Burning the Midnight Oils with Victoria Jayne #awriterslife #vampires #werewoves #magic

Cat: How are you today?

Victoria: I’m doing alright, a little tired, but to be expected with a new baby at home.

Cat: Weather beginning to look like spring?

Victoria: Well, it snowed last week to the point where we made a snowman family in our front yard. This week the trees are budding and not a flake in sight. I’d say we rounded the corner on that one. I welcome the warmer weather.

Cat: How long have you been writing:

Victoria: The first time I remember writing a story would be in high school. I want to say I was about fifteen or sixteen. We had a substitute for English who told us to write a short story about having a day off from school. I remember being so excited about mine, and I really poured my heart into it. I don’t remember the response, but it was 1998 or 1999, and I wrote about skipping school and someone dying in a shooting. I’m surprised I didn’t wind up in the principal’s office. That year I wrote my first novel (about a vampire who hunts at the Rocky Horror Picture Show) and novella, which I still have printed out in my basement somewhere.

Cat: Do you have a full-time job?

Victoria: Yes. I work 9a-5p for the state of New Jersey. I work for the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

Cat: do you have a set schedule to get your writing done and everything else?

Victoria: At midnight, I attend to some momly duties, and get to bed around 1:30am, probably fall asleep at about 2am. I wake up at 6am to attend to momly duties again, and then shower, and help my husband get our girls ready in the morning before I leave between 8am & 8:30am to go to work. I’m at work until 5pm and then drive home. I pick up the girls bring them home and attend to some more momly duties at 6pm. Then I give the girls their dinners, play with them, and then put them to bed by 9pm. My kids are two years old and 4 months old. From about 9:30pm until 1am, I am watching TV with my husband, I have my lap top open, and I’m either writing, working on marketing, or roleplaying on second life. I do try to squeeze in some writing during my lunch hour at work too.

Cat: Publisher or self-publish

Victoria: I signed with a publisher in September 2018 for my debut novel, a paranormal romance. It released Dec 4, 2018 and I was elated. It’s a paranormal romance, a ferocious market. There are many avid readers, I am one of them. The problem laid in marketing. I didn’t know how to market myself. So after 6 weeks, my publisher dropped me. This was my dream, I had always thought it was something I’d never achieved. From the moment I wrote my first novel at 16 I wondered what it would be like to be published. Now I know. I wasn’t about to let something as little as marketing keep me down. So, with the blessing of my publisher, I got my rights back, and I self-published through KDP and I am doing my best to market myself.

Cat: How did you decide?

Victoria: Let’s see, my current book is not my first attempt at publishing. I didn’t try to get my work from 16 years old published. I might one day. I’d have to do a lot of editing. I’ve grown so much as a writer since then. But I did query a book around in 2014. I got over 80 rejections and I shelved it. It needs extensive editing. My own naivety had me shopping it around before the manuscript was ready.

I wrote THE WITCH OF THE PROPHECY’s first draft during NaNoWriMo 2017. I did three rounds of edits and thought I was golden. I did 50 queries, and really did my homework. I was on manuscript wish list and I was on twitter, I followed everyone who was anyone looking for paranormal romance. I used query tracker, I really beat the pavement. I stalked the writing industry. I still do.

One publishing house requested a full. I was over the moon. I submitted, they offered a revise and resubmit, I did it. They ultimately passed. I had a taste of the thrill that was publishing. Someone, in the industry, had been interested in my concept, in my story. I wanted to build on that. So, I turned that rejection into motivation and reached out to an editor someone recommended on twitter.

I love her. I will shout her name from the rooftops any time anyone asks for recommendation on an editor Vicky Brewster is amazing. The support she gave me, the feedback, the help it helped me believe in myself again.

With her edits I submitted my new manuscript to a few more publishers, this time I bypassed agents. My book has vampires in it. I love vampires. I love shifters. In my research, I found very few agents who were open to vampires and shifters. This market is saturated. It’s hard to get noticed, so I get it. An agent’s job, as I understand it, is to find what will sell, and preferably easily. With a market so thick, it’s hard to stand out.

