Our featured writer today is our very own Jennifer Schiff. (Her nym is J.) Let’s give her a warm welcome!
If you would like your talent featured in Authors in Our Midst or Artists in Our Midst, send me an email message. Don’t be shy! I have no more Artists or Authors posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.
Finding Gemma Lovegood
by Jennifer Schiff
Hello again, fellow Balloon-Juicers.
I’ve had a very busy nine months, giving birth to two new books—that have nothing to do with Sanibel*—the first of which just came out in May. It’s called Finding Gemma Lovegood, and I realize I’m a bit biased, but I absolutely love this book.
If I had to categorize Gemma, I’d call it a contemporary romance. But it’s not your typical romance novel. Below is a short description.
Assistant editor Hope Halladay has less than a month to find bestselling romance novelist Gemma Lovegood, who’s gone MIA, and get her latest manuscript. But to do so, she must fly to Southwest England and do battle with Gemma’s prickly agent, Oscar Tennant, who doesn’t want to tell Hope where Gemma is.
It’s a battle of wills, with Hope determined to win. But the longer she stays in England and learns about Oscar and Gemma, her feelings change. And soon she must make an important decision that could change everything.
(Click on the image of the jacket for a longer description.)
I like to think the book has something for everyone, including interesting characters, a horse farm for special needs adults and kids, a local pub, delicious scones, and a costume ball (think Bridgerton). If you enjoy books by Jenny Colgan, Emily Henry, and/or Abby Jimenez, or are looking for a relaxing weekend read, you’ll enjoy Finding Gemma Lovegood.
So where do you find this amazing book? The paperback, which retails for $18, is available wherever books are sold online, including Amazon (which pays me the most royalties), Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and BAM. Or you can ask your local bookstore or library to order it for you. It’s also available for the Kindle ($6.99) and on Kindle Unlimited.
For more info about this and all of my books, visit Shovel & Pail Press.
*I still can’t write about Sanibel (Hurricane Ian PTSD), though I’m in the process of writing a book featuring my amateur sleuth from my Sanibel books, Guinivere Jones, set in New York City. It’s called A Mocktail for Murder and should be out late this summer.
WaterGirl
Hi Jennifer, I bet people will have questions. Let us know when you get here?
J.
@WaterGirl: I’m here and happy to answer any questions! (Just emailed you one.)
Baud
Congratulations on the book, J.
raven
My friends had the only house on their street in Cape Coral that didn’t get damaged because it was built after they changed the code. The have lived in Brevard, NC for a couple of years now.
cain
Congratulations on your book!
J.
@Baud: Thanks!
J.
@raven: Wow! They were lucky. Though Cape Coral didn’t suffer as much damage as Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach did. (It was still pretty bad there.)
J.
@cain: Thank you!
Scout211
Congrats on your new book!
I’m a contemporary romance reader so I was interested as you described the book. But you didn’t mention that it’s available as a Kindle Unlimited book! BRB, downloading now.
J.
@Scout211: Thank you! I hope you enjoy it. 😊 (And I wrote in the post that it was on Kindle Unlimited. 😎)
raven
@J.: Yea, their house was built after Andrew and it was 6 inches higher than all the rest. He misses kayak fishing at Pine Isle but not much else.
zhena gogolia
Sounds good, congratulations!
hitchhiker
Can you tell us about Shovel and Pail Press? Interested in how this works, and how you came to choose this route to print.
Thanks, and congratulations on making a new one.
J.
@zhena gogolia: Thanks!
J.
@hitchhiker: So, when I started writing my first book, A SHELL OF A PROBLEM, I decided to self-publish it. I had been an editor for many years (at HarperCollins and other places) and had read about self-publishing and thought I’d give it a go. So I created an imprint, Shovel & Pail Press, which I registered with the IRS. So, technically, I am an author AND a publisher. Though my books are manufactured and distributed by KDP (which sells my books through Amazon) and the Ingram Company (which sells my books to bookstores and libraries). Also, while I technically could publish anyone’s books, I currently only publish my own. (I hire people to create the covers and format the books, but I do the writing and most of the editing myself. Though I have several people read each manuscript before I publish it.) Does that explain it?
kalakal
Congratulations on the new book. Sounds like an intriguing mix of elements
Kristine
If you’ve posted on FB, Instagram, etc, let us know so we can share.
