Amazon Best-Selling Author Jennifer Pierce – Christian Suspense Author

Wow! It’s been an incredibly busy past couple of months, and for the first time since I started my blog I missed submitting an AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT for the month of July. I’ve learned that pushing out a blog every month is so much harder and time-consuming than I imagined in the beginning. It’s something I enjoy doing, though, so it’s all worth it.

This past weekend I had the official book launch of my newest book “War Songs” at the local bookstore. It was a fantastic day and many people stopped in to buy a book and just visit. For me, book signings are fun because it’s a way to get to see a lot of people at once, people I know and even people I don’t know.

The highlight of the day was sharing the book signing with an author that I admire, thriller writer Kiersten Modglin, an Amazon best-selling author from the Nashville area. After the signing, we prolonged the evening with dinner where we got to visit about books, tv shows and movies, family, and of course, authoring.

As an author with more than thirty books under her belt, it was a joy to share the exciting aspects of authoring with her as well as the not-so-joyous aspects. Only another author can fully understand the joys and pains that go along with putting a book out into the world, and it was nice to encourage and be encouraged by a fellow author.

If you haven’t read any of her books, I highly encourage it!

Speaking of thriller writers, that brings me around to today’s Author Spotlight.

Jennifer Pierce is an Amazon best-selling Christian Suspense author. Her book “Hidden Danger” is a 2019 Selah Award Winner, and “Expecting Danger” is a 2019 Selah Award finalist. She is a member of the River Valley Writers, and she has published four novels to date. A new novel, Tropical Target, will release in the fall of 2023.

Brett: Jennifer—Thank you for being a guest on my AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT blog! I always like to begin our interview by going back a little in time. As a child, were you an avid reader? If so, what childhood books formed your love for reading?

Jennifer: Yes! I’ve always loved books. I have fond memories of my grandma taking me to the library. She’d do genealogy research and I’d hang out in the children’s section. I had a bunch of those Little Golden Books and Dr. Seuss as a younger kid. One of my absolute favorite books is There’s a Monster at the End of This Book featuring Grover. As I got older, I loved R. L. Stine’s Fear Street books.

Brett: Tell us about the first time you tried writing. Was a novel your first attempt, or did you start smaller and work your way up to full-length novels?

Jennifer: I wrote poetry in high school and college. I also did the customary writing assignments for school. I still have a few of those lying around somewhere. I wrote some flash fiction around the time I started writing Hidden Danger. I can’t remember which I started first though.

Brett: Putting a novel into the world, especially for the first time, can be intimidating. Tell us about the first novel you ever published. How did it feel to realize your first attempt at writing was out there for anyone in the world to pick up and read?

Jennifer: Hidden Danger was the first novel I had ever written. I had been told writers don’t usually sell their first novel. It had been rejected by Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense and I hadn’t given much thought to it ever actually being published. So, when I received a contract on it, I was ecstatic. As release day got closer, I got more nervous. Would I sell any books? Would people like it?

Brett: This is a nearly impossible question to ask an author because our books are our blood, sweat, and tears, so forgive me in advance. Of all the books you’ve written, can you tell us the top three all-time favorites you’ve written, and why?

Jennifer: Well, I’ve only published four so it will be easy. Lol. I think I have less excitement with Hidden Danger than with the others. I can’t tell you why that is, but it is. Giving Grace was an adventure to write since it is just contemporary romance with no suspense. I can’t just kill someone when I get stuck. I loved writing the humor. I loved the plot and characters of Expecting Danger so much that I was posting about my love of it on social media when my editor was like send it to me already! Deadly Connection was written in less than 4 or 5 months. And a huge chunk of it was written in the last two weeks before deadline.

Brett: You write in the Christian Suspense genre. Why did you choose that as the genre to write?

Jennifer: I fell in love with Love Inspired Suspense books. I’ve always been a mystery/thriller reader but LIS hooked me on romantic suspense novels.

Brett: Two of your books, Hidden Danger and Deadly Connection, recently hit #1 in the Christian Suspense category on Amazon. For those who may not have read your books yet, give us a little synopsis of each of these books.

