After the birth of her son, Joy “Deja” King wanted to clear the air of some drama. So, she started recording her thoughts into a voice recorder.

She said when she first started writing she thought she was giving out too much personal information. So, she started fictionalizing.

“It was like a light bulb went off in my head, it came so easy,” she said from her home in Tennessee.

Joy King

In 2004, King published her first book herself and distributed it to street vendors in New York City, where she was living.

And editor from St. Martin’s Press bought the book from a vendor, loved it and reached out to King.

“That’s how I got my first book deal,” she said. “I’ve been writing ever since.”

Today her son is seven years old and King, 30, is the author of bestselling urban fiction novels, including “Hooker to Housewife” and the popular Bitch series, and has established her own production company, A King Production.

King will return to her hometown, where she has lived on and off, and hold book signings and workshops on what it takes to build a successful career. Book signings will take place 5p.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Borders in the Westfield Mall and 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 7 at the Kent Branch Library.

King’s workshops, held at 1 p.m. on Nov. 6, at Rogers High School and at 10 a.m. on Nov. 7, at the Kent Branch Library, will uplift her fans, especially young women, she said.

She will give advice on developing new talent and the blueprint to her success as a bestselling author.

“I want to show how disappointments, obstacles and struggles helped me,” she said. “How I was able to use those things for motivation to make something of myself and become successful … when you fall you get back up. As long as you’re trying you’re not failing.”

King began her career studying journalism in New York City. She left college to take an internship in a public relations firm. She said she was using college to get where she needed to be; New York.

“To be a great story teller who can compel readers to be interested in your characters is not something that be taught,” she said.

She credits her editors for helping her improve her stories while allowing her to keep her voice. She said she has friends who have gotten manuscripts back from editors that were barely recognizable.

King draws on her experiences and those of others to add realism to her character development. But she said the difference between her and her characters is similar to that of actors who play murderers or crack heads.

“When they leave that role, they don’t go home and do those things – you hope,” she said laughing. “As a person, I don’t want to hear your sex stories. As a writer, I put that in there because the readers want it.”

Like many of her characters, King is an independent person who does what needs to be done, including marketing her own books in the streets.

Many big publishing companies “don’t know how to promote urban lit books,” she said.

“It starts and ends with the streets,” she said. “No one knows to go to the store and purchase your book unless you make it hot in the streets.”

King will also release her first children’s book for ages four to seven years in December.

“I want to start reaching kids as young as possible,” she said. “At that age you can have the most significance and make the most difference in their lives.”

For more information, visit joykingonline.com.

Tags: authors, Joy King

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Books.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.