You Are Not for Everybody — J.D.’s stories

The agent rejection letters

Introduction

Also known as first fantasy novel

• InIn his early twenties, J.D. queried agents for his first fantasy novel with passionate emails. The replies said the same thing: there’s no audience for this book.
• InHe realized the agents simply weren’t the target audience. Their rejection didn’t mean no audience existed.
• InHe shut himself away to study writing and campaigns, designed his own cover after analyzing every cover in his genre, and hired an editor.
• InReleasing the book became his very public “college experience.” It sold thousands of copies and gave him a readership. See The Whispers of the Fallen.

The crucifixion drawing

Who Are You?

Also known as drawing at four, Jurassic Park, Middle-earth

• Ch 1J.D.’s first expression of feeling on paper came at four, a drawing his parents saved. He was drawn to the spectacle and drama of the crucified man between two thieves in his aunt’s illustrated Bible.
• Ch 1That fascination led him to other grand tales, including Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Tolkien’s Middle-earth, and to magazines on science and history.

The cologne ad

Who Are You?

Also known as gay kiss ad

• Ch 1In a friend’s fashion magazine in mid-nineties small-town Brazil, J.D. saw a cologne ad showing two men kissing. He thinks that was the day he knew he was gay.
• Ch 1He was also struck that a cologne was sold through a gay kiss. Whether through inspiration or shock, the campaign had done its job, and he noticed narrative in marketing from then on.

Keefe Tech

Who Are You?

Also known as Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School

• Ch 1At Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School in Framingham, Massachusetts, J.D. tried all twenty-one shops. He failed at carpentry, hairdressing and cooking before visual arts clicked.
• Ch 1He structured comic stories, made a board game, a campaign for a bottle of milk, and his first business card, realizing his passions aligned with his skills.
• Ch 9Because it was a technical school, he could work full-time at a print shop and finish junior and senior year together. See The print shop job.

Freelancing at fifteen

Branding

Also known as first business card, first design gig

• Ch 5J.D. started freelance graphic design at fifteen. He noticed clients valued how he presented work and ran meetings as much as the design: “People will pay a lot more if you can make them feel.”
• Ch 9His first paid job was a business card for his mom’s friend. It took him hours, so he spent his Marshalls paycheck on online courses and studied layers, typography, and RGB versus CMYK at night.
• Ch 9He began designing posters inspired by bands he loved and sharing them on a blog, and people started looking forward to his work.

Dunkin’ in Massachusetts

Branding

Also known as Dunkin’

• Ch 5At home in New Jersey J.D. makes his own coffee, but in Massachusetts he rushes to Dunkin’ for a cappuccino with almond milk and a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese.
• Ch 5The orange bubbly letters take him back to grabbing coffee with friends after school, and to his father’s first American job as a Dunkin’ baker in Framingham.
• Ch 5His point: coffee is coffee. We pick one over another for the feelings, the environment, even the cup design.

The Immortal Crowns launch

The Characters in Your Story

Also known as Immortal Crowns, Nasdaq billboard, the reporter’s call

• Ch 8J.D. wrote The Echoes of Fallen Stars: Immortal Crowns to be shocking, thought-provoking and poetic, signaling to a new audience that he is a bold creator.
• Ch 8He expected and leveraged backlash. Dreamscape Lore bought the audio rights months later, and a year later the second book’s cover was on the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square.
• Ch 8The books are either really loved or really hated, by design.
• Ch 8During release week a reporter from a Republican-leaning outlet asked J.D. about book bans and whether queer leads hurt IP profitability.
• Ch 8He replied, roughly, that had he seen queer characters as heroes growing up, he “would’ve saved thousands in therapy.” He had designed an arc so critics like this would play their part.

The print shop job

Master Your Craft

Also known as junior designer

• Ch 9Walking the city for inspiration, J.D. found a Brazilian-owned print shop, pitched his skills to the owner, showed his blog and was hired as junior designer, a step in mastering his craft. Later came The Brickell real estate job.
• Ch 9Thanks to Keefe Tech, he worked full-time while finishing junior and senior year together, proving he could keep up with assignments.

The Brickell real estate job

Master Your Craft

Also known as Brickell

• Ch 9After moving to Florida, J.D. was invited to a luxury real estate firm in Brickell, forty-five minutes from home. He took it as a plan: exposure, a prestigious network and money to fund his writing and design.
• Ch 9Lesson: there’s nothing wrong with a 9-to-5. Early on, it’s the seed money to invest in your craft. “We don’t pay bills with well-wishes.”

