Karen E. Quinones Miller

Karen E. Quinones Miller will have you know that self-publishing is a risky gamble. During her publishing seminars, she explains that only one percent of ink-slinging-entrepreneurs make back their investment.

In 1999, Miller, who graduated Temple with a bachelors degree in journalism, created Oshun Publishing Company in order to publish her first novel, Satin Doll. In 2001, the book's rights were consigned to Simon and Schuster. Along the way, the entrepreneur published Yo Yo Love, written by the 23 year-old Temple University student, Daaaimah S. Poole, which became an Essence Magazine best seller and was picked up by Kensington Publishing in 2001

These days, you'll be as likely to find Miller giving a seminar at a bookstore as you will be able to catch one of her live readings.

Miller admits that she never thought about writing a novel before conceiving Satin Doll (Oshun, 1999, Simon and Schuster, 2001). "I guess all of that stuff was just locked up in my heart," she says. At the time of the book's inception, her daughter, Camille, had been a huge Jada and Will Smith fan. After watching the movie Set it Off, Camille insisted that her mother was suited to writing a story, which the celebrity couple could adapt into a movie. According to Miller, Camille, who was twelve years old at the time, innocently and assertively asked, "Mom, why don't you write the book?" Miller, who was more interested in tucking her daughter into bed replied, "Yeah, whatever--- I'll write the book. Now go to bed." The next morning, Camille asked Miller if she had finished writing her oeuvre. "And that made me write [the novel]," Miller concludes.

The first novel, Satin Doll is the story of a young black woman, Regina Harris, who was orphaned at the age of thirteen and consequently dropped out of school to support herself and her infant niece. Regina tries to get a legitimate job and fails. To make ends meet, she employs her good looks and charm to become a "professional girlfriend." The shock of getting shot at nineteen propells her to go back to school. With a degree in journalism, Regina begins a successful career as a freelance journalist. Satin Doll is the tale of a woman struggling to find a medium between her professional self and her Harlem, street-girl persona.

After completing the book in two months, Miller ventured to find a publisher. Having been undaunted by numerous rejections, Miller says, "I couldn't find a publisher, so I self-published it." With the support of her daughter and brother, Joe Quinones (a Philadelphia real estate developer), she released the first paperback edition of Satin Doll in 1999.

Miller and Camille then went on a relentless promotional campaign. They plastered posters all over Philadelphia and visited dozens of bookstores whose owners they convinced to carry the book. They even persuaded a barbeque truck on Broad Street to pass out a "Satin Doll" flyer with every order of ribs.

The inventive and unconventional marketing approach paid off. The novel sold 3,000 copies in six weeks and 24,000 copies nationwide in eight months. "And all the publishers who turned me down, then wanted to publish me," explains Miller, who is now smiling recalling the outcome, adding, " I actually held an auction." Satin Doll, along with I'm Telling (Simon and Schuster, 2002) and Using What You Got (Simon and Schuster, 2003), have all made the Essence Magazine best-seller list.

Like Regina Harris, Miller dropped out of school at the age of thirteen and returned later to achieve literary success. She graduated with a B.A. in journalism from Temple University. Her humorous nature is revealed as she details her achievements on her website, "Karen graduated magna cum laude from Temple with a B.A. in journalism, confirming her belief that the only thing she missed by skipping high school was the senior prom." Before returning to school, she served in the United States Navy for five years, wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer and worked as a correspondent for People Magazine. Miller also married, had a child and then divorced in a two-year span.

"The truth is much stranger than fiction. I just chronicle it. Change the names to protect the innocent and even more so to protect the guilty," she laughs. To illustrate this point, Miller gives an anecdote about her beginnings as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "The first murder story I went out on," she begins, "[it] turns out that it was an old friend of mine who had murdered the guy," adding, "I just write about real life going on in the inner city [and] things that we really go through. It's not fantasy."

At the Black Women's Arts Festival (BWAF), Miller deviated from her original plan to read excerpts from her books, in order to hold a question and answer session with the audience. After watching other artists' presentations, Miller explained that her position in the artistic community is to act as a facilitator. She gave tips for aspiring authors about self-publishing successfully. At "Third Thursdays," an ongoing Philadelphia event at Club Beyond that promotes reading interests within the black community, Miller, gave tips for overcoming writer's block. At "Third Thursdays," the crowd, whose members, via eye contact, nods and compliments, appeared to identify with the characters she described from her book and appeared to be disarmed by Miller's softening of her literary suggestions with an occasional stroke of humor.

"I remember being an aspiring author and not having any help," she acknowledged, adding, "I try to treat [aspiring authors] as I wish I was treated."

Miller also has also been a panelist on seminars whose topics range from self-publishing to working with literary agents. On November 6, at noon, she will host a four-hour publishing/self-publishing seminar in San Luis Obispo, California. She believes that although writing is a competitive field, the competition is unnecessary. "Why be competitive?," she asks, adding," The only thing that a good book does, is make you want to go out and buy another good book.

Currently, Miller is working on a coffee table book, I've Known Rivers, inspired by Langston Hughes's poem, A Negro Speaks of Rivers. The book will contain pictures and profiles of African-American centenarians. She is also working on her fifth novel, Timing the Moon and is planning to write a biography on Harlem gangster, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. And it's possible that in a few years, the vision for Satin Doll may come full-circle.

Miller's college-bound, seventeen year-old daughter, Camille, who is planning to major in film, says she intends to release an adaptation of Satin Doll as her first movie.

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