Alum lands six-figure book deal

Although Jenni Howell ’08 says it was never a childhood dream to become an author, she recently signed a six-figure, two-book deal with Macmillan’s Roaring Brook Press. Her book “Boys With Sharp Teeth,” a gothic boarding school thriller, will debut in April. Although this is her first book to be published, she has been practicing her craft for years.

“It wasn’t a unicorn type thing. My first book was terrible. I don’t think anyone—even my best friends I shared it with—made it through the book, but I queried it anyway. Obviously, I didn’t get an agent with that book,” said Howell.

“There are not actually 200 agents worth querying,” she said with a laugh. “They all said no. Every single one. Even though I got rejected by all of them, I was officially hooked.”

Then, she started a third book.

“The third book is the one that’s getting published. Twenty-five percent of agents said they were interested in reading it. All of them rejected it in the end. I had figured out how to write a pitch, but not a book,” she said. You can learn so much from failing. Being surrounded by people telling me ‘no’ but also telling me ‘why.’”

As a history major, she knew how to objectively examine a text—including her own.

“My history degree is a huge part of my success. I’m able to edit fast and learn new skills. Let’s pull apart the pieces. Let’s see what makes this document tick. That all came from history classes,” she said. “All of those rejects I got, each time I had to pivot. It took breaking down the internal reactions of my story, being able to approach something without emotion.”

She sent the book back out and got a 100% request rate from agents wanting to read it.

“I had three agents offer to represent me. After three years of querying and rejection, everything’s exploding and I’m going to have a book in Barnes & Noble. God has always had his hand in it,” she said.

Messiah + dark academia

“One reason they loved it is it’s a dark academia book at its heart. It’s full of philosophy, an homage to the one philosophy class I took at Messiah with Tim Schroeder. I remember vividly a discussion with him. He pointed at the open office door and asked, ‘Is that door open or closed? Where is that reality coming from in your head?’ Mental concepts of open and closed and what is a door,” she said.

She also has a confession to make about a history capstone paper she wrote a couple decades ago for James LaGrand.

“I wrote a big 40-page paper in one night. I wasn’t procrastinating,” she said, laughing. “I’m almost 40. He’s allowed to know I wrote it in one night. That’s still how I am. I revised my book in a month.”

For those who are looking to get a book published, she offered this advice: “You have to write a commercial pitch. Someone has to read your first sentence and go ‘ooh!’ They’re reading hundreds of pitches a day. Work on your book and your structure and your writing. Don’t neglect your ability to market it,” she said.

The book, geared toward ages 14-18, will go on sale April 8.
—Anna Seip