Writing the first book in secret

The Gift of Silence

Also known as six years

• Ch 10J.D.’s first book took six years, written for the joy of the story with no plan to publish. No one knew, and the reveal earned him sudden respect before it was even published.

The SoHo shrimp pasta

When You Are Not in the Room

Also known as Italian restaurant in SoHo

• Ch 11After his sold-out first New York signing in 2014, J.D. and friends went to a well-reviewed Italian restaurant in SoHo. Adding shrimp to pasta turned out to cost seventy-five dollars each.
• Ch 11They weren’t allowed to change the order, the pasta was frozen and the shrimp undercooked, and there was no refund.
• Ch 11Ten years on he’s never returned and warns friends away. The restaurant is still being discussed while it isn’t in the room.

The church musician

No

Also known as playing at church

• Ch 12As a teen J.D. learned keyboard and singing and found validation playing in church, where he was praised for how he made people feel.
• Ch 12Leadership passive-aggressively pressured volunteer musicians to attend everything, noting how lacking the music was when they missed. Afraid to say no, he carried a burden that wasn’t his.
• Ch 12When he started saying no he was labeled a rebel, and saw more clearly what that community was about. See Walking off the stage.

The chairman offer

No

• Ch 12J.D. was offered the chairmanship of an influential leadership group whose brand had been damaged by past leaders. They wanted a fresh face to reach younger minds.
• Ch 12The catch: it had to be his top priority, he’d pay for use of the name and do a rebrand pro bono. He declined because it would pull him from his own goals, and stood his ground when questioned.

Moving to America at twelve

The Emotional Hook

Also known as immigrant story

• Ch 13Two weeks after his twelfth birthday J.D.’s family moved to the US. That first summer he read his school’s whole reading list, sensing his immigrant story would set him apart.
• Ch 13Keeping Brazilian culture at home and an American upbringing outside gave him a dual mindset that later drew Brazilian entrepreneurs to his branding work.
• Ch 13They came on a tourist visa without connections or money, and he is a product of divorce. Telling it, he shows how strife adds meaning to his work.
• Ch 16Though offered a scholarship, he couldn’t attend college because of his status in the US.
• Ch 13He disliked the common Brazilian immigrant phrase “It’s a hard-earned life,” since “earn” implies painful sacrifice. He believes it’s a life you build.

The shampoo bottle test

Character Over Talent

Also known as two shampoo bottles

• Ch 14Speaking at an event, J.D. showed two shampoo designs, one elegant and neutral, one bright and bold. The crowd valued the elegant bottle at triple the price; both held the same product.
• Ch 14Your personal label is the first thing people see and the one thing they remember.

The Whispers of the Fallen

Chameleons

Also known as Whispers

• Ch 15J.D.’s first book. He was sure it would be as big as the era’s hits; it sold thousands of copies and readers flocked to events for sequels, but it was drowned out by other stories.
• Ch 15Despite the platform those four books gave him, he had to adapt as storyteller, entrepreneur and person: reading more, writing more, getting more in tune with himself.
• Ch 18While writing it he held back ideas because he was “a church boy.”

The spa brochure

Judgement as Research

• Ch 16One of J.D.’s first projects was a gorgeous spa brochure. When he presented it, the client picked it apart with questions.
• Ch 16His books cemented the lesson: learning in public before thousands of readers, negative reviews overshadowed praise until he told himself, “We never lose. We learn.”

Ten years to an agent

Friends, Connections, and Growth Partners

Also known as traditional book deal

• Ch 17It took J.D. nearly ten years to find an agent and a traditional deal. He questioned his worth and heritage: not Brazilian enough, American enough, talented enough?
• Ch 17His growth partners kept him accountable and sane, reminding him it was about someone else’s ability to connect with his work, not his talent.

Walking off the stage

The Big Illusion

Also known as the July Sunday

• Ch 18One Sunday in July, after a moving set, the speaker exposed members’ private affairs and took shots at J.D. and the musicians for not fully obeying a fast.
• Ch 18He looked at the streaming camera, walked on stage, grabbed his gear and left, a public stand for himself. He was labeled a rebel.
• Ch 18Leadership told him to focus on how much the pastor loved him. In that conversation he embraced the truth, and after years of abuse he went to find his crowd and thrived.