We were lucky to catch up with Jeri Shepherd recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jeri, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I was made to write. I know it in my bones. Still, society tells us we should answer, as fellow author James Leviticus calls it, “the siren call of stability.” In more than a quarter century of working in this business, I have continued to take “side jobs,” and sometimes those jobs were adjacent to my art or parallel to it, but every one of them took my time and that became time that I didn’t have for my craft. So, my craft got pushed into the wee hours of morning and fading hours of night and eighty-hour weeks. I’ve met other creatives and discovered that this impossible hamster wheel schedule is not uncommon and, when on that wheel, it’s the “regular jobs” that look like what we want. But, all along, while managing the crazy hours and disbelief in the art being enough, I kept creating. And I finally hit the point, more than 65 books and 12 #1 bestsellers later, that my real career was the writing after all. I had to get my mindset (art isn’t a “real job”) to rise beyond my actions (doing the craft as a hobby alongside other work) to the reality that this was my career and I had to do for myself the things I was always willing to do for the bosses I had in all of those “other jobs.”
Jeri, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I always wrote and I write everything. I began with Roses are Red poems for my best friend, a neighbor boy, when I was four-years-old and it never stopped. While my current passion is adult genre fiction and, particularly, my Science Fiction series, The Fault Lines, I have written biographies, leadership, ministry books, children’s books, sportswriting, writer’s resources, anthologies, and more. I prefer to think of myself as genre-fluid because writer’s have to write . . . whatever the topic. Today, I write under the names Jeri Shepherd (Adult and YA genre fiction) and Reji Laberje (general audiences). I’m known by industry colleagues simply as “Red.”
From the time I could form words on paper, those words were being molded into stories. When I got into middle and high school, I caught the theatre bug and that bug allowed me to be on the stage and also continue my writing through playwriting. I juggled both in my early adulthood until I entered a playwriting festival in Baltimore in 1997 (not to date myself). That year, because I was entering two (quite frankly, rather terrible by my standards today!) plays that needed finishing touches, I didn’t have time to also participate as one of the actors. A good friend, presuming he knew the answer I’d give, asked, “Do you really want to write the words, or would you rather act them?” Without hesitation, I said, “WRITE THEM!” And that’s when I knew that it was the only art that truly called me.
I dabbled, sent the queries, made the pitches, and wrote . . . initially children’s books. And, after receiving the rejections to the dabbling, the queries, and the pitches for a few years, I went the independent publishing route . . . and this was before it was cool, back when it was called “vanity.” For several years, every book I sold was a book I personally put into the hand of a reader. And I did all the things I should do. Book signings and school events, and publishing conventions. At one of those conventions, I had a decent amount of success, made the connections I thought would help me to get my (at the time) three books into better distribution, more stores. I was feeling high on life when I was flying out of JFK in New York back home. Every flight in the terminal was delayed for weather. While on the way back to Milwaukee, I found myself seated at a gate headed toward St. Louis and was busted being in a great mood. I became the socialite of the otherwise exhausted group of people. “What were you in NY for? Where are you headed? How long have you been delayed?” Eventually, the questions came back to me and while I talked about being an author who was at a conference, I was positively giddy. Unlike, by the way, my behavior at the actual conference. I was very professional and straight-laced at the actual event. To this day I believe being myself and relaxed is what made the difference. When all was said and done, none of those other leads I was excited about ended up coming through.Eventually a man across from me (who was headed to Kansas City, by the way – also not seated in his own area if you care to call serendipity) sat up. I believed he had been sleeping, but he pulled out his card and asked for one of my books. He worked for a sportswriter who wanted to write a book to help young people set goals. The only book I had in my carry-on happened to be one copy of a book that had a strong sports theme.
That man’s client was Dick “Dickie V” Vitale (famed NCAA ESPN Sportscaster). And after landing that gig, the world of co-writing opened up to me and my career exploded into traditional publishers, celebrity clients, live programs, my own co-writing and publishing companies. (Not to mention the fact that I got to work with the beautiful-souled man, Dickie V on a total of 5 books in different roles.) My goal when writing for others remained honoring their voices and making stories that connected people rather than divided them. I transitioned to fiction at the start of the pandemic (because don’t we have enough reality in the world?!) and I brought that mentality along.
From my website (and from my heart): Whether picking up a Jeri Shepherd title (YA & Adult Genre Fiction), a Reji Laberje title (for General Audiences), or working with this career author through her writing services or opportunities, there are some things that will be universally true here.
Work will be character-rich with relatability to a diverse human audience, whether in global or experiential representation.
Every story has purpose; the ones you create with teachings from here, the ones you tell as fans, and the ones you read from Reji or Jeri.
In our books’ worlds of both fantastical fiction and impactful nonfiction, the purpose of what is created here is to connect and add insight; never to merely bring more noise.
As a fan, a reader, or a writer, YOU ARE VALUED HERE.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I tried to stop writing. A lot. When you’re an artist, a creative, there is something in you that MUST create. You get beat down and instead of quitting, you just change shape, change directions, reimagine yourself. And I’ve done that a hundred times and, as much as it’s hard for the people who love me to watch me take those beatings, as much as they may wish I’d just stay down, I can’t. I need to get back up. I need to write again. And I need them to say, “This time is going to be different.” For artists, doing their craft is breath.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Art is itself a product. A song, a book, a painting took practice and time and talent. Sales are a service. I’ve found it to be universal that people with artistic talents, just because they may also enjoy their art, are asked to give it away for free. The friend who says, “Oh you’ll sing at my wedding for free,” or “Can you do a drawing for me?” or the one I often heard as an often co-writer, “How about, instead of me paying for the book, you help me sell it and get a percentage.” (In other words the hundreds of hours and lifetime of experience and industry knowledge in creating your book are worth nothing, but if I also give you even more time by providing, not just the product, but a free sales representative, you’ll allow me a small percentage.) I don’t share this bitterly. It’s a societal misunderstanding that, while art is enjoyable, it is a special skill and it is work. It’s that outlook which needs to change. I believe that art has a place in the world. It is hope and thought provocation and publicly meddling in the emotional messes we usually ignore in our day to day lives. It has a place in our society. But if we keep asking the artists to just give it up for free, there will be very few left who can afford to bring it to us. Support the artists in your life, not by just telling them you love their work, but by actually paying for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jerishepherdbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faultlinesbooks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FaultFans
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeri-shepherd-341a0324/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaultLinesBooks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jerishepherd5149
- Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@redwritesbooks Amazon Author Page (Reji Laberje) – https://www.amazon.com/stores/Reji-Laberje/author/B00JPG1KMM Amazon Author Page (Jeri Shepherd) – https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeri-Shepherd/author/B091V3XMZP
Image Credits
Author Headshot (leaning against book At Fault) and author headshot (on capture of green background booth banner) both by Parmaveer Dhariwal.