Amazon Cover
I first discovered Barb Hendee through the Dhampir/Nobel Dead series she co-wrote with her husband J.C. Hendee. The book sold in 2001 and by 2006 success as a writer team had allowed them to quit the day jobs and move to Oregon and just write. Then in 2011, even though they did all the right things – keep writing, keep in touch with their fans, were easy to work with – the market imploded when Borders gave up its fight. They, like many writers, suddenly found their royalty checks shrinking.
In her post “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” (9/20/2023 note – looks like she moved her website and has discontinued the blog aspects as part of concentrating on her day job), she discusses what it is like to be a successful writer … and then not be successful anymore.
She is still writing. The fourteenth (and last?) chapter of Nobel Dead came out in 2016. In addition, she is solo writing the Dark Glass Novels, where noble women faced with choices like stopping an assassination or choosing which of the king’s sons to marry look into a mirror and see those choices play out. Rarely are any of the futures fully happy, the question is which will the woman pick and how will it change her.
Barb Hendee may have returned to her day job, but she isn’t walking away from her night job. She loves writing too much.