So, I decided to look into smaller publishing houses, ones that focused on eBooks. I even reproached the original publisher who had offered the revise and resubmit, and she graciously agreed to look at it again. This time around, I got two requests for fulls and then 2 contract offers.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I know nothing about marketing. I mean, now I know more than I did then, but at the time, I knew squadoosh. So, I opted for the publisher that offered some sort of marketing ideas. Even though my publisher dropped me, I still am indebted to her. She gave me the confidence to put my book out there.

Cat: Do you ever feel like giving up?

Victoria: Yes. When I look at my sales, and I go a day without selling a book, or if I see a negative review, I do. My stories are like my babies, I put them out into the world, they should be loved as I love them. I remind myself that it’s not my writing that’s failing, it’s my marketing. They are two different things. I have a great support system. My husband is my biggest champion. Anytime my book comes up, he tells me how proud he is of me and how writing a book is no easy task. My friends tell me how amazing it is that I have a book. During those down times, I try to remind myself that I have a book. I have a book that people in the industry thought was worth selling. I have story ideas, and I did it. I got published. Now, the next goal is “Best Seller.”

Cat: Book Coming out?

Victoria: So, I have begun the outside editing process to the sequel to THE WITCH OF THE PROPHECY. It’s called THE WOLF OF THE PROPHECY. This is a trilogy, so I am working on the third installment THE VAMPIRE OF THE PROPHECY.

THE WOLF OF THE PROPHECY picks up where we left off in THE WITCH OF THE PROPEHCY. Aric and Rori are looking for Divina. Divina is looking to escape the prophecy. Magical stuff happens, and of course some romance. All the while the prophecy continues to play out despite everyone’s attempts to buck it.

I plan on self-publishing the rest of this series. My cover designs will be done by Cover Couture, she is really a talented woman. I love her customer service, and her creativity. It amazes me that she can bring my characters to life.

I will also be using not only Vicky Brewster for edits but also Hot Tree Editing. They did wonderful work with my first book, and I would like to keep things consistent.

The genre is paranormal romance. It should be out the summer of 2019.

Title: The Witch of the Prophecy
The Prophecy series book 1
Victoria Jayne
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Divina’s had it with the prophecy.
The vampire whose heart beats for a witch that belongs to a wolf shall save us all. He shall take his throne and rule over all kinds. If not, the vampire who belongs to the witch will end all kinds.
Divina’s not convinced the prophecy is about her. Her manipulative vampire ex-boyfriend, Rori, is reluctant to give up his love for her to pursue the throne. Meanwhile, the wolf shifter meant to claim Divina doesn’t believe in the prophecy. However, he does believe Divina is his mate.
With the pressures of the prophecy and the most powerful coven in the present-day United States, Divina is left to choose between complying with the prophecy and mating with Aric—or leaving it all behind to allow the catastrophic possibility of supernatural beings getting exposed to humans.
The Witch of the Prophecy is the first in a Trilogy. Combining the angst of a love triangle with the drama of the supernatural and a splash of heated passion takes the reader on an exciting journey. The Witch of the Prophecy is perfect for fans of Charlaine Harris, L.J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer. 

You can buy it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MMFMJJD

Meet Victoria Jayne:

Growing up on the Jersey Shore, Victoria was an insatiable reader. She adored getting lost in the worlds others created for her. During her early teen years, she enjoyed the works of R.L. Stein and S.E. Hinton. As she got older, she drifted into the worlds provided for her by Anne Rice, Suzanne Wright, J.D. Tyler, Joanna Wylde, Cherise Sinclair, Dianne Duvall, and Elisabeth Naughton, to name a few. These writers spawned her love affair with both the romance genre and the world of the supernatural.
Victoria started writing as a hobby while still in high school. Now her days are spent writing, enjoying time with her husband, and her two children. She still lives in New Jersey. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and New Jersey Romance Writers. Victoria is a New Jersey Devils Hockey fan, an avid SecondLife Roleplayer, and a Netflix binge watcher.

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