The plot of Gemma brings to mind Elizabeth Peters’ Naked Once More, mostly because of the overall theme of an issue with a manuscript. I adored NOM, so I am eyeing Gemma eventhoughI’mnotaromancereader
Aaaand I bought. It just seems like something my brain needs right now.
J.
@kalakal: Thanks! I worked hard to make it intriguing. :-)
J.
@Kristine: Thanks for getting the book! I’m not familiar with the book you refer to, but I’ll check it out. Also, I’ve posted about FINDING GEMMA LOVEGOOD on Facebook — on my Sanibel Island Mysteries page and on the Shovel & Pail Press page — and also on Instagram. But I haven’t posted a lot about it as people don’t like it when you constantly promote a product or service.
Another lurking lurker
Is there any way to purchase it on a Kobo reader? Sounds like a lot of fun.
Kristine
@J.:
Idk what the proper proportion is of promo to regular posts. I’ve heard maybe 1 in 10, but I’ve seen folks apologize for posting more frequently because it’s around release/preorder time and they need the bump (especially if they’re trad pub).
EarthWindFire
Me too, for the same reason. My historical and current events reading has been a bit taxing lately.
Congratulations, J.! I remember your Hurricane Ian posts. I’m sure it’s still tough but glad to see you back on your feet.
NeenerNeener
Ok, I bought this, and Tinder Fella because the title made me laugh. Have you ever been approached by Hallmark about making movies out of any of these?
J.
@EarthWindFire: Thank you and thanks for getting the book! (I still mourn for my life on Sanibel, but I try not to dwell. You can only go forward, not backward.)
WaterGirl
@Another lurking lurker: Your first comment only shows up after it’s approved manually, which I just did. But I dropped a note to Jennifer so she can go back and find your comment now that it’s visible.
Welcome!
J.
@NeenerNeener: Wow! Thank you. I love TINDER FELLA. It’s a favorite. And right before Covid I had a production company potentially interested in producing my Sanibel mysteries. But they disappeared. (My readers constantly tell me that the books should be on Hallmark, and I agree. But it’s tough to get a meeting when you’re self-published.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
I believe I read an earlier one of your books? I’d have to look to be sure, but this one is on its way to my kindle right now.
J.
@Another lurking lurker: I had to look up Kobo! Sorry, it’s currently just available as an ebook for the Kindle (and on Kindle Unlimited nlimited).
J.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thank you for getting GEMMA! 🥰
Another lurking lurker
@J.: No worries! I can pick up a paperback. Thanks for checking.
Quiltingfool
So glad to read your post! Thanks for letting us know you’ve got some new books out for us to read. We all need a good book as a respite from political stuff!
hitchhiker
@J.:
Yes, thank you. In my lifetime of writing, I’ve seen the whole gamut. In the very old days when they all said, “Submit your stories to some quality literary magazines, then when you have a couple of publications find an agent.” Then it was, “Don’t self-publish because nobody will take you seriously.” Now it’s more like, “Go ahead if you can pull it off.”
Do you get any marketing support?
J.
@hitchhiker: I’m Head Marketer. 😎 I worked in marketing for years. However, I am not as good at marketing myself as I am at promoting others. (I’m an introvert by nature. But being an author has forced me to be more extraverted.) That’s why I need Balloon-Juice!
J.
@Quiltingfool: That’s why I write what I do! I needed something fun to read that wouldn’t depress me!
hitchhiker
@J.:
Ha, same. I like writing books and did finally manage to get paid for doing it (a nonfiction title), but it’s been a ride. I have two fiction projects done and another underway that I just don’t have the stomach to try to get agented and published. It drains my energy just to think of that process.
Don
I lived in Cape Coral and lost my home to Charley. I know the PTSD of that, unable to watch the anniversary show on TV. I don’t miss Florida at all, even the fishing, and I live in Texas. That should tell you something.
Congratulations on the book. That’s a high mountain to climb.