Author: cjconnollybooks

Hi friends! I hope you've been having a great summer - I certainly have been, with my recent New York trip and then a fabulous, near-three-week European vacation that I've just returned from (check out my Instagram profile if you're interested in more on that). While I was in Croatia, the audiobook of The Love… Continue reading For those who like to listen

Last weekend, I attended my second Writer's Digest Annual Conference (third, if you include the annual WD Novel Writing Conference in Pasadena), and I'm still buzzing from it. These events are always completely incredible experiences for writers. So many amazing sessions on craft, publishing, the business side, querying agents, and so on. And so many… Continue reading A hot New York minute

I had my first truly challenging decision to make this past week, regarding my book, and I thought I would share what happened here. Some of you will have followed my posts explaining that a wonderful UK agent, Lorella Belli Literary Agency, is working with my publisher to sell additional publishing rights to other publishing… Continue reading Weighing my first really tough decision

When I was a kid (showing my age here), I used to love mix tapes. And if you were given a mix tape by a friend - or even better, a crush - that was the ultimate compliment. It showed they thought about all the songs you might like, that they like too. It says,… Continue reading A Spotify soundtrack to my story

My debut novel is finally published, and I'm so happy! I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped me along this journey, which was six-and-a-half years in the making. Of course, I've thanked them all in my acknowledgments at the back of the book, which I wrote a while back. But I also want to… Continue reading It takes a village

The learning curve never stops for this newbie author. Not least is the myriad ways in which I've had to expand my social media skills and vocabulary, in order to have the kind of online presence that's expected of authors today. And yes, I'm a Gen X-er, so I'm not exactly dialled into trends. I… Continue reading Becoming a social butterfly

Another ta-da! of good news today. I woke up to an exciting email from my publisher at Joffe Books, forwarding an email from their sub-agent who specializes in audiobook and foreign language rights (remember: the one who sold the audiobook rights to The Love of My Other Life?) Well, this agent, Lorella Belli, had been… Continue reading Getting my work in Czech

It's weird, sending your book-baby out into the world. It feels a bit like what parents must experience when sending their kids off to college for the first time, unsupervised, living independently, and in danger of falling in with the wrong crowd. Although, who am I kidding? I am happily child-free so I have no… Continue reading A life of its own

This week, my publisher sent me the final version of my debut novel's cover. And I love it! But it took me a minute to adjust to it. It's weird, but for some reason - despite The Love of My Other Life being a contemporary romance novel - I wasn't expecting that it would have… Continue reading Flipped expectations on cover art

Listen up, friends! As you know, I was already feeling extremely thankful to have a publishing deal that would see my novel brought to the world via Amazon paperback and e-book. And now I have even more good news! Those of you who read my last post will know that my publisher's sub-agent Lorella Belli… Continue reading An actual auction for audio rights