MJ Summers Appears in Quill and Quire Magazine To Discuss That Six Figure Book Deal

Most self-published authors can only dream of signing a six-figure book deal with a multinational publisher, but that’s the reality for MJ Summers, the pseudonymous author of the contemporary romance novel Break in Two

Frontmatter-02

In July, HarperCollins Canada editorial director Jennifer Lambert acquired Canadian English-language rights to the Edmonton writer’s debut novel – which was self-published as an ebook on Amazon in November 2013 – as well as three follow-up titles and a novella. (Summers also cut a deal for U.K. rights with Piatkus, a division of Little, Brown and Company.)

The novella, Don’t Let Go, was released this summer as a bridge publication. A re- edited version of Break in Two will be released in print in December with a new cover, and book two, Breaking Love, will hit stores the same month (the ebook is out in November). The final two books,Breaking Clear and Breaking Hearts, will be published in April and June 2015, respectively.

It’s a remarkable trajectory given that Summers only started reading romance books in spring 2013. “I really enjoyed them, so I thought, ‘Well, maybe I should try writing something like that,’” she says. The stay-at-home mom began writing­ in April 2013 and finished Break in Two by September. She’d already started building her social-media presence, and hired Nick Wale, a U.K.-based public relations specialist who works with independent authors.

Read the whole article here