1. What inspired you to write this book?
With corporate fatigue at an all-time high, we've been given ample
leeway to poke fun at people and personalities behind the machine, but we
rarely dare expose the conduct of women in the workplace when we think men
aren't looking. I call this syndrome "Mean Girls" for grown-ups, and
some of us don't outgrow it when we put on a pair of pantyhose and a power
suit.
2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written
for?
Exiled from #MeToo Hollywood, Jaycee Grayson seeks unlikely refuge
inside a beloved Midwest doll empire, where the empress has no clothes (and may
never have existed at all). She has to decide whether to expose a
billion-dollar secret and ruin her shot at a second chance or suck it up and
play along—which has never been her strong suit. It's for anyone who's ever had
a job, worked among lots of women, reported to one who isn't well-liked, or
pondered the difference between "leaning in," lying down, and blowing
the whistle on a sister.
3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading
your book?
Women will feel seen, exonerated, and maybe a little embarrassed.
Men will feel stunned and terrified. We will all have a good laugh at ourselves
throughout and wonder when the next installment is coming. (The answer is
soon!) Visit the website, JayceeGraysNovels.com, for character-curated content,
female empowerment merch, and inside dish. You can also hear me talk about all
this on YouTube (Julie and Lisa at Dartmouth Park), along with many other ideas
on books and stories I share with my screenwriting students in the Department
of Cinema & Television Arts at California State University, Northridge.
4. How did you decide on your book’s title and
cover design?
When I pitched the idea to my former agent over lunch, she said
something like, "I love the idea of your writing about all these horrible
women." I had already decided on Wonderful Girls as the name of the doll
company. Horrible Women, Wonderful Girls worked on pretty much every
level. Damon Freeman of Damonza in New Zealand designs thousands of covers
(including bestsellers like Dean Koontz) and picked mine among his top 10 last
year. It's a critical relationship when branding a series centered around a
heroine on the rocky road to reinvention. She has to be both recognizable and
not through each standalone adventure. And it's especially challenging with a
broad category like darkly comic literary suspense thriller. It has to pop and
blend everywhere and nowhere at all. I think they've nailed it with the first
two.
5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for
fellow writers – other than run!?
Watch the sticker shock. Self-publishing isn't free, unless you
are only publishing for yourself and a few close friends. If you want to be a
professional about it, expect to make an investment and be realistic about
returns on that investment in the immediate. That said, I don't think the
challenges are all that different than they are for traditionally published
mid-list authors, who are expected to bring their own audience, generate
publicity, and fork over most of the profits. That makes no sense whatever to
my personality type. If you're into risk-taking, reward-reaping feels like a
fair trade-off. Just know how you define both.
6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and
where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
I think consumers are both wearier and warier of machine
consumption than ever, and we're definitely onto the "fauxgorithm."
While self-publishing may not have been possible without technology, authors
are extremely annoyed with the AI police, and there's a new premium on proof of
life in the town square. Book fairs, crafts fairs, bar nights, public and
little free libraries. It's both newfangled and old-fashioned at the same time.
Social media, meanwhile, has turned away from real-life friends who want to show
you their sandwich and more targeted to interesting pages and book clubs.
I also think themed author collabs are really exciting for readers because it's
a way to bypass the highly suspect bestseller machine and rely on someone you
already like and follow to find something likely to land.
7.
How
would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing
similar to?
Kirkus Reviews called my writing style "punchy."
Reviewing my second book, set in the dangerous world of Midwest artisanal meat
sticks, and I quote, "the author stuffs each sentence like a sausage,
serving bite after bite of clever quips and saucy scrutiny." I think
there's a certain Seussian quality to it that may be challenging for some
readers. But this is by design; the novels are voiced by Jaycee Grayson, an
ousted children's entertainment executive who's fled the coast to duck for
cover inside equally broken Middle American systems. We're sorting through all
this while living inside her head.
8.
What
challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
It's dedicated to my sister Mary Beth, who did not live to see it
published. Jaycee's sister, Meredith, is the heart of the story, and the reason
it's more than a snarky satire about standing up to workplace bullying and
corporate greed no matter the personal cost. Resurrecting my sister is never
easy, but people who knew us in life tell me that reading the novels feels like
being with us again on the page.
9.
If
people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
You can get it for $5.99 on Amazon. Writer's Digest Magazine gave
me ten thousand dollars for it. I also got an awesome roll of gold stickers.
Marketing Help?
Brian
Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors like you to promote
your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of
experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him
be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!
About Brian Feinblum
This award-winning blog has generated over
10, 000,000 page views. With over 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was
named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021
and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” Copyright 2026.
For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many
first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers
Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five
times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and
Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.
His
letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester)
and The Washington Post. His first published book was The
Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It
was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
Born
and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids,
and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
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