The Writing Life of Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich’s book signings aren’t stuffy affairs where an author sits behind a table quietly signing copies of her book.

Instead, the writer’s appearances, like the one she’ll make at Barnes & Noble at Market Fair in West Windsor on June 21, feature music, food, games and prizes. And of course she’ll also sign copies of her newest book “Smokin’ Seventeen.”

Technology is a big reason why her book signings have gotten so big. She has her own website, of course, and now a  mobile app and a Facebook page so that her fans can keep up with what she’s doing,

 “It was a huge change in the lives of authors because for the first time we actually had contact with readers,” Evanovich says of the Internet. “Before that, maybe you would get to see a few people when you went out on book tour but for the most part you had no clue.

“Now all of a sudden because of the Internet, we know what readers are thinking. We know what they like, we know a little about them personally, what kind of jobs they have, what their struggles are, what they’re needs are. When I’m on book tour, they can come to my website and find out where I am. Before, if you didn’t see a sign up in a store, you had no idea if an author was going to be there.”

Evanovich’s readers certainly seem to find her. Her book signings can draw thousands of fans, which is why she’s turned them into multi-faceted events.

 “When you have a crowd of people in a book store, you need to make them happy,” she said from her home in Naples, Fla.

She also hopes to make them happy as they read “Smokin’ Seventeen,” the latest in her series of romance mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter who lives in Trenton’s Chambersburg section (known as “the ‘Burg), has a complicated love life, an addiction to Cheetos and a habit of getting into car accidents.

Plum’s newest mystery involves a serial killer who’s leaving dead bodies around Trenton addressed to her.

“And that’s not even the worst part of the book,” Evanovich says. “Stephanie’s friends and relatives are putting a lot of pressure on her to make a decision between the two guys in her life, the mysterious Ranger and Trenton’s hot cop, Joe Morelli.”

While her books are set in Trenton, the author grew up in South River. After she graduated from Rutgers’ Douglass College, her parents moved to Mercerville.

“That was my introduction to the ‘Burg and to Trenton,” she says, adding that the neighborhood she writes about resembles the ‘Burg of 50 to 60 years ago more so than today.

One reason she set her books in Trenton was that it has a big population and was a city where lots of crimes could take place. “It was on the Delaware River, you could dump a body in it,” she says.

Some real-life events have made their way into Evanovich’s fiction. A few years ago, someone sent her an article about a cow escaping from a meat-packing plant in Trenton. “It ended up in one of my books and everybody thought I had this great imagination, 'How did you ever think of a crazy thing?' And it was real.”

Evanovich began her writing career with romances, then turned to crime (so to speak). Her first Plum book, “One for the Money,” was published in 1994. Since the publication of “Hot Six” in 2000, the books have consistently reached the top of The New York Times’ bestseller list.

Being a writer is a job she loves, but she says it doesn’t come easily and that she works hard at it. A typical day for her starts at 5:30 a.m. She writes eight hours a day and spends other hours doing interviews, reading fan mail, working on her website and talking with her son, Peter, who’s her agent, and her daughter Alex, her creative director.

When asked if she takes breaks between books, Evanovich says yes, and that they last about four hours.

 “When I’m done with a book, I’m always very frazzled because it was late and I gained 15 pounds keeping my ass in the chair,” she says. “And I have not a thought in my head because I’ve put every possible thought into the book, I mean there’s nothing left. I send it off and I get a glass of wine and I say I’m never going to write another book, I’m going to retire, I really don’t need the money, I don’t need this.

"And then I get up the next morning and I walk around cracking my knuckles and I can’t stand it. I have to sit down and write a new book.”

Evanovich is in an inspiration for middl- aged people who still have dreams to fulfill. She didn’t publish her first book until she was 47 and her first Plum mystery came when she was over 50. She started writing when she was in her mid 30s and it took 10 years before she got published.

“I think the real advantage to it is I really was able to experience a lot of different things and now I’m a successful writer,” she says. “I haven’t got a good sense of age. People ask me how old I am and I always tell them that I’m 32 and then I have to think, My kids are older than that, how can that be. I must not be 32.

”I feel like that because that’s where I am in my career. Most of the people my age are retired and I’m just peaking,” she adds with a laugh. “I still have a lot of stuff to do.”

Evanovich will be at Barnes & Noble at Princeton MarketFair, 3535 US Route 1, West Windsor, June 21, 6 p.m. Line passes will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 9 a.m. One line pass will be issued per person. Evanovich will personalize "Smokin' Seventeen" as well as backlist titles, memorabilia and photos.

For information, call 609-897-9250 or go to http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/70082.