Interview With Bestselling Author Jenny Hale
We all do things on occasion that don’t make sense to anyone but us. When we’re fortunate, they even involve fine little luxuries that indulge our senses. I like to keep a small stack of Jenny Hale books in the corner of my bedroom. It gives me pleasure to have them there, knowing I can reach for the novels whenever I want to believe in the possibility of a new romance, hear playful laughter or the sound of waves crashing on a cozy beach.
Jenny Hale is a USA Today and international bestselling author of romantic contemporary fiction, but it is impossible to put Jenny in a box. Her talent is so multifaceted that simply calling her an author would not be enough. Her books have sold over a million copies worldwide, have been translated into 15 languages, and adapted for television as Hallmark Channel original movies.
What makes for a good book? A great publishing team and Jenny knows this. A natural leader, it’s not in Jenny’s constitution to devote herself solely to writing while ignoring all other aspects of publication. So, she took a leap of faith and launched Harpeth Road Press, based out of Nashville, in November of 2020.
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The small but mighty imprint is a breath of fresh air, releasing about a dozen sweet romances by established and fresh-faced authors a year. “My love of art, marketing, and service and my inability to tap into them led me to launch Harpeth Road. As an author, I couldn’t get a handle on those three significant elements of my personality, and I found myself wanting to hang out with my publishing team more than other authors. With Harpeth Road, I’ve been able to build our brand and the brands of authors, and I can be of service by helping other brand-new authors learn the business,” admits Jenny.
This is typical of Jenny’s approach to publishing: she is delightful, invigoratingly open, methodical in her leadership and knows how to make books fly. “At Harpeth Road, we regularly pitch titles to an agent who then pitches to Hallmark. As an author, I love seeing my books made into movies. The creative process of adaptation is so interesting. I love to see what the screenwriters keep from my books and what they change to suit their TV audience,” explains Jenny.
Creativity breeds innovation. At the helm of Harpeth Road, Jenny learned to push her boundaries, creating opportunities for her talent as a writer to reach new heights. “Knowing I’ve chosen the best of the best in editors, I have a strong cover designer with whom I can speak directly, and all creative aspects of my brand are under my control, I can write like crazy.”
No two days are the same at Harpeth Road as Jenny explains. “Some days, I spend all day responding to emails from authors and providing reports for agents, distributors, and communicating with reviewers. On other days, I’m training interns, building marketing plans, conducting market research to brainstorm new title and package ideas, building social media growth plans, and working with our legal team for contracts for new authors. I actually wrote a series on our Author’s Corner blog called “What do we do all day at Harpeth Road Press?” where I spell out some of the tasks we work on. When I finish my day at Harpeth Road Press, I write.”
Romance, strong family ties and caring friendships are at the heart of Jenny’s stories. Her deep character arcs overflow with unpretentious optimism, providing an all-around good feeling right from the opening scenes. “I’m always thinking about my characters: What in her past has made her behave this way, and how are the plot points going to teach her about herself and help her sift through that past?” Jenny confides. Readers feel drawn to the characters while being immersed in the languid beauty of the South, from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. “I write southern stories because that’s who I am, so it’s very easy to make the characters feel real when I’m immersed in that culture.”
The essence and heartfelt nature of her books, as well as those of the authors she publishes, should be shared with as many readers as possible, and selling translation rights can help to achieve that goal. Jenny currently has 83 translated versions of her novels. “My early books are pitched to foreign publishers by my original publisher who has an in-house person, and my latest titles are pitched by 2 Seas Agency who represent Harpeth Road’s foreign rights. 2 Seas Agency is hard at work, pitching all of Harpeth Road’s authors. They frequent the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair, along with other events, and they leverage their international publishing contacts,” says Jenny, who knows how laborious the whole process can be.
It is refreshing to hear a publisher credit foreign rights agents. She also gives importance to ensuring Harpeth Road’s books have the best chance at reaching an international audience. “I will flag things that might not work in translation, and I purposely like to build an editing team that has editors from various countries to be sure our books are edited with a broad perspective.”
For her own books, Jenny paints a picture of the southern U.S. that’s both true and interesting to impart Southern Charm to readers all over the world. “The friendliness is real. In Nashville, we’ve had a lot of people move in from other areas of the U.S. and many of them say that they wondered what we all wanted from them when they first moved here, because we were so nice. We don’t want anything. We give out our phone numbers, have coffee with strangers, and make conversations with passers-by in public—it’s who we are,” Jenny says.
With such openness and the ocean or Christmas in the foreground, it’s only natural that the characters and settings of Jenny’s books would ground us, bringing us back to our human experience.
Jenny Hale releases a summer book (usually out in April or May) and a Christmas book (out in October) every year, and has a few surprises up her sleeve for 2025. To view her entire book list, head over to It’s Jenny Hale. You can also follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads and X.
To learn more about Harpeth Road and for announcements on latest releases, follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and X.
TEXT BY FATIMA RIZZO