Blogoversary Post and Giveaway: Jenn Bennett Four Years Ago

 

Here at Goldilox and the Three Weres we are celebrating our 

4 YEAR BLOGOVERSARY!

In honor of the four wonderful years this blog has had, for the last two weeks we've had authors share with you all what they were doing four years ago at this time and what they hope to be doing four years from now. Today is the last day of our Blogoversary celebration, but all of this week's giveaways will remain open until the 15th. Scroll down and make sure you haven't missed anything.

Today's Post Comes From Jenn Bennett

Four years ago, my first book was published, KINDLING THE MOON. That summer was a blur of emotions. I didn’t know what to expect when the book came out. Most publishers don’t provide authors with instant sales info (it’s sketchy, and usually only doled out twice a year), so unless you hit a major bestseller list, you’re pretty much left in the dark, wondering how your book is doing. That’s a scary place to be when you’re starting out. It gets even scarier when a couple of months after your first book releases, your editor leaves your publishing house to work for George Lucas on Star Wars books. Suddenly I wasn’t just a debut author who didn’t know how her book was doing, I was an orphaned author with no editor. And I was in the middle of pitching more books in the series. Publishing was a dark alley in the middle of a bad neighborhood at midnight, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through to the other side with my life—or soul!—intact.

Luckily, there was a golden streetlight at the end of that alley. Not only was I fortunate enough to connect with another editor at that house, I even sold a second series at another publishing house—AND a young adult book to a third major publishing house that has been translated in several languages and will be published internationally later this year.

That’s how I see writing, as a game of chance. You must have talent, yes, and the right story at the right time. However, what drives your book’s success is sheer luck: whim of a genre’s popularity, your agent’s workload, a reviewer’s mood. That dude in the publisher’s Sales department who forgot to pitch your book to the big account because he was busy sneaking texts under the desk about cheating on his wife while on the road... and all the other very human things that happen behind the scenes that the public never sees.

What will I be doing four years from now? I wouldn’t dare to predict. I just hope I’ll still have the guts to be walking through dark alleys at midnight…and making it out alive.

 

About the Author

Jenn Bennett is an artist and RITA-nominated author who writes books for adults and teens, including the award-winning Roaring Twenties romance series (Bitter Spirits) and the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series (Kindling the Moon). Her first YA contemporary romance, The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, (aka Night Owls in the UK) will be released in 2015. She lives near Atlanta with one husband and two evil pugs.

In honor of our shared 4th anniversary, Jenn Bennett's giving away a signed copy of Kindling the Moon. (Winner must have a mailing address in the U.S. or Canada.)

 

Click on the cover to add to Goodreads.

 

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