Jessica Brody

Jessica Brody
Brody interviewed by Librairie Mollat in 2015
EducationSmith College
Writing career
Years active2005–present
Websitejessicabrody.com

Jessica Brody is an American author and writing teacher. Her writing consists mainly of young adult fiction.

Early life

Brody graduated from Smith College in 2001 with a double major in economics and French and worked for MGM Studios until 2005, when she quit to pursue becoming a full-time author. She credits Bridget Jones's Diary with reigniting her childhood passion for writing. Brody sold her first novel a year and a half after quitting MGM.

Books

While most of Brody's books are for teens, her first two published novels, The Fidelity Files and Love Under Cover, were women's fiction for adults. The first novel she wrote after leaving MGM was never published; after three years of submitting the completed manuscript to different agents, Brody started a new novel. She was signed by an agent for her second novel, five years after starting her career as an author. The agent sold that novel in ten days.

Brody published her first young adult novel, The Karma Club, in April 2010. She is known for her Unremembered and Disney Descendants: School of Secrets series of young adult fiction novels. The genesis of the Unremembered trilogy was with a news article about a teenage girl who was the sole survivor of a plane crash, which inspired Brody to speculate on reasons why she was the only survivor.

Brody sold the publishing rights for her first middle-grade novel, Addie Montgomery's Shortcut to Growing Up, to Delacorte Press in 2015. The novel was eventually retitled Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up when it was published in 2017.

Brody and fellow author Joanne Rendell developed the System Divine series, the first book of which, Sky Without Stars, was published in March 2019. The publishing rights for the series were sold to Simon & Schuster in a six-figure deal in 2017.

Jennifer Hunter

  1. The Fidelity Files. St. Martin's Press. June 10, 2008. ISBN 9781429926034.
  2. Love Under Cover. St. Martin's Press. November 10, 2009. ISBN 9781429983648.

The Unremembered trilogy

  1. Unremembered. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. March 5, 2013. ISBN 9780374379919.
  2. Unforgotten. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. February 25, 2014. ISBN 9780374379902.
  3. Unchanged. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. February 24, 2015. ISBN 9780374379896.

Novellas

Disney Descendants: School of Secrets series

  1. CJ's Treasure Chase. Disney Book Group. August 30, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4847-7864-7.
  2. Freddie's Shadow Cards. Disney Book Group. October 25, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4847-7865-4.
  3. Ally's Mad Mystery. Disney Book Group. February 28, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4847-7866-1.
  4. Lonnie's Warrior Sword. Disney Book Group. August 15, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4847-7867-8.
  5. Carlos's Scavenger Hunt. Disney Book Group. November 14, 2017. ISBN 978-1-3680-1398-7.

System Divine trilogy (with Joanne Rendell)

  1. Sky Without Stars. Simon & Schuster. March 2019. ISBN 9781534410633.
  2. Between Burning Worlds. Simon & Schuster. April 2021. ISBN 9781534410671.
  3. Suns Will Rise. Simon & Schuster. August 2022. ISBN 9781534474444.

Standalone

Nonfiction

  • The Complete Guide to Getting Published: An author-to-author guide to selling your novel to a major publisher. October 5, 2016.
  • Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You'll Ever Need (based on the books by Blake Snyder). Penguin Random House. October 9, 2018. ISBN 9780399579752.
  • Save the cat! writes a young adult novel: the ultimate guide to writing a YA bestseller. Ten Speed Press. July 18, 2023. ISBN 978-1-9848-5924-2.
  • Page One to Done: Finish Your Novel in 30 Days with the Fast Drafting Method. Hay House. May 19, 2026. ISBN 9781401998424.

Film adaptations

Film rights to Brody's book Unremembered have been acquired by Reliance Entertainment and Kintop Pictures. The Fidelity Files and 52 Reasons to Hate My Father have also been optioned for film. 52 Reasons is also being developed by Reliance and Kintop; and a screenplay has been written by Karen McCullah.

Writing instruction

Brody offers writing instruction and advice on a variety of platforms, including YouTube and Udemy. She founded Writing Mastery Academy, an online, subscription-based writing instruction platform offering video classes, webinars, and a community site.

References

  1. ↑ "Jessica Brody". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  2. 1 2 Jewel, Carolyn (2009-11-10). "Interview with Author Jessica Brody – Contest, too!". Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  3. ↑ Spielberg, Lauren. "The Fidelity Files". RT Book Reviews. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "Love Under Cover". Publishers Weekly. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 Rish, Jocelyn (2015-03-01). "Jessica Brody, author of UNCHANGED, on how writing a book is like building a house". Adventures in PUPlishing. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  6. ↑ "Rights Report: Week of September 7, 2015". Publishers Weekly. September 7, 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "SKY WITHOUT STARS". Kirkus Reviews. December 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Rights Report: Week of March 6, 2017". Publishers Weekly. March 7, 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (March 24, 2014). "YA Sci-Fi Book 'Unremembered' Acquired by 'Vampire Academy' Producers (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Lamb, Joyce (March 6, 2013). "Interview: Jessica Brody, author of 'Unremembered'". USA Today. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  11. ↑ Bhushan, Nyay (2 March 2015). "YA Book '52 Reasons to Hate My Father' Acquired by 'Vampire Academy' Producers (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  12. ↑ Brody, Jessica (February 2018). "Movie Update! Guess Who Wrote the Screenplay for 52 Reasons to Hate My Father!". Retrieved 6 September 2018.