M.J. Rose: R.I.P.

Such sad news. Author M.J. Rose: R.I.P.  (1953-2024)Taken way too young. M.J. Rose was a brilliant author and friend and support to so many people in the mystery community. My sympathy and love go out to her family and friends at this sad time. May her memory be a blessing.

On Shelf-Awareness

Very sad, shocking news. M.J. Rose (Melisse Shapiro), author, marketer, Author Buzz founder, a founder of International Thriller Writers, co-owner of 1,001 Dark Nights, died suddenly yesterday.

M.J. Rose

She was a remarkable person, always full of ideas, sharp, challenging, warm, a striking personality, and a true friend to so many authors and others in the book world. As Jenn Risko, co-founder and publisher emerita of Shelf Awareness, said, "M.J. Rose was a much-loved author, publisher, and force of excellence and innovation for our industry. She started Author Buzz when we started the Shelf and she quickly became known to us as the patron saint of authors, tirelessly working with those who wanted better marketing. She had more ideas on how to do it better than anyone, and was constantly searching for the new ones. She was a huge and dear friend to us all and will be greatly missed."

And Shelf publisher Matt Baldacci said: "I first met Melisse in 1999 when we at St. Martin's published her prescient book How to Publish and Promote On-Line. The very title and timing of that book speaks volumes about how she thought and how she helped people. She has been a confidante and friend since that time, and will be greatly missed."

M.J. was always busy, seemed always to be writing, and exploring a variety of genres, and creating her own genres. Altogether she wrote 19 novels and three books on marketing, her first career. (With Doug Clegg, she wrote Buzz Your Book.) Lip Service was her first novel, which she self-published in 1998. As she proudly noted on her website, it was "the first e-book and first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house."

She also wrote the thrillers In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, and Sheet Music. She introduced Dr. Morgan Snow, a sex therapist, in the Butterfield Institute Series, which included The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, and The Venus Fix. The Reincarnationist, which the Fox TV show Past Lives was based on, was part of a series of books focused on reincarnation, including The Memoirist, The Hypnotist, and The Book of Lost Fragrances. Her more recent work included Forgetting to Remember, The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams, The Last Tiara, and Cartier's Hope.

With partners Liz Berry and Jillian Stein, she ran 1,001 Dark Nights, which began producing series of novellas based on the Arabian Nights but retold through paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and erotic romance stories. The company expanded with the Blue Box Press imprint.