Hidden Danger: Maggie Jones returns to Whitehaven, Texas to prepare her father’s estate for sale. Someone starts stalking her using lines from an old nursery rhyme. She’ll have to trust the man that broke her heart years before to keep her safe.

Deadly Connection: An attempted kidnapping, throws waitress Quinn Matthews, and Private Investigator, Reid Lucas, into nonstop danger. They’ll have to figure out the connection to find the person behind the attacks.

Brett: All authors, whether they admit it or not, dream about seeing their book at the top of a best-sellers list. Tell us how it felt when your book hit #1 on the Amazon best-seller list for the first time.

Jennifer: A mixture of excitement and pride. It was absolutely amazing.

Brett: As I said earlier, you write in the Christian Suspense genre. Would you ever consider dabbling in a different genre at some point in your writing career? If so, which genre would that be?

Jennifer: I am open minded to writing in other genres. I’ve written a contemporary romance novella, Giving Grace. I have an idea and the beginning of another contemporary romance novel. I have a couple ideas for YA (contemporary and dystopian). I’ve also been giving thrillers a thought recently. Whatever I write will either be Christian Fiction or clean fiction.

Brett: Of all the books you’ve written, is there one that stands out as the most difficult one to write, either emotionally or technically, etc? Why?

Jennifer: I think maybe Giving Grace was harder. Because it was a novella it was harder to try to fit an entire story in fewer words without the romance feeling like instalove. Not only that but it was straight romance. There was no suspense or bad guy so when I got stuck I couldn’t just shoot someone to make it better. 😀

Brett: About how long does it take you to write one novel?

Jennifer: Depends. Hidden Danger and Expecting Danger approximately a year. Deadly Connection was less than 5 months, 18k of those words in the last two weeks before deadline. Giving Grace was around a month. It had a deadline as well. It seems I work better with deadlines. I have a novel I’ve written and submitted to Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line. It took roughly a year to write. Tropical Target took a little over a month. Then I’ve started the first book in a series I plan to indie publish that I was able to write 20k in less than 3 months.

Brett: Many of our readers may not have knowledge about the inner workings of writing. Tell us something you encountered that surprised you about being an author.

Jennifer: There’s so much more work than just writing the novel. You have to edit which I expected but sometimes the edits kill you. Then there’s marketing. I hate marketing. I’m really not a look at me type of person and I hate trying to sell stuff. When you write, you basically have to sell yourself, or your works, to other people.

Brett: Writing a novel is something that we authors grow into and perfect the more we write. Think back to the very first book you wrote, then to the last book you wrote. What is something you didn’t know about writing in the beginning that has become valuable knowledge to you—that has made you a better writer four novels later.

Jennifer: EMOTIONS. The editing process for Hidden Danger taught me that I’m emotionally constipated. I got the edits back and my editor sounded like a therapist. How does that make her feel? What is that character feeling? Etc. I purchased the Emotion Thesaurus and use it A LOT.

Brett: What’s the best technical information you’ve learned from working with book editors that has improved your writing?

Jennifer: See the answer above. Emotions are important. It allows the reader to connect to the characters. If they don’t connect with them, they don’t finish the story.

Brett: Think back over all the books you’ve written. You’ve written many characters. Which character would you not get along with in real life? Which one would be a friend you’d most like to have?

Jennifer: Since I write danger, I’d go with the bad guys. Lol. I don’t think there would be a non-bad guy character I wouldn’t like. I think Jake from Expecting Danger and I would get along. I feel like I gave him a good sense of humor.

Brett: When you start writing a book, do you always know the title before you begin writing? Or have there been times when the title didn’t emerge until later in the writing process?

Jennifer: Titles are hard. I didn’t have a title for Hidden Danger until close to publication. The publisher and I decided we didn’t like what I had titled it “Small Town Stalker”. I literally brainstormed with other writers looking for titles and had over 100 suggestions that I didn’t like. I actually had the title for Expecting Danger before Hidden Danger.

Brett: Do you ever finish a book and worry that you’ll never be able to write another one?

Jennifer: Not until you asked. I know I’ll be able to write another book. It’s just a matter of when. I’m a procrastinator. That’s why I like deadlines.

