FORMER JANITOR’S NOVEL TO BE RELEASED IN JULY

Please join me in welcoming the very talented and witty J.J. Hebert, author of the upcoming book, Unconventional. The book is tones of fun, and his so is his story of publication. So, take it away, J.J…


You know that guy, the one collecting the garbage? The one mopping the floors at your school? The one who makes the toilets sparkle? Yeah, well, that used to be me. I was that guy. But now “that guy” is James Frost, the main character from my soon-to-be-released novel, Unconventional. Lately, I’ve been referring to the book as Good Will Hunting meets The Pursuit of Happyness essentially because my novel features a janitor (with a gift outside of janitorial work), and he’s willing to do anything—and I mean anything—to fulfill his dream of becoming a published author. A janitor/writer—certainly an unconventional fellow, don’t you think? James Frost stands as proof that no matter your circumstances, now is always the time to reach for your dreams!

Unconventional, available July 2009, has already been praised by your very own award-winning Gemma Halliday as “a wonderful story full of heart, humor, and what it means to truly be successful. An A+ novel for the keeper shelf." So you know it must be good! Or . . . I paid her off.

Now that that’s out of the way, I want to tell you a little bit about my journey . . .

I’m only twenty-five-years-old. Yeah, I know, I’m a “kid.” I began writing seriously back in—um, when was it?—somewhere around 2003, when I could also be found mopping floors and scrubbing toilets with an oversized toothbrush. My first novel, Defiance Rising, went on to win many awards, one of my favorites being The Sit-In-My-Drawer-And-Never-Get-Sold Award and also, my least favorite, The Write-Seven-Drafts-And-Scrap-It Award. You should see the trophies; my mantel can’t contain them! Okay, so you get it; Defiance went nowhere. Then I wrote Unconventional. And, thankfully, I’m no longer a janitor.

In 2007, my writing career could be summarized as follows: Write, write, write, query, query, query, rejection, rejection, rejection.

In 2008, my writing career could be summarized as follows: Query, query, query, query, query, an endless amount of querying, manuscript requested by agents, hooray!, the former agent of Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti decides to become my agent! Celebrations galore!

But by the beginning of 2009, I parted ways with my agent (for reasons I won’t mention in my report here). Then, in mid-January, I decided to go with Mindstir Media, publisher of mind-stirring books, to release my infant I mean book to the world. I can’t wait until July. You’ll have to tell me how you like my book, all right? It’ll be available in trade paperback (at bookstores, barnesandnoble.com, and amazon.com) and also as a free audiobook (downloadable via jjhebert.net, podiobooks.com, and iTunes) narrated by award-winning voice over artist Jeffrey Kafer (jeffreykafer.com).

Just to clarify, I’m not James Frost and James Frost is not me. Sure, he and I are a lot alike but—Oh. My. Goodness.—he went through much more than I. Mostly because I’m a sadistic individual and I enjoy watching my characters suffer. Well, not really. I just think conflict sells—and there’s lots of conflict in Unconventional. I hope my scheme works in the end . . . If not, I might have to go back to sweeping and mopping floors for a living. Please spread the word about Unconventional and keep me away from those mucky toilets!


To learn more about me, J. J. Hebert, and to download a three-chapter excerpt of UNCONVENTIONAL, please visit www.jjhebert.net (while you’re there, why not sign up for my newsletter as well?). You can also find me on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.