Brenda Janowitz's Blog, page 3

Mark your calendar: Tuesday, August 13th at 7pm!

By far, the best part of writing a novel is having the chance to meet readers-- people who love books as much as I do.
I'm thrilled to be appearing at my favorite local indie bookstore.  Come hear me read from RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, and talk about writing and my inspiration for the novel. Here's the info:
Tuesday, August 13th at 7pmBook Revue313 New York AvenueHuntington, New York
And if your book club is reading RECIPE, email me. I'd love to come to your book club meeting, or call in. 
Happy summer!
xoxobrenda

Author interview: Jess Riley

Wow, am I excited today!  I've got one of my favorite authors (and fellow Girlfriends Book Club blogger), Jess Riley, here to chat.  She's funny and an amazing writer, and a total sweetheart to boot.

It's extra special, too, because today her third novel comes out!  I'm not going to tell you what MANDATORY RELEASE is about-- I'll leave her to do that, but I will tell you how much I LURVED her first two novels, DRIVING SIDEWAYS and ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE.  Ditto for her short story, CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.  Okay, I'll give you some time to go over and order those books.  Done yet?  Great, let's get back to the interview, then!

Here's Jess!



Tell us about your latest novel in 25 words or less.
Lad lit meets chick lit in this dark comedy about broken people who work in a dangerous place, finding hope where they least expect it.

What was the inspiration for this novel?
I worked in a medium-security men’s prison for a few years to help put myself through college; this seems strange enough for any young woman, but at the time, I was so shy I could barely make a phone call without a script. But I needed the money, and more than that, the writer in me couldn’t pass on the opportunity. For nine months, I served as sidekick to a phenomenal special education teacher, and when that ended, I took another short-term gig as a clerk for the department tasked with deciding which inmates to ship from our overcrowded prison to private contract facilities out of state. 
My experiences were a material gold mine, but they alone didn’t inspire this story. Some of the credit is also due my parents, who fell in love at the same prison twenty years earlier (Dad was a unit sergeant, Mom a secretary).
I’ve been working on this sucker for 14 years. It’s starting to feel like an adult child living in my basement again. Time to push it from the nest and hope that instead of plummeting to its death, it soars, baby.
How is the indie publishing process different from the traditional publishing process?
Indie publishing does have its drawbacks, but I love the flexibility, independence, and control it gives me. I can release a book on my own schedule, and much more quickly than via traditional publishing (a few months vs. a few years).  If I want to fix a typo or add an excerpt from my latest novel, I can do so immediately; I can also change the cover whenever I want. The accounting is incredibly transparent and timely.
What are the drawbacks, you ask? Well, no advance—so you cover the upfront costs related to editing, formatting, cover art, etc. There are so many indie books being released every month that it’s also difficult to be noticed. But I believe that a good story will find an audience. In the indie model, readers are the gatekeepers, and word of mouth still prevails. It’s the ultimate in democratic capitalism. J
Your third novel.  Wow!  How has the writing process changed for you over the course of your writing career?  Has it changed at all?
I outline everything now, and drink more. Just kidding about the drinking. Mostly. But really, the process is the same: lots of butt-in-chair, word-by-word slogging it out. Copious 24/7 note-taking and brainstorming. Now with the additional challenge of tuning out the “past book “ noise (e.g., people who tell you they liked your first book better, people who liked your second book better, people who think you are writing about them.)
In the (inevitable) movie adaptation of your book, who would play all of the main characters?
Well, the only ones we’re really here to see are Joe and Graham, am I right, ladies? Joe would be the hottest “bad boy” type under 30 working in Hollywood today, which we could pour some wine and debate all night. Alex Pettyfer? Tyler Hoechlin? Max Thierot? I love Tom Hiddleston for Graham (although he’s pretty British), or maybe James McAvoy. Okay, this is turning into my list of guys with clipped accents who are devastatingly handsome.
[Ed note: Jess, we are totally okay with that.]
If you weren't a writer, what would you be?
Crazy. Or maybe a dentist.
What are you reading right now?
Right now I’m reading a book I was asked to blurb: Grant Jarrett’s Ways of Leaving. It’s pretty hilarious. 

It's here! It's finally here!!

The pub day for RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, that is!  My third novel is officially out today!!


And man, am I excited!!  Hard to believe I first talked about this book in Publisher's Weekly back in 2009-- and now it's finally here!!
RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is about three generations of women with a culture all their own.  When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness.  

