New York Times bestselling author and Knopf Executive Editor, Jenny Jackson, spoke with us about balancing life as an #authormom, editing bestsellers, finding standalone books, and her anticipated second novel, THE SHAMPOO EFFECT.

Jenny Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street, a graduate of Williams College and the Columbia Publishing Course, and a Vice President and Editorial Director of Fiction at Alfred A. Knopf.

Her second novel, The Shampoo Effect (Pamela Dorman Books; June 30), was named a most anticipated book of 2026 by the New York Times, described as “a frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship,” [about] “an ambitious young woman [who] insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town.”

New York Times bestselling author Coco Mellors said, “Jackson has a rare knack for capturing the intensity of old friendships and the way love, jealousy, money, and history combust until everyone is behaving (deliciously) badly.”

Jenny Jackson is a prominent figure in the publishing world, having edited numerous high-profile works, including Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Cormac McCarthy’s final books, among others.

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In this file Jenny Jackson, Milena, and I discussed:

Why she has the "shortest resume in all of publishing"

What 23 years at Penguin Random House have taught her

How John Updike inspired her latest

The number of pages it takes her to know if your voice works

Why you need to reject “rise and grind”  culture and write whenever you can

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

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www.jennyjacksonbooks.com

The Shampoo Effect: A Novel by Jenny Jackson (Author)

Jenny Jackson Amazon Author Page

Jenny Jackson on Instagram

Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer

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Kelton Reid Instagram

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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