Jodi Taylor Books

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Jodi Taylor is an English author that writes historical fiction. She is best known for ‘The Chronicles of St Mary’s,’ a series about time travel. Born in Bristol, England, Taylor was educated in Gloucester.

After moving to Yorkshire with her husband, she spent the next two decades with the North Yorkshire County Council before turning her attention to publishing.

The concept for the St. Mary’s chronicles did not come to Taylor fully formed. Instead, she had several vague ideas bouncing around in her imagination. One day, randomly, while painting a wall, she decided to focus them into a cohesive narrative.

Rather than waiting until she finished painting, Taylor put the brush down, went out, and bought a notebook. The next day, she started jotting down ideas, explaining the layout of St. Mary’s, the characters that would inhabit the institution, the nature of their work, and so on.

Taylor’s first novel in the series had a large cast because she intended to write one book, and she expected all the characters to die horribly in the end. However, while detailing the first book, the author quickly realized that she had enough content to fill a second book. That was all the excuse the author needed to postpone her characters’ impending deaths.

But despite her hard work, getting that first novel published was easier said than done. She is grateful for the assistance that Jericho Writers gave her when Taylor started her publishing journey.
At 123,000 words, her first draft was too long. Taylor sent the manuscript to Jericho Writers, and they responded with a report that encouraged her and provided advice that fine-tuned the novel.

She had to cut 30,000 words and some of her favorite characters, but the sacrifice paid off. Though, not immediately. Initially, Taylor took the traditional route.

However, the agents she targeted ignored her. After a year, rather than despairing, the author listened to her friends. They introduced her to self-publishing, recommending Smashwords.

After getting the manuscript formatted and securing a design for her cover, Taylor uploaded her novel to Smashwords and Amazon. Her life transformed overnight as her debut novel slowly rose through the ranks to dominate Amazon’s charts.

The success of the manuscript exceeded the author’s wildest dreams. But before she could find her footing as a newly minted self-published author, Accent Press came along and gave her a publishing contract.

Taylor encourages aspiring authors to make finishing their manuscripts the first priority. She also wants them to realize that they don’t have to follow a conventional path to publishing success.

When Taylor received her contract from Accent Press, she did not have an agent. She was encouraged to seek help, which she did, receiving assistance from the Society of Authors. Nonetheless, she still landed a publishing contract without an agent.

Best Jodi Taylor Books

Taylor is interesting because she starts writing her books from the middle. This gives her room to either move back or forwards whenever she gets stuck. Taylor’s best books include:

Just One Damned Thing After Another: St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research doesn’t perform conventional research. They keep refuting the ‘Time Travel’ label. And yet, they spend their days investigating history’s most troubling questions.

Even though they look like harmless eccentrics, the activities of the members are far from harmless. Indeed, explosions are pretty common at St. Mary’s. But the dangers don’t scare Madeleine.

When she applied for a position at the institution, Madeleine had no idea what her job as a historian would entail. The secretive nature of the position kept her intrigued despite the promise of poor pay and problematic working conditions.

Madeleine’s perseverance was rewarded when she learned that her new employers at the University of Thirsk expected her to join a team of time-traveling historians.

A Symphony of Echoes: Max and her team of time-traveling historians are back. This time, they have several journeys through history to undertake, including a visit to Victorian London that compels them to explore the life and times of Jack the Ripper and a trip to the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh.

Time travel is still fraught with danger. History is still determined to protect itself from the meddling hands of anyone foolish enough to try and change it. But this time around, they must also contend with a different enemy, one that is determined to destroy St. Mary’s.

When Does The Next Jodi Taylor book come out?

The next book by Jodi Taylor is Bad Moon and will be released on May, 22nd 2025. It is the newest book in the Elizabeth Cage Series.

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