M.J. Rose Quotes

“The owl," he was saying, "is one of the most curious creatures. A bird that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps. They can see in the dark. I find that so interesting, to be mired in reality when the rest of the world is dreaming. What does he see and what does he know that the rest of the world is missing?”

— M.J. Rose

“-As Oedipus learned, the more you run away from what is predetermined the more you run toward it.”

— M.J. Rose

“Needing someone doesn't make you weak, it makes you feel. And feeling is how you know you're alive. -Jack Reacher”

— M.J. Rose

Perfume is magic. It's mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams," he told her once. "What we do is a wonder, an art, and we have a responsibility to do it well.

— M.J. Rose

“The secret, which is not so secret after all, is that the people who we love live on in our hearts, in the beat of our blood.”

— M.J. Rose

“Men are monsters all, and something in them wants to force others to see the world the same way they see it.”

— M.J. Rose

“Spend lavishly on creams. Wash your hair with henna at the first sign of gray. Never spend one minute thinking about what you do not have. And most importantly, indulge in everything but love.”

— M.J. Rose

“Sometimes love worked out, but more often it failed”

— M.J. Rose

“There's an answer to every question even if it's elusive. The Kabbalah tells us that there's a level of our souls where we all connect to all the world's accumulated knowledge. Jung agreed, just used different words and called it the collective unconscious. It manifests itself in an inner voice we all can hear if we listen deeply enough.”

— M.J. Rose

The Kabbalah says if we have not fulfilled our condition during one life, we must commence another ... until we have acquired the condition that fits our reunion with God.

— M.J. Rose

“To be a decent writer you must have both empathy and imagination. While these attributes aid your art, they can plague your soul. You don't simply suffer your own sadness, experience your own longing and worry about your own wife and children, you are burdened with experiencing the emotional states of multitudes of others you don't know.”

— M.J. Rose

Everyone in the tribe believed in life after death and the spirit's ability to be reborn and live again in a new body. The undying soul was unquestioned. Did not the leaves fall off the tree and become part of the soil that nourished the tree which spouted new leaves?

— M.J. Rose

“Every culture has its version. It's universal. One of the things that is most fascinating about studying mythology is how so many of the stories and symbols are the same through the centuries and cultures. Just renamed and slightly altered.”

— M.J. Rose

In your way that I have come to know and appreciate, you did not say anything. You didn't push me to say more. You waited. Your patience is a gift. You trusted our silence.

— M.J. Rose

“Too many people try to assuage pain that can never be eradicated. All you can do is salute the grief, acknowledge that you carry it, too, and that even though we all travel that path alone, we are not alone in traveling it.”

— M.J. Rose

Jersey cows," Eva explained after Jac complimented the luxurious taste. "The butter and cream here are better than anywhere in the world."
"Not that we're prejudiced," Theo teased.

— M.J. Rose

“Sales don't always have anything to do with good or brilliant or original. Sales are about appeal.”

— M.J. Rose

I might have created the phrase 'memory tools', but people have always found talismans to help them meditate into a state of hypnosis where they can access their past lives.

— M.J. Rose

A comprehensive marketing plan involves both online and offline efforts to use and broaden your existing platform to promote your book.

— M.J. Rose

“A curious mind is the most important attribute any man or woman can possess.”

— M.J. Rose

All the marketing and advertising sells the book as what it is and hopes that the book will be displayed so that your readers can find it.

— M.J. Rose

“I know some authors who have gotten $25,000 advances and put it all into marketing, others who allocate $5,000 or $1,000.”

— M.J. Rose

“I think that we need to live our lives for the present ... as if it is our one and only wild and wonderful life.”

— M.J. Rose

I think the most important thing we as writers can do is figure out how we define what success will mean to us and focus on that.

— M.J. Rose

“If no one knows your book is out there, no one will think about buying it. It's as simple as that.”

— M.J. Rose

“In my novels, there are twelve ancient 'memory tools,' all now lost. Each of the 'Reincarnationist' books revolves around a different tool.”

— M.J. Rose

“One Tweet can be heard 'round the world if the right people retweet it and the right people notice it on their feeds.”

— M.J. Rose

“PR and marketing doesn't sell books. It gets attention for them. It sends readers to bookstores and websites to read a few pages.”

