What’s new for me in 2024

You can begin a new year, a new job, a new relationship, a new book or even a new sentence. There can be joy and terror in beginnings, all those tangled emotions of anticipation, excitement, stomach churning nervousness and then … an anticlimax.

Or your new beginning can be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

I’m starting something new this year. Some people would call it Marketing for Dummies, and I suck at it. But needs must. After all, I’m a published author.

Research—that’s always been my friend, so I’ve been researching different aspects of promoting my books and reaching new readers. I’ve joined chat groups, I’ve nodded my head in agreement and shaken my head in horror at some of the suggestions I’ve found.

I want to be me. Think an Instagram photo where you ditch the makeup, flashy worn-once clothes and the technical enhancements the app designers offer you. What you have left is the pure, unvarnished, authentic me.

Plus I’d rather be writing. To be specific about my new adventures:

Launching a new series:

I’m launching a new series in 2024, with three books set for release in March, July and October. It’s called Choosing Family and is loosely based on Atticus’s words in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird:

“You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ’em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t.”

Most people focus on the first half of this quote, where friends can become more important than family. In fact, friends are your family.

My series starts with two sets of identical twins, one male and one female. You meet them all in Masquerade—Book 1, but Book 1 is Kate Turner and Liam Quinn’s story. Book 2 belongs to Niall Quinn, and in Book 3, love finally catches up with Anna Turner.

Book signing:

I’m doing my first major book signing at A Romantic Rendezvous on 10^th March in Sydney with the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA).

These multi-author signings will be held in four cities Brisbane (9^th), Sydney (10^th), Melbourne (16^th) & Perth (17^th) and will feature up to 30 authors at each event. Meet a new author or come along and say hello to someone you know and love. You can find the full list of signing authors here: https://australianromancereaders.com.au/events/arr2024/. Tickets are now on sale: https://www.trybooking.com/1123090

Establishing an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) Group:

ARC readers get advance copies of new releases with the request to post an honest review on one of the major sites, for example, Goodreads, Bookbub, Apple, Amazon, Kobo or Barnes & Noble.

I’m looking for ARC readers for Masquerade—Choosing Family—Book 1. Cover reveal 13 February and release 5 March 2024.

I hope to attract new readers through my membership of Booksprout, a book review service. If you join Booksprout, you have the opportunity to read other authors as well as me.

If you prefer you can contact me directly via the contact link on my website. Let me know a little about yourself. I always post the blurb for my next book on the My Books page of my website, so have a read of that and see if my story is one you think you’ll enjoy.

By agreeing to be part of my ARC team, you are in no way obligated to leave a review on any site, although I’d appreciate it. I welcome all reviews, good or bad, as long as they are honest.

Posting some ads:

I’m dabbling in the fraught world of online ads. Let me know if you come across one of them in your online searches. I love to know what you think of them.

I hope my stories speak to you on some level, that you relate to the characters or the situation or the location. I want you to giggle, and sigh, and give a fist pump because my words speak to you on some level. Grace Burrowes, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author recently read Planting Hope, my third book. Grace used the words “heat and heart”. I like to think that’s what my stories offer the reader.

My books are available through all major sellers and, if you ask your local librarian, you can borrow them as either an e-book or paperback.

Find me on

• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthorjen/
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jenniferrainesauthor
• Goodreads—https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22577889.Jennifer_Raines
•  Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-raines
• Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
  • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
  • Planting Hope (episode 101)
  • The Anderson Sisters (episode 54 Taylor’s Law and 80 Grace Under Fire) http://www.dkpwriter.com/indie-reads-aloud-podcast.html

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any questions.