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Jodie Archer

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.archerjockers.com

Twitter

jodiearcher11

Genre

Nonfiction, Contemporary, Fiction

Member Since

June 2016

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Jodie Archer spent her childhood hiding in the changing rooms of the clothing stores her mother managed: she would pile sweaters all over the floor to look as though she were putting together an outfit, and would sit for the 8 hours the shops were open and read books in any genre she was allowed. At this age, she decided the only sensible profession in the world was to be a writer, but sensible people told her that it was not sensible at all to pursue such an unlikely dream.

In pursuit of plan B, she was, for a while, a (not very good) young actress. She would take the parts of the characters and even writers she was most interested in--Alice in Wonderland, Matilda, Charlotte Bronte (which is when she most spectacularly forgot her lines), an Jodie Archer spent her childhood hiding in the changing rooms of the clothing stores her mother managed: she would pile sweaters all over the floor to look as though she were putting together an outfit, and would sit for the 8 hours the shops were open and read books in any genre she was allowed. At this age, she decided the only sensible profession in the world was to be a writer, but sensible people told her that it was not sensible at all to pursue such an unlikely dream.

In pursuit of plan B, she was, for a while, a (not very good) young actress. She would take the parts of the characters and even writers she was most interested in--Alice in Wonderland, Matilda, Charlotte Bronte (which is when she most spectacularly forgot her lines), and once even Winnie The Pooh (which was fatal for her street cred at school). When she was given parts that involved singing on stage, she really proved that she was not meant to be involved in this business at all.

A compulsive writer of letters, stories, scripts and even a newsletter for the neighborhood cats, she never thought again of becoming a writer for real until her school displayed a blurb she wrote for a book she had never, in fact, written, and she was besieged by requests for the text. Still, she was told it would be more sensible to become a lawyer than an author, and she must study English (if she insisted) an then convert to law.

Before she went to Cambridge to study English, Jodie took a year out and wrote for several local newspapers and magazines, and then worked as a runner and researcher in TV. Throughout her following years at St, John's in Cambridge, (where the law was forgotten after her first lecture), she wrote reviews and features for various news outlets, and edited the May Anthologies and other well known university magazines. Once she graduated, she was offered training schemes at Macmillan and Penguin, and spent two years learning the publishing industry before becoming an acquisitions editor at Penguin. While this was exceptionally useful training, it showed her just how hard it is to make it as an author, and she thought it best to play it safe.

Jodie left the UK for a scholarship at Stanford University in California, where she spent time teaching nonfiction and memoir writing alongside her research in contemporary fiction and bestsellers. While at Stanford, she enjoyed the blue skies and palm trees of California and wrote most of her first (unpublished) book. She got her first interest from agents the day her mother suddenly died. Just after that, her marriage broke down, and she abandoned writing for a couple of years.

After she got her PhD, Jodie was recruited to Apple, where she became the lead in research on books. After she was approached by her agent to write a book based on her doctoral research with Matt Jockers, she wrote a pitch. She left the corporate world to write The Bestseller Code after its acquisition became deal of the week in New York.

Finally, at 36, Jodie is a full time writer. After ten years in the US, she lives in Yorkshire, UK with her Havanese puppy, Mollie.
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Jodie Archer’s books

Average rating: 3.8 · 1,317 ratings · 281 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of a Blockbuster Novel by Jodie Archer (Goodreads Author), Matthew L. Jockers (Goodreads Author) 3.81 avg rating — 1,262 ratings — published 2016 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Becoming Bestsellers: John Grisham and Danielle Steel (Sample from Chapter 2 of THE BESTSELLER CODE): Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel by Jodie Archer (Goodreads Author), Matthew L. Jockers (Goodreads Author) 3.61 avg rating — 51 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I Say Tomato: Patrick Swayze Makes A Medium 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Archangel: True Stories from the "Channel of Heaven" liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dancer: A Memoir 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Angel: 101 Questions Answered 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Adult Children of Emotionally Unavailable Parents: How to Live, Manage, and Complete Healing from Trauma 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Homemade Beauty Recipes: Easy DIY Treatments for Glowing, Healthy Skin and Hair: Natural Beauty Recipes To Make At Home 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Homemade Beauty Recipes: Easy DIY Treatments for Glowing, Healthy Skin and Hair: Natural Beauty Recipes To Make At Home 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Der Bestseller-Code: Was uns ein bahnbrechender Algorithmus über Bücher, Storys und das Lesen verrät by Jodie Archer (Goodreads Author), Matthew Jockers, Sascha Mattke (translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jodie Archer's Blog

Get your manuscript analyzed

Thanks to readers for so many thoughtful letters about The Bestseller Code. It is great to hear writers tell us they are feeling much more hopeful and positive about how to create a successful manuscript. We have been inundated with requests for analysis of your manuscripts. At the current time, we are not offering this service widely, but Macmillan is running a promotion until Oct 15th. One write Read more of this blog post »

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Published on October 12, 2016 17:07 • Tags: the-bestseller-code

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Jodie is Currently Reading

Jodie Archer is currently reading

Siddharta

by Hermann Hesse

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Aug 23, 2016 10:14AM

Jodie Archer is currently reading

Cool Characters: Irony and American Fiction

by Lee Konstantinou (Goodreads Author)

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Aug 23, 2016 10:14AM

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H is for Hawk

by Helen Macdonald

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Aug 12, 2016 02:08PM

Quotes by Jodie Archer (?)

“Back in the spring of 2010, Stieg Larsson’s agent was having a good day.”
― Jodie Archer, The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel

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“They insisted that the pleasure of reading is not necessarily just about providing pleasure to the mind, but to the heart, the emotions, the body and – for those who believe in these things- the soul. The problem is that this kind of appreciation of literature has been shrouded in embarrassment and shame for a long time”
― Jodie Archer, The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of a Blockbuster Novel

tags: reading-for-pleasure

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“We investigated this a little further, and found an interesting pattern across all our bestselling books, beyond just Steel and Grisham. It turns out that successful authors consistently give that sweet spot of 30 percent to just one or two topics, whereas non-bestselling writers try to squeeze in more ideas. To reach a third of the book, a lesser-selling author uses at least three and often more topics. To get to 40 percent of the average novel, a bestseller uses only four topics. A non-bestseller, on average, uses six. While this may sound like a lot of numbers, the effect on your reading experience and the cohesion of a satisfying narrative is quite significant. Telling the heart of a story with fewer topics implies focus. It implies lack of unneeded subplots. It implies a more organized and precise writerly mind. It implies experience. We tested this finding with two of our friends—an agent and a novelist. Both told us that they had, through a series of painful rejections from publishing houses, come to the theory that new writers start out too ambitious. They”
― Jodie Archer, The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel

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