When he was twelve years old, Florida-based Jake Marcionette released his debut book, Just Jake, a loosely autobiographical, laugh-out-loud comedy adventure. With that book, Jake made history in two ways: the youngest author to hit the New York Times Bestseller list and the youngest author in the history of Penguin Books to land a publishing deal.
Now three years later, Penguin has published Jake's third (and best) book in the series, Just Jake 3: Camp Wild Survival - the first must-read Children's Middle Grade book of 2016.
So how did Jake accomplish all this at such an early age? I recently had the pleasure of sitting with the young author who also tours schools as a motivational speaker for students nationwide. Anybody at any age would feel energized and motivated after meeting Jake, who radiates positivity and enthusiasm for life.
Xaque Gruber: So how did your writer's journey begin?
Jake Marcionette: When my sister and I were much younger, my Mom would have us write from breakfast to lunch every day during summer vacation. Education is very important to my Mom who runs the education website http://spellingclassroom.com/ . At first I hated the daily writing, but eventually I got into it and wrote about how my day was going and how I was feeling. I have my Mom to thank for my developing my love for writing.
Jake Marcionette and his books (photo courtesy of AEFPR):
XG: So how does one make the leap from writing at home during summer vacation to Best Selling author?
JM: I knew I wanted to write books for kids, about a kid, and from my experiences being a kid. I had moved from Florida to Maryland and so I wrote my first book about a kid named Jake who moves from Florida to Maryland who has to adapt to a new school, which I did. I wrote it all down by hand and put it in a binder. I shared it with friends to get feedback and printed out a list of agents. I had no idea what I was doing. I would say "Hey my name is Jake. I'm twelve. I have a cool book. Do you want to read it?" I got a lot of hang ups and "no's." People would say "How old are you? Twelve?!" Then I called Dan Lazar, an agent at Writer's House in New York City, and he said "Email it to me, sure." Then a couple days later, he said he liked it and wanted to represent me. Then a month after that, I was in New York meeting with four major publishers at a boardroom table where all these strangers in suits were asking me lots of questions about my book. Ultimately, I went with Penguin.
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Jake Marcionette on CBS Evening News:
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