Do You Know Jeanette Marie?

With us today is Jeanette Marie. If you haven't heard of her yet I'm confident you soon will. Jeanette is an aspiring author who holds down a fascinating day job.
Here's Jeanette's post:
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I’m currently an assistant for New York Times best-selling author Alyson Noёl, which means I get to help one of the nicest and coolest authors on the planet with administrative tasks and PR outreach, which can include everything from selecting SWAG items to scheduling interviews with reporters.

Over the past few years working with Alyson, I’ve learned a lot about the publishing industry. Perhaps the greatest thing I’ve learned from Alyson is perseverance. Her personal road to publication is truly amazing (she worked on her first book for more than 15 years before it got published).

I’m an aspiring author myself and, as I’m sure most writers can attest, the publication process can feel a lot like playing the lottery--

Step 1 - Write awesome book.
Step 2 - Query awesome agents.
Step 3 - Cross your fingers and hope you have the winning ticket.

Your email is then crashed by a flurry of requests for your book and you skyrocket to #1 on the NYT bestseller list.

Okay, so it only happens like that in the Hollywood movie version.

There’s no doubt that the publishing industry is challenging, and building a career as a successful author takes a lot more than winning a golden ticket. When I was a teenager, my dad always told me no one was going to knock on my door and offer me a job. If you want a job, go out and get it. If it doesn’t exist, create it.

So if “author” is the career you want, go for it. And don’t let anybody stop you.

Read. Write. Revise. Repeat.

Don’t stop revising that book and sending out query letters until someone says yes to you.

If aspiring authors gave up and took “no” for an answer, we wouldn’t have…

Life without Harry Potter would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it?

If every writer who received a rejection gave up, the shelves at your local bookstore would look a little plain and empty right now. That’s what’s so great about this business—it’s a marketplace of ideas. And there’s always room on the shelf for another great idea.

Alyson Noel has been kind enough to offer one of her books as a giveaway. For a chance to win one of her books just leave a comment and your email addie.