On Nov. 21, New York Times bestselling author Scott Reintgen visited Green Hope. Well known for his stand-alone books “A Door in the Dark,” “Ashlords” duology, and “Nyxia” trilogy, Reintgen shared his writing experience and knowledge with Green Hope students.
Reintgen, the author of 11 books spanning various genres for both children and young adults, left teaching six years ago at a public high school to pursue a full-time career as an author. “I wasn’t actively planning to leave teaching to start writing, the opportunity kind of just presented itself. My wife’s job moved to Switzerland, and I wasn’t going to teach there, so I just decided to take the dive and focus on my writing,” he said.
Reintgen notes that his parents and in-laws weren’t huge fans of him leaving his job to focus on writing, especially with the risk of making little to no money from his books. A survey in 2017 performed by the Authors Guild showed that the average author income was around $6,080. However, Reintgen had a publishing deal within three months and a book advance within the six figures. “I was probably in the top three percent of book offers.”
Reintgen’s debut novel, “Nyxia,” generated a buzz upon its release. The sci-fi novel, the first in the “Nyxia” trilogy, follows the journey of Emmet and 10 other teens as they compete on a spaceship for a job with a company that mines a powerful material called nyxia. Generating raving reviews from bestselling authors such as Marie Lu and prestigious reviewers such as Kirkus Reviews, the book’s success inspired Reintgen to continue writing and publishing novels.
However, Reintgen emphasized that his success was not immediate. “For the first two books I tried to get published, I think I got one full request on either one of them. Amongst around fifty agents for both of them, I only had one full request, and it got rejected like two weeks later.”
Despite being faced with rejection, Reintgen continued to perfect his craft. He now helps other authors do the same through writing workshops and editing services he offers through his website online.
Reintgen also visited over 700 schools in the last six years since his career as an author began. “I get to speak directly to my audience. I get to work with librarians, who we call gatekeepers in our industry. To have students and librarians put their stamp of approval on my work matters,” he said.
Green Hope freshman Ezza Ahmad (’27) attended Reintgen’s author visit and voiced her opinion on his work. “I read the ‘Nyxia’ trilogy a couple of years ago, and I loved it, so I’m excited to read what he recently released. I think it’s cool that he was able to come to Green Hope and share some more details about his writing and the whole writing process,” Ahmad said.
Reintgen’s words resonated with Ahmad, and the words inspired her to focus more on making time to focus on her own writing journey. “I often think I don’t have time to write because of school and sports, but I think it’s really important for me to make time in my day to work on my writing, and perfect my craft,” she said.
Reintgen’s most recent book, “A Door in the Dark,” reached second place on the New York Times bestseller list. He said, “It was the best thing in the world. I got married, the birth of my children, but finding out I made the top of the bestseller list is up there with those two things.”
Reintgen hopes students aspiring to be authors gained insight from his visit. He encourages such students to “just write. Carve out time for it, spend time doing what you love, and get better at it.”