— M.J. Rose

“Save yourself some grief. Check with the publicist you hire to see what other books he/she has coming out at the same time as yours.”

— M.J. Rose

There's almost no author alive who isn't weathering the tumultuous changes in the publishing industry.

— M.J. Rose

“They say every writer really just writes about one thing over and over. I guess my one thing is how the past impacts the present.”

— M.J. Rose

“A mystery is a whodunit. You know what happened, but not how or who's behind it. A thriller, or a suspense, is a howdunit. You know what happened, and you usually know who did it, but you keep reading because you want to know how they pulled it off.”

— M.J. Rose

“Back in 1999 and 2000, a few of us ... a very few of us ... Douglas Clegg, Seth Godin and I ... offered free electronic copies of our books in an effort to reach an audience we otherwise wouldn't have reached and to test out a new marketing concept for books. Despite the industry screaming we were crazy, it worked.”

— M.J. Rose

Do send out a newsletter when you have a new book out or are going on tour. Also list relevant event dates and notifications of contests you are running.

— M.J. Rose

“Don't add people to your subscriber list just because they once wrote you a note. Or once answered a note you wrote to them. Don't put your address book into your newsletter database. Let your readers sign up.”

— M.J. Rose

“Estimates are that in 2012, more than 32 million books were available - the explosion, thanks to the ease of self-publishing; 2013 could see even more titles grace our virtual bookstores! That means we are going to be awash in covers and titles, plot descriptions and characters.”

— M.J. Rose

“I grew up in New York and have lived here all my life. I think it's the best city in the world and can write about it with gusto and fervor and passion.”

— M.J. Rose

“I've always felt writing is an art. Publishing is a business. I felt strongly if I was going to write, I would write what I wanted to, and if the 'market' didn't respond, there was nothing I could really do about it.”

— M.J. Rose

In 'Power Play', Finder uses the thriller structure to make pointed observations about gender in the workplace, the corporate caste system, and the true nature of risk in the global business environment.

— M.J. Rose

“Nora Roberts, Stephen King, Lee Child and George R. R. Martin write wildly different books. Their writing, plotting and styles have little or nothing in common. But they all write books and characters that readers find appealing.”

— M.J. Rose

“One of the biggest differences between you and a traditionally published author is that a self-pubbed author is responsible for everything. Not just writing the book - but cover design, editing, producing, distribution, and publicity as well.”

— M.J. Rose

“Paris is an unsolved puzzle. She inspires me in a way that other places don't. And she demands more of me. Just try to write about her without bumping into cliche after cliche.”

— M.J. Rose

Social media buzz can lead to huge successes when people spread the word about something they love and want to share. But authors creating their own buzz? Making their own noise? It's hard to make a lot of noise on our own about our own work. Except, sadly, negative noise.

— M.J. Rose

The most satisfying thrillers send ordinary people into battle against the forces of evil - otherwise known as greed, ego, rage, fear and laziness - and bring them out bloodied but whole.

— M.J. Rose

“There is no debate that social media is a great tool for networking with others in our industry. It can lead to friendships, support, and serendipitous connections with reviewers, agents, reporters, or editors.”

— M.J. Rose

When I do a workshop, there is always at least one author who comes up afterward and asks if I'll take a look at his or her book and consider blurbing it. For some reason, I can turn someone down in e-mail, but when he or she is looking me in the eye, I cave.

— M.J. Rose

“When I sit down to write, I know everything I need to know ... I start writing, and within 30 seconds or 60 seconds, I'm watching a movie. I'm not making this stuff up; the characters are acting it out,and I'm just writing it down.”

— M.J. Rose

You can write the best book you can, and that might still not be enough. Appeal isn't something that most writers can't strive for or identify. It's something even the best agents and editors can't always identify.

— M.J. Rose

“You shouldn't talk about yourself all the time - most of us aren't for sale. Our books are. Talk about them. It's not a question of whether or not you're fascinating on a personal level - it's that your trivia and trials might not have any connection to the tone, tenor and sense of your books.”

— M.J. Rose

There's no one thing you can do to have success, but if you have a plan and you keep doing things, you'll eventually build to a success.

— M.J. Rose