Jacqui Jacoby
Biography
Award-winning author, Jacqui Jacoby lives and writes in the beauty of Northern Arizona. She is the owner of Body Count Productions, Inc, which keeps her career moving. Currently adjusting to being an empty nester with her first grandchild to draw her pictures, Jacqui is a self-defense hobbyist. Having studied martial arts for numerous years, she retired in 2006 from the sport, yet still brings the strength she learned from the discipline to her characters. She is a working writer, whose career includes writing books, teaching online and live workshops and penning short nonfiction.
Writing Career
Jacqui’s writing career began on October 26, 1993. Though she had written several novels before then, she credits them to education and claims this date as the day she moved from hobbyist to professional. She enjoyed both agent representation and success with her articles during the nineties, but suffered a drawback when her agent died unexpectedly. It took eight years before she signed with another one. She spent those years turning out more books and working for several non-fiction publications.[1][2]
Pulling from her experience in martial arts, Jacqui has made “tough chick heroines” a trademark of her books.[3] She coined the term “Romance with a Body Count” in the early nineties, a decade before “branding” became popular.[4]
In 1997, Dean Koontz critiqued her novel and said: “You have talent and will ... get to where you want to go.” In that same year, Clive Cussler asked to see her book and offered her an endorsement. These events gave Jacqui the self-confidence to continue through discouragement.[5]
In 2006, on the recommendation of Suzanne Brockmann, Jacqui left behind her pseudonym, Leslie Scott, and returned to her legal name.
As her career grew with online and live classes [6][7], she increased both her non-fiction as well as her novel production, winning numerous awards along the way. For her work in non-fiction, Jacqui has interviewed Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, Sandra Brown, Debbie Macomber, Jayne Ann Krentz, Janet Evanovich, Jennifer Crusie, Christine Ridgeway and Vicki Lewis Thompson. [8]
In 2003, she opened her own production company, Body Count Productions, Inc.[9] Along with her novels and non-fiction articles, Jacqui is a sought-after speaker for live and on-line workshops.[10][11]
Jacqui’s proudest career moment was the success of her article “Lessons From the Giants", which has appeared in publications in the United States, Canada and Australia.[12]
Awards
- First Place, The Molly 2007, Paranormal Division for MAGIC MAN
- Third Place, P.A.S.I.C. 2007, Paranormal Division for MAGIC MAN
- Second Place, Touch of Magic 2007, Paranormal Division for MAGIC MAN
- Honorable Mention, Daphne du Maurier 2007, Paranormal Division for THE FOURTH SWORD
- First Place, The Suzannah 2006, Paranormal Division for MAGIC MAN
- Second Place, Dixie First Chapter Contest 2006 for MAGIC MAN
- First Place, Daphne du Maurier 2005, Paranormal Division for MAGIC MAN
- Honorable Mention, Daphne du Maurier 2005, Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense for DEAD OR ALIVE
- 2009 RWA(c) Golden Heart Finalist: Paranormal Division with MAGIC MAN
Books
- Dead Men Seal the Deal
- Dead Men Feel the Heat
- Dead Men Heal Slowly
- Magic Man
- Dead Men Play The Game - July 2015
- Vengeance - April 2014
