Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Oakley.
Hi Colleen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I graduated from the Grady School of Journalism at UGA in 2002 and started working as an assistant editor at Boating World Magazine. From there, I worked my way up various mastheads and eventually worked in NYC as the senior editor of Marie Claire. I loved editing, writing and sharing other people’s real-life stories, but I was always secretly working on my own fiction stories at night and on the weekend. I finished my first novel in 2010, got an agent and we went on submission with the book to multiple editors—but it never sold! It was a devastating experience at the time, but I refused to give up. I wrote my second novel Before I Go, and in the spring of 2013 it sold to Simon & Schuster and I was elated. I’ve been a full-time novelist ever since, and my fifth novel The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise published in March 2023—exactly ten years after my first novel sold.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly, the publishing industry is full of ups and downs. It’s been a rollercoaster of amazing highs (being on the Today Show and Good Morning America! Having incredible authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid and Jodi Picoult blurb my work!) and devastating lows (sometimes books sales aren’t what you hope or story ideas get rejected. I even switched publishers mid-career and wasn’t sure I would ever get another publishing deal!). There’s always a bit of uncertainty as an author—will readers love this book? Will I get another publishing contract? How will sales be?—which can be disconcerting, but I wouldn’t trade what I get to do for anything!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m the author of five books: Before I Go, Close Enough to Touch, You Were There Too, The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, and The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise. I would say I specialize in writing unique, unconventional stories that take the reader on a wild, unexpected journey. I’m most proud that I’ve found success in a notoriously difficult industry and that my stories touch readers all over the world! My work has been translated into 21 different languages, optioned for film (fingers crossed that we see it on the big screen one day soon), and won various awards, including Georgia Author of the Year and the French Reader’s Prize.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.colleenoakley.com
- Instagram: @writercolleenoakley
- Facebook: facebook.com/writercolleenoakley
Image Credits
Ana Raquel (only the photos of my in the red polka dot shirt)
