Living the Dream: Sara Shepard
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There’s nothing better than making money doing something you love, and we at WORKS love celebrating women who are doing just that. In that vein, we’re debuting a new feature, “Living the Dream,” profiling women who’ve landed their ultimate career. First up is Sara Shepard, a woman who left her day job to pursue her true love: writing. Now she’s got a best-selling book series. Every couple of weeks we’ll profile another woman who’s living her dream. We hope their stories are as inspiring to you as they are to WORKS.
Name: Sara Shepard
Age: 30
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Education: B.A. in English from New York University, M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College.
Job Title: Young-adult novelist
What She Does: Sara is the author of the best-selling young-adult book series Pretty Little Liars, a story of secrets, lies, and intrigue set in the suburbs of Pennsylvania.
How She Got Her Gig: Sara was toiling away at a magazine publishing company, though the job didn’t suit her. “I realized I didn’t really enjoy being an editor that much, but I wrote whenever I could,” she says. Her sister was an intern with Alloy Entertainment, the brains behind best-selling series like Gossip Girls and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, so Sara crashed their Christmas party, where she met several high-level executives. She began developing book series for Alloy on the side and eventually sold her pitch for Pretty Little Liars. (Three of the books are in stores now, and she’s contracted to write five more.) “I quit my job at the magazine company before the book sold because I just needed to get out of there,” she says. “On my first day of being unemployed, I got the call that I had a book deal.”
Daily News: To stay current, Sara reads a ton of teen mags and websites, as well as blogs and MySpace pages. She also watches lots of TV—especially shows geared toward teens.
She’s Dying to Meet: Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series. “She’s been incredibly successful and markets herself really well,” says Sara. “Honestly, though, I love meeting any author. I love talking about the process with other people who go through it as well.”
Wait, You’ve Actually Read My Book?: Sara’s most memorable moment came at a reading for Pretty Little Liars when a teen girl asked her to sign her books—and her friend’s books and a piece of paper to give to another friend. “It’s amazing to me that people read my books and like it. I can be self-deprecating, so I still find this incredible.”
Biggest Boo-boo: “At the beginning of my career, I wrote a piece for a magazine and wasn’t careful with the fact-checking materials. All of the correspondence was over e-mail and I deleted it. Apparently the woman I interviewed had an issue with the story. They called me, and when I didn’t have the fact-checking materials I just looked stupid. They had to run a correction, and they never hired me again. I became very careful with my sources after that.”
Words of Wisdom: “If you have a finished manuscript, send it out to every agent you can think of and don’t be discouraged by rejection. If you can, apply for writing residencies. You’ll not only meet other writers and artists, but you could also make connections. And keep at it. This industry is as much about persistence as it is about luck and talent.”
This Job’s For You If: You’ve got a thick skin, can take constructive criticism, and are good about hitting deadlines. Discipline is also key, since there’s nothing stopping you from watching the Lifetime Movie Network all day but your own will.