Brett: After completing a novel, how long does it take before you launch into the next one?

Jennifer: After I finish I novel, I put it to the side for a couple of weeks before doing a round of editing. That’s usually when I start thinking about the next one.

Brett: Give us a description of your working space. Is there anything you must have to flow in the creative process? When you take a minute to look out the nearest window, what do you see?

Jennifer: Funny you should ask. After I sold my first novel, I got a desk from my aunt and uncle and set it up in my bedroom by the window that looks into the backyard. Right now, it’s collecting junk. I’ll usually sit in the bed or on the couch with the laptop. A lot of times I’ll lay in the bed with a pen and notebook. I also write on my lunch break.

Brett: Let’s pretend Hollywood just called and they want to make a blockbuster movie of ONE of your books, and you must choose which book. Which would it be?  You also get to be the Casting Director—who plays the main protagonist and the main antagonist?

Jennifer: That’s a tough one! I’ll go with Expecting Danger. As for the actors/actresses, I have no idea. LOL

Brett: Who is your current favorite author(s)? What book are you reading?

Jennifer: Asking me to pick my favorite author is like asking me to pick my favorite child. I can’t choose just one. I love Lisa Phillips, Virginia Vaughan, Dana R. Lynn, Shirlee McCoy, just to name a few. Right now, I’m reading the John Decker Supernatural Thriller series by Anthony M. Strong and Lisa Phillips upcoming thriller Cold Dead Night.

Brett: I remember the first time I cried when writing a particularly emotional scene in my novel, A Christmas to Live For. I wasn’t expecting that to happen, and it took me by surprise. Has this happened to you? If so, can you describe which book and scene that was?

Jennifer: Gonna be honest. I remember making a Facebook post about a scene making me teary eyed but for the life of me I can’t remember what book or what scene. I think it was the end of Expecting Danger.

Brett: If you could have lunch with another author, living or dead, who would that be?

Jennifer: Lisa Phillips we chat a lot on Facebook and Discord and she’s mentoring me. She’s amazing. I think we’re both a lot alike.

Brett: If I were to drive to your home and have dinner with the Pierce family, what would be on the menu?

Jennifer: Depends, are you surprising us or do I know you’re coming. Depending on your answer, ordering pizza or chicken spaghetti.

Brett: If you could spend an entire weekend doing nothing but bingeing your favorite television shows, what would you watch?

Jennifer: I really don’t watch a lot of television. I love On Patrol Live. Other shows I like are Cops, Crossing Jordan, Castle, Brooklyn 99, Homicide Hunter, Forensic Files.

Brett: What’s your favorite hobby/activity for the rare occasions you’re not writing?

Jennifer: Reading.

Brett: What’s your favorite format when you have time to sit down with a book (ebook, physical book, audiobook?)

Jennifer: I prefer physical books but I’ll read whatever I can. I have Kindle Unlimited so I do read a lot of ebooks.

Brett: Have you ever read someone else’s novel and left thinking, “I could have written that better?”

Jennifer: Not really. I’ve read novels where I’ve thought they could have done better or they needed to work on something here or there but not that I could do it better.

Brett: I know authors don’t like talking about their work before it’s completed but give us ONE word to best describe the novel you’re working on now.

Jennifer: Murder

Brett: Jennifer, thank you so much for being a guest on my AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Is there a date when your next novel will be published?

Jennifer: Tropical Target will release fall of 2023. I’ll have a novel as part of a collection release in the summer of 2023.

For readers interested in contacting Jennifer Pierce, visit her website at: http://www.jenniferpiercewrites.com/

If you’re interested in picking up a Jennifer Pierce novel:

Hidden Danger: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Danger-Small-Town-Guardians-Book-ebook/dp/B07937X2S

Expecting Danger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KT5ZG8K

If you’d like to follow Jennifer Pierce on social media, you can find her by clicking on these links:

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jennifer-pierce

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferPierceauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovereadwriterepeat/

If you’d like to pick up one of Brett’s books: https://www.amazon.com/Brett-Nelson/e/B08D2C1YSC