JL: How did you become a blogger, and for whom do you blog? When did you start?
JR: I fell into blogging by accident. I’ve always written, whether it is stories or my journal, which I have kept since I was in the eighth grade. I started blogging for an online publication called American Chronicle. I knew that I was going to be moving to New York from Miami and I wanted a way to start meeting people in the publishing industry; I thought: What better way than to start interviewing people? Everyone loves to be interviewed and I was naturally curious (some would say nosy). I had just come off of successfully selfpublishing my first novel and having it acquired by Warner Books, so I had a little bit of credibility. I wanted to know in particular what it was like for Latinos in the book publishing world. From there, I started writing for Mediabistro—a couple of how-to articles. How I lucked into that I don’t know, but I did and I saw an opportunity with the website’s blog, GalleyCat. I knew that as a person of color, there was very little coverage for us, so I wrote the editors and proposed that I start blogging for them. They told me they’d “get back to me” and, lo and behold, a couple of weeks later they did.

I started out blogging for free and eventually it was bumped up to a paid gig. I still blog for GalleyCat on occasion but used that opportunity to start blogging for The Huffington Post, which opened even more doors to sites such as Publishing Perspectives, Examiner, and now Entertainment Weekly. The smaller opportunities came through luck, but once things got going, the larger opportunities were not flukes. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s taking a small opportunity and using it to open more doors.

JL: You seem to focus on covering publishing. How did that come about?
JR: Publishing naturally was an interest to me because I’m first and foremost an author. I’m also by nature an enthusiast for marketing and publicity and I think I’m equally passionate about those.

JL: Do you know how many people follow you?
JR: That’s a great question because I shut down my Twitter account, but I do have a few thousand Facebook friends. More impressive have been the reactions to some of the stories I’ve broken like that of Seth Godin leaving traditional publishing—that led to mentions in everything from The New York Observer and Fast Company to the LA Times. The story I recently broke with Jackie Collins sparked over 120,000 other stories about the fact that she would be e-publishing her stories. I was grateful for the two of them for giving me those scoops.

JL: How did you become an author? What do you write?
JR: I’ve been writing since I was in the second grade, but mostly just little stories. I always dreamed of being a novelist and would go into the school library and just imagine myself one day having that happen. I then got led astray—was attracted to the neon lights of the entertainment industry and writing screenplays, but after constant rejection, I decided I was going to write a novel. Having never written one before, I decided to base it on one of my screenplays. I didn’t want any more rejection, so I decided to self-publish and built a large enough online following that it led to landing an agent and then a book deal.

JL: Has blogging helped with your overall platform as an author?
JR: Very much so. The network of people to which I’ve been introduced was all spawned by blogging, not only big shots in book publishing, but also celebrities and people in film and television. Here’s the thing: You may not earn a lot from blogging, but if you use it as a way to meet the people you want to meet and build relationships, and do favors and ask the questions you want to ask and learn from the best, it will open up other opportunities. I don’t think I make any more than a few thousand dollars a year blogging, but I do know that blogging has led me to gigs that have made me a much more substantial income.

JL: Do you read other blogs? If so, which ones?
JR: Yes, very much. I love reading GalleyCat and Mediabistro, of course, and I love reading blogs on Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly. Seth Godin’s is fantastic and my new favorites are blogs on Inc.com.

JL: Tell us about some of your favorite interviews you have done.
JR: My favorites are with the big celebrities and major producers and authors. I always get a kick out of those because even though I do quite a few, I’m still very much a kid from Hillsboro, Oregon, inside who can’t believe I get to talk to these people. Many of them have become close friends, colleagues, and clients, and even call me to ask me for advice, which is just a trip. I loved doing interviews with Nicholas Sparks, Jackie Collins, James Patterson, Fergie, Enrique Iglesias, Stan Lee, Hugh Hefner—so many great, amazing people and legends.

JL: What do you think was the most exciting thing in publishing in the last year?
JR: The most exciting thing I’ve seen is the huge wave of indie authors who are starting to get their feet wet and who are finding tremendous success. It is the future, whether people like it or not. The thing is, you can dance in both worlds. Some books I write are more appropriate for indie publishing, and others are better suited for traditional. You don’t have to only choose one, and you don’t have to badmouth the other; there’s plenty of pie for all.

JL: Can you suggest any resources for writers, any blogs, journals, books, etc., that have been useful to you?
JR: Definitely Mediabistro.com is great for writers and I love Alan Rinzler’s blog as well. I also like reading Joe Konrath’s blog, and do so regularly. Seth Godin’s is a must-read every morning along with Inc.com’s.

JL: What do you think is the future of blogging?
JR: There will always be some form of blogging whatever they might call it in the future. There will probably be more video blogging or vlogging, as they call it. It’s an excellent way to voice what you’re passionate about and to open doors for yourself and build a reputation that can lead to a lot of great things, if you play your cards right.