Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brenna Jeanneret. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brenna, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I talk about this a lot on my kidlit podcast, You May Contribute A Verse. I write for kids because I want them to get the most of this time in their lives when they can be the most silly, off-the-wall, fun-loving selfs that they are. There are a lot of important and serious kidlit books coming out right now and the world needs them. But I also think kids need a buffer to get that through that heavy stuff. Kids need the kind of book that you open just to feel good and to have a laugh. I hope that when I’m gone people will think of me and my books and remember what it means to be a kid and that my name will be a bright spot on bookshelves.
Brenna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve been a writer in some capacity for my whole life starting with journaling when I was 8, and then writing for online holistic magazines and adventure based publications like Hike It Baby and Run Wild My Child as an adult. But it wasn’t until the Pandemic that I seriously started writing for the kidlit space. My debut picture book THE LAW OF BIRTHDAYS illustrated by Marina Kondra comes out May 1st with Cardinal Rule Press. I write picture books through young adult and also co-host the kidlit podcast, You May Contribute A Verse. My co-host, Josh Monken, and I chat with authors, illustrators, agents and editors about the industry and their experiences in hopes of continuing to build the kidlit community.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I knew that getting published was going to be hard. There were so many hoops to get through–write 3 to 5 polished manuscripts, find a critique group, get an agent, get that one yes from an editor. It was a tough road but I did all of those things and when I got to the end of that list I thought, I’ve got it made. I thought that once I had the agent and the book deal, the offers would just come pouring in. But they didn’t. I was on submission with my first agent for almost two full years before that first offer came. Those years were filled a ton of rejections followed by many more after I sold my first book. I also thought that once you had an agent, that was it. You were set. But sometimes the timing is off, or it’s just not the right match. I ended up parting ways with my first agent thinking that since I had a book deal finding a new agent would be easy. It’s not. That right match, is hard to find, in an agent and an editor. What I have found is that writing is not easy. It’s hard. But anything worth doing is hard. That hard is what keeps me going. It’s what gives me that feeling of worth and satisfaction when I crack an ending, when one of my stories resonates with someone or even when I hear a chuckle at a line I wrote. In the words of Tom Hanks in A League Of Their Own, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
So much of writing is about networking and connecting. It’s a must in a career that is done so often in solitude but it’s also necessary to know other writers and what they’re putting out. Knowing and understanding what certain agents and editors are looking for is essential to getting your books into the world. This business is built on personal relationships. Lucky for me, I’m quite chatty and early in my writing career I teamed up with a critique partner of mine to co-host our kidlit podcast. It has been an amazing way for us both to get to know people in the industry and to make connections and lifelong friends. I think this more so than my book coming out has been the cornerstone of my kidlit career.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brennajeanneret.com/
- Instagram: @brennajeanneret
- Twitter: @brennajeanneret
- Other: You can find all our podcast episodes here https://linktr.ee/VerseShow