Jenna Glatzer is an award-winning full-time writer and ghostwriter who’s written more than 30 books and hundreds of articles for magazines and online publications.
Her main writing interests are biographies and memoirs, and she often writes about health, parenting, and business leadership. She also loves writing for children, as well as writing humor.
Her latest release is Gratitude in Motion (Hachette) with Colleen Kelly Alexander, who spent weeks in a coma after being run over by a freight truck. You may have seen her on the Today Show or Dr. Oz talking about her experience.
Standing Strong (HCI Books) with Diane Reeve, a martial arts instructor whose boyfriend intentionally infected her with HIV. She spoke about the crime on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Who’s the New Kid? (Tyndale), written with Heidi Bond, tells the story of how Heidi helped her daughter beat childhood obesity. Her daughter was featured on The Biggest Loser.
Prior to that, Jenna wrote Never Ever Give Up: The Inspiring Story of Jessie and Her JoyJars (Zondervan) with Erik Rees – the true story of 11-year-old Jessica Joy Rees, who started a foundation to help kids with cancer even as she battled the disease herself.
She also wrote The Pregnancy Project (Simon & Schuster) with Gaby Rodriguez, who faked her own pregnancy as a senior project in high school (Simon & Schuster Young Readers). The book was made into a Lifetime television movie by the same name. The Pregancy Project has been featured on Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, The Today Show, Telemundo, Inside Edition, and many others, and has won multiple awards.
She worked with Celine Dion on the authorized biography Celine Dion: For Keeps (Andrews McMeel), which was one of Jenna’s favorite life experiences. The book was featured on The View, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Entertainment Tonight.
(Jenna’s not particularly short; Celine is tall!)
She also wrote The Marilyn Monroe Treasures (Barnes & Noble), which is in the same format as the Celine Dion book– oversized hardcover filled with removable memorabilia. It’s available exclusively from Barnes & Noble in the U.S. with more than 40,000 copies sold, and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, German, and French.
My Stolen Son is Susan Markowitz’s story. Her son Nick Markowitz was murdered in 2000 at the orders of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood. This story was the basis of the movie Alpha Dog, starring Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, and Sharon Stone. The book won both Editor’s Choice and People’s Choice in the True Crime Book Awards. (Berkley; visit www.mystolenson.com).
Unthinkable is a memoir written with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon (Tyndale House; visit www.scottrigsby.com).
She co-authored the books Fertility Foods (Simon & Schuster) with Jeremy Groll, M.D. and Lorie Groll, and Bullyproof Your Child’s Life (Penguin) with Joel Haber, Ph.D.
Unbroken (Thomas Nelson) is a Christian memoir about overcoming abuse and addiction, written with Tracy Elliott.
She’s been the ghostwriter or developmental editor for five business books for HarperBusiness and McGraw-Hill, with a focus on leadership.
She’s written three books for writers: the Amazon top 10 bestseller Outwitting Writer’s Block and Other Problems of the Pen (The Lyons Press), Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer (Nomad Press), and The Street-Smart Writer (Nomad Press).
She’s also worked on two books for people with anxiety disorders: Fear Is No Longer My Reality (McGraw-Hill) is a book she co-wrote with Jamie Blyth of The Bachelorette, telling his tale about overcoming panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. Conquering Panic and Anxiety Disorders (Hunter House) is an anthology of success stories from people who’ve overcome all sorts of anxiety disorders.
Her latest children’s picture books are about heroes of the Underground Railroad and the invention of the Ferris wheel. She’s authored several other nonfiction books for children sold through the educational market, and one whimsical picture book about a girl who refuses to get her hair cut.
Because Jenna is a ghostwriter, not all of her work carries her byline, and she can’t always talk about what she’s worked on. So if you read a book you really like, you can always pretend she wrote it. She’ll like that. If it’s a bad book, no way did she write it. Ptooey, and other disdainful noises.
Magazines, newspapers, and websites Jenna has written for include Writer’s Digest, The Washington Post, The Establishment, Physical, Prevention, Woman’s World, Woman’s Own, USAA, Women’s Health & Fitness, Salon.com, ePregnancy, Contemporary Bride, Match.com, MSN, and AOL.
Jenna has also written hundreds of greeting cards and copy for mugs, bumper stickers, doormats, aprons, t-shirts, buttons, magnets, and plaques for companies such as Gallant Greetings, Paradise Greetings, Ephemera, High Cotton, and Northern Cards.
An experienced speaker, Jenna is a frequent media guest. She was the honorary chairperson of the national I Love to Write Day and a writing workshop instructor for the Omega Institute. She also served as a judge of the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.
Her proudest accomplishment so far is overcoming agoraphobia.
She is still mourning the loss of Angel, the brilliant Joss Whedon TV series that spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is convinced that when she gets rich enough, she’s going to single-handedly resurrect the series, even if that doesn’t happen until all of the principal actors are in their 80s.
Her home is in New York with her her fabulous little girl, Sarina, who already knows how to wield a semi-colon.
Who’s profiled or interviewed Jenna?
VH1, Parade Magazine, NBC News, Woman’s World, Writer’s Market, Lifetime Television, Newsday, Media Bistro, Canada’s Stars! network, and many more.
Miscellaneous facts about Jenna, for her truly devoted fans:
- Boston University alumna
- Avid drinker of peach tea
- Favorite words: hornswoggled, bamboozle, juxtapose, shenanigans, spork, bellybutton
- Favorite authors: Maya Angelou, T.C. Boyle, Jeannette Walls, Kelly Corrigan
- Drug of choice: Motrin
- Favorite human being: her daughter, Sarina
- Favorite song: “Round Here” by Counting Crows, live 10-minute version
- Career before writing: Stage actress
- Can’t navigate her way out of her own driveway without her Garmin
- Born on Thanksgiving
- Oddly wedge-shaped feet, size 7
- Favorite musicals: Wicked, Godspell, Hair, Starmites, Les Mis, Rent, Miss Saigon, Aida, Chess, Closer Than Ever… okay, she’ll stop now.
- She’s a sucker for the book cart at the library, where she loads up on hardcover books for 50 cents and paperbacks for a quarter. A quarter!
- Thankful for: old friends, kind readers
