne of Green Gables meets Predator!"). Some people think it's very beneficial to have one in your query. You have to decide what is best for you - I'm not here to tell you that. Rather, I am here to point out some bad comparisons.

The Stone Age Comparisons - Where you compare your new manuscript to things that came out a jillion years ago. "It's like GONE WITH THE WIND meets THE FAR PAVILIONS!"

Why this is bad - This tells an agent that you haven't read a book in your genre in approximately 80 years. Seriously. When picking comparisons out, your best bet is to pick books that were released in the past 10 years. This shows you are current on your genre, you know what's selling to editors, and you know what kinds of an audience you are pulling in.

The Harry Potter Meets Davinci Code Comparison -- "It will appeal to people that like THE HUNGER GAMES, TWILIGHT and the Harry Potter books."

Why this is bad - Listing the mega-hits of any genre doesn't show that you know anything about the genre itself. It just shows that you know an extremely, extremely popular book. Pick something that wasn't necessarily a mega-huge-bestseller. Pick a smaller book that won awards or has the same kind of tone.  EVERYONE is going to compare their book to Twilight, and you want to stand out. Because who DIDN'T like The Hunger Games, Twilight, or Harry Potter? Seriously.

At the same time, don't be so ridiculously obscure that an agent won't know what book you're talking about.

The CrossGenre that's REALLY CrossGenre -- You think your book perfectly encapsulates that narrow blending of HP Lovecraft and THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID.

What this tells an agent - Who is going to buy this thing, really? Too cross-genre means that your query is going to come across as weird, or too narrow of a market for an agent to be interested in anyhow. Pick things that are relatable, or target the same audience. The average person reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is not the same type of person who might be reading PRINCESS ACADEMY. (They might be, but odds are against it.)

The Two TV Shows That Were Cancelled Way Way Early - It's like Dead Like Me meets Dollhouse!

What this tells an agent - Yes...because those two were so very, very successful, right? Riiiight. Picking TV shows that were cancelled after one season means there was NO AUDIENCE FOR IT. Don't compare your book to things that failed. Which brings me to...

The Comparison to TV Shows/Movies/Video Games - My book is just like Battlestar Galactica if it was set in the Final Fantasy Universe!

What this tells an agent - You...do realize you're trying to sell a book, right? While I realize that it's so so so hard to not compare your book to that one perfect movie that encapsulates the vibe you're wanting (been there!), resist if you can. You'll impress an agent more by telling him/her that your secondworld fantasy is like Tamora Pierce more than it's like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

The Two Things That Sound Nothing Like Your Book - You've just talked for three paragraphs lovingly detailing how your book is a medical romance involving the lives of two rival doctors who are hot for each other...and then compare your book to Dean Koontz and Diana Gabaldon.

What this tells an agent - Either you have no clue what your book is about, or your query is completely misleading. Both are bad.

What you should do when comparing your book? Pick two things in your genre (or that might appeal to the same audience). Preferably books that had a moderate amount of success and have a similar tone. Explain why you are picking these things - do they share a similar brand of humor? Are they both about vampire princesses? Splain, Lucy. Splain. But keep it short. Show that you know your genre and the current market, and how your book would fit perfectly there.

Your mileage may vary on all of this. These are simply my opinions.

Zombie Fairy Tales

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing | promo - (3 Comments)

If you haven't read the free shorts here on my website, I've bound them all into a handy-dandy collection on Smashwords (and soon on Kindle). It's $0.99 cents if you buy there (and free here! just not in a file with a pretty cover). My husband also did the lovely art of the zombie girl on the cover. Isn't it cute? You can click on the cover to go to the Smashwords website if you are so inclined.

Again, there's no new tales in there - it's just an easy-to-download format if you're looking for something to read and enjoy, and you like my weird stories. WEIRD!

Zane’s Tale now up!

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Succubus Diaries | Blog - Writing | promo - (12 Comments)

If you wanted to read Zane's Tale, it's now available exclusively on the Pocket After Dark website:

http://pocketafterdark.com/_Exclusive-Zanes-Tale-a-free-short-story/blog/2727931/159176.html

It's totally free - all you have to do is sign up and poke around the community. It's a lot of fun and they have other free reads as well. It's going to be a limited time offer on the story, though - after a few weeks, I'm going to take it down and then kindle/b&n it. So go read it and tell me what you think!

Weekend Work

Posted by Jill Myles in Blog - Writing - (3 Comments)

Despite me thinking I wasn't going to get a lot done this weekend, I got a surprising amount accomplished! I put the finishing touches on a work project that's been looming over my head for about six weeks, finished the Zane short, and pulled out an old project that I never finished and read it from cover to cover. I liked it so much that I outlined the ending of said project and got about 7 pages in it tonight. Go figure!

As for the Zane short, if you want to read it...stay tuned. :) I am working on getting it available this week or so. It'll take place between Book Two (SUCCUBI LIKE IT HOT) and Book Three (MY FAIR SUCCUBI) in case anyone was wondering what Zane was up to...