A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself. 

Julie Buxbaum called it "a great summer read" and Ellen Meister said it was a "wise, tender and poignant story." Melissa Senate said "this gem of a novel sneaks up on you with just how powerful it truly is."

I hope you'll check it out.  It's available at all of your favorite retailers!

AmazonBarnes & NobleIndiebound   Books-A-MillionPowell’sKindleNookApple

Doncha' just love a sale?!

Both SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST are on sale for 99 cents!Order your copies today!
Today through Tuesday (June 30- July 2), SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST are 99 cents on Amazon Kindle.  





So, go get copies now! 
My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, comes out this Tuesday, July 2nd. An excerpt's online now. Pre-order your copy today!


Hope you are enjoying your summer!
xoxobrenda

#1, baby!!

OMG! OMG!! JACK WITH A TWIST is #1 in the Kindle free store!!  Thanks so much to everyone for all of your support!!

More free books!!

Today, June 12, through Sunday, June 16, Amazon will be offering JACK WITH A TWIST for free!  If you've already read the book, thank you! And if you haven't, why not pop it onto your Kindle for free-- what do you have to lose?!
I hope you'll enjoy it!

T Minus 29 days

The last time I had a novel out, it was 2008.  Since that time, I've gotten married, moved out to the suburbs, and had two kids.  So, you could say I've been busy.  But since that time, the publishing landscape has changed-- bookstores are disappearing before our eyes, book reviews are practically a thing of the past, and anyone can publish a book by simply clicking a few times over on Amazon.
Through all of this, I continued to write.  And my agent sold my third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, to St. Martin's in a two book deal, while I was in the hospital with my second son.  To say I was excited is an understatement.


RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is about three generations of women with a culture all their own.  When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness.  

A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself. It's a book that was inspired by my own grandmothers, and very much informed by my own journey into motherhood.  It's deeply personal, and I think it says quite a lot about where I am in my life right now.
When you sell a book to a large publishing house, it takes about 18 months for the book to be on shelves.  Since my book screams "summer"-- the setting, the gorgeous cover-- the pub date was important, so it will actually be a full two years from the time I got my deal until the book hits shelves.

And we are now at T Minus 29 days.  29 days until my baby (my third baby in every sense of that expression) sees the light of day.  29 days until I put myself out there, completely bare, for all the world to judge.  29 days until I find out if anyone likes the book-- if it means as much to anyone out there as it does to me.

It's my third time having a book published, but every time it's the same: you're scared, you're excited, you're thanking your lucky stars that you even got a book deal and you can feel all of these conflicting emotions all at once.

So, for the next 29 days it's just that: I'll feel scared, I'll feel excited, but most of all, I'll just feel lucky.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!

Thanks so much for the tremendous support on the re-release of SCOT ON THE ROCKS!!  If you're looking for a great beach read to take with you this Memorial Day weekend, SCOT is free right now on Amazon!  So hop on over and pick up your FREE copy!!  I hope you like the book.

You know I love me some free books!!

It was so much fun re-releasing SCOT ON THE ROCKS that I decided to give JACK WITH A TWIST a chance, too. The newly re-released JACK WITH A TWIST is now available on Kindle for $2.99. 
And to celebrate the re-release of JACK, Amazon's offering SCOT ON THE ROCKS for free all week. So, if you haven't read SCOT yet, download it onto your Kindle for free! If you have, then thank you!!  Now's a great time to let your friends know about SCOT (after all, it's free!!).



All this in honor of my third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, which comes out July 2nd.  The gorgeous new cover is on the right, and it's available for pre-order now!

Inspiration

So, you may have missed it, but RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE has a gorgeous new cover!!  Yes, yes, the old one was gorgeous, too.  But the fabulous art peeps over at St. Martin's saw this one, and we just knew that we had to change the cover.  I hope you like it!


What do you think??  I'm totally in love.  This cover is elegant and fresh, and does a really nice job of describing the feel of the book.  It would also look amazing on your coffee table!!
In honor of this new cover, I've re-designed my whole website!!  (And this blog, if you hadn't noticed!!)  So, check out the new website and let me know what you think.  Also, don't forget to sign up for my email newletter list-- I've re-designed the emails, too, and there will be lots more book news coming up in the next few weeks (including book giveaways!).
xoxobrenda