John Jakes

Internationally acclaimed author John Jakes was born and raised in Chicago. He graduated from DePauw University with a degree in creative writing and later also added an M.A. in literature from Ohio State to his résumé. Jakes worked as a copywriter for advertising agencies for sixteen years before making the decision to become a full-time author of fiction. His first published work in 1950 was for pulp magazines like Amazing Stories. His made his breakthrough in 1973 when he received a $15,000 advance payment from a paperback publisher to begin work on The Kent Family Chronicles, a series of eight novels detailing the lives of a fictional American family through 200 years of history. By the time the final volume hit the shelves, more than 30 million copies had been sold. Jakes wrote all of his manuscripts on a typewriter he had purchased for $35 in 1955. By the late 70s, Jakes had published more than 200 stories of science fiction, fantasy, crime and the Wild West, in addition to 50 n