Trio of Alums Team Up to Publish Best-Selling Romance Novel

What does it take to make a romance novel come to life? Three alums — TJ Alexander, MA ’07, Larissa Melo Pienkowski, MA ’19, and Julia Diaz-Young ’23 — represent a triple threat of Emersonians in the publishing industry, and it all started with an Instagram DM. 

Alexander, who graduated with an MA in Publishing, published their fifth novel, A Gentleman’s Gentleman, in March. While keeping with their portfolio of queer romance, this is Alexander’s first historical romance, and it quickly became a USA Today bestseller. 

Pienkowski has been Alexander’s agent for all five of their books, and Diaz-Young is a marketing associate at Penguin Random House. Both joined Alexander in the Bill Bordy Theater last month to talk about A Gentleman’s Gentleman and the publishing process.

“All of our careers were kind of moving forward in tandem with each other,” Alexander said. “In New York City, you can’t spit without hitting an Emersonian.” 

Diaz-Young connected with Alexander while pursuing her Marketing Communication degree. She reached out via Instagram DM to get an advanced reader copy of Alexander’s debut book Chef’s Kiss in 2022, and hosted a book club event. In a complete coincidence, Diaz-Young’s employer, Penguin Random House, bought A Gentleman’s Gentleman, and she jumped on the opportunity to join the marketing team. 

A Gentleman’s Gentleman is a Regency-era transgender romance. The story follows Lord Christopher Eden and his slow-burn, forbidden romance with his valet, James Harding. 

Alexander said the novel has been successful despite recent political attacks on queer romance. 

“The readership is there, and people aren’t scared or turned off by them,” Alexander said. “People are looking for these kinds of stories that they haven’t been able to access. I’m happy to be a small part of that.”

Diaz-Young agreed, and said that she saw people crying in the audience at the event in the Bordy. 

“It’s trans joy,” Diaz-Young said. “It’s about people loving each other, finding each other, and I think that’s beautiful.” 

Having been Alexander’s agent throughout their career, Pienkowski said the author gets better with each book. 

“It’s so impressive to me,” Pienkowski said. “With every author’s career there is uncertainty, but every single time they push boundaries, and are always doing something fresh with every book. Uncertainty is kind of beautiful thing; it means there’s a lot of possibility,” 

When it comes to gaining a foothold in the industry, each author shared a piece of Emerson-related advice. 

Alexander said that coming from Emerson’s Publishing program helped, because they learned about the workings of the publishing industry, as well as querying. 

“In the Emerson program, there was a lot of interplay between publishing and the MFA program,” said Alexander. “We would collaborate in certain classes on projects, editing works and notes in a  professional capacity. It was really good for both of us.”

Diaz-Young said the work she did at Emerson was very akin to the real world, adding that college projects can really help your resume standout in the job market.

“I would stress that people should use every project as a potential thing to add to their portfolio,”said Diaz-Young. “A study I did on examining romance readers stood out in my job applications and I got asked about it in interviews.”

Pienkowski found it very cool that Emerson professors continue to work in the publishing industry, and the professors’ connections continue to help her today. 

“It’s important to remember [the industry] is filled with people with short memories and big hearts. Go into every relationship in the spirit of kindness and build those two-way relationships,” said Pienkowski.