Jesse Haynes is an American young adult novelist, best known for his debut novel, Creepers, which tells the story of two brothers who have survived a global-decimating virus, and the battles they face in attempting to survive the apocalypse. Creepers released in 2014, and in late 2015 it peaked within the top 1% of book sales on Amazon Kindle after climbing nearly 2 million spots. At the same time, Haynes entered the top 5,000 Kindle e-book authors in terms of sales. Most notable about Haynes is his age. He began to write Creepers at age 15, and signed the publishing contract for it while 16. The book released Haynes's junior year of high school, and he was contracted to a sequel the same year. Creepers 2, the follow-up, is expected to release in early 2016. Early life Haynes was born on August 13, 1996, in Liberal, Kansas, the son of Randy Haynes, a petroleum engineer, and Robin Haynes, and elementary school teacher. He moved to Skiatook, Oklahoma at age 4, attended school there, and graduated from Skiatook High School in 2015 as Valedictorian and President of his class. He then began attending the University of Tulsa in Fall of 2015. Career Haynes had already began his career as a writer upon entering college at the University of Tulsa. Not only is Haynes a fiction writer, but he is also a public speaker. In 2015, he traveled to 12 Oklahoma schools to speak with students about writing, goal setting, chasing dreams, and a number of other inspirational topics. For his school visits, Haynes has received positive feedback, being called someone with "a great rapport with the students. He not only inspired them to write creatively, but was an example of someone who took a risk and it paid off." In addition to schools, Haynes also has spoken at a number of conventions. In 2015, he keynoted the G.L.O. (Get the Lead Out) conference in Norman, Oklahoma. He also spoke on a panel of authors at the OTA EncycloMedia conference in Oklahoma City in 2014, and then led the same panel the following year. Haynes's first book, Creepers, did not experience an overly-hyped release, but the young author has since then managed to attract the media spotlight, appearing on news channels, in in newspapers, including an article in the Tulsa World. Because of his relations with media, he has managed to platform himself and generate a fairly impressive amount of sales for his work. When not working on his manuscript, Haynes also writes for newspapers. He is a journalist for the Skiatook Journal, and also a sports writer with the Tulsa World. Haynes has managed to create a significant internet following, with his hub of social media found at his personal website. Haynes runs a blog on his website, a YouTube channel to which he posts "Author Update" videos, and a number of other social media platforms. His followers have been occasionally referred to as "Creepers Nation." Personal life Jesse is a devout Christian, which he believes is the most important thing in his life. In a blog post on his website in 2015, Haynes noted, "Seriously, life couldn’t be better. I have a great family. My friends are impossible to beat. God is constantly providing me with any provision I could need and giving me things I don’t deserve." He frequently posts about his religious beliefs on his blog. Apart from writing, Haynes is very active in sports. He played basketball in high school, being named to an All-State team his senior year. According to his blog, he chose not to continue an athletic career in college to focus on his writing and classroom activity, although he is playing intramural sports. Haynes also has admitted he "kills to much time than he should selling stuff on eBay." He is a music enthusiast, making note that his favorite artists are Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the band fun., and TobyMac.
|
|
|