Jeff Rivera Reluctant Readers

A scene from my new web series for kids to launch soon! Todd Strasser

JEFF RIVERA - BACKGROUND

JEFF RIVERA - BACKGROUND

New York based up-and-coming broadcast journalist Jeff Rivera is also a highly acclaimed author and sought-after speaker on new media and publishing. But, most recently, Rivera is being featured in segments of the new syndicated half-hour reality TV show The Write Stuff on the CW television network. The Write Stuff is an American Idol type show for aspiring authors.

The Write Stuff producers came to Rivera and asked him to tape sixty-second segments giving show contestants “pointers & advice” on getting your work published, after being very impressed with what they saw on Rivera’s own Gumbowriters.com site, on which he offers very helpful guidance, on all areas of publishing, to aspiring writers & authors.

In addition, Rivera is just beginning his work with mega media outlet The Huffington Post, contributing a regular blog/column and on-camera video segments, mainly focusing on issues related to “young Hollywood”. Rivera has also been brought on board by web giant MediaBistro.com to conduct a series of on-camera interviews for their web-channel, called MediaBistro Weekly Round-Up, after the success of Rivera’s GalleyCat.com column on Media Bistro, for which he’s been interviewing various authors over the past year. As anchor man for MediaBistro Weekly Round-Up, one of his first upcoming on-camera interviews will be with best-selling novelist James Patterson.

Rivera’s success speaking on panels at various events, helped lay the foundation for his segue into on-camera and on-air broadcasting work. Some of these panels have included the New York Roundtable Writers Conference, the New York Writers Union Conference, the Latino Book Publishing Conference and the Internet Marketing Panel for Authors & Artists at the Harlem Book Fair. In addition, Jeff has taught workshops for the Florida Writers Association and taught on-going classes at New Media High School in Manhattan.

Through the success of his own first novel, Forever My Lady (Warner Books/Grand Central), Jeff Rivera quickly learned he had a talent for navigating his way through interviews and media interaction. As an author, he was written about and interviewed by a long list of publications and media outlets including The Boston Globe, Publisher’s Weekly, The Miami Herald, National Public Radio (NPR) and SITV, American Latino TV to name a few. Rivera learned that he especially enjoyed doing radio or on-camera interviews, fine-tuning his technique on some smaller outlets like the Herndon Davis Radio Show, Internet Voices Radio and various Latino market outlets.

Rivera soon started turning up on various internet sites, web channels, internet radio and cable television outlets being interviewed and interviewing other people, as he soon started getting offers and assignments for on-camera segments related to the publishing world and discussing topics that send positive messages to today’s urban youth, taking Rivera’s own upbringing into consideration.

The truly inspirational story of Jeff Rivera’s rise from homeless teen to published author is an amazing one. Raised by a single mother, Rivera knows the difficulties young people of color undergo living in American poverty.  Not one to give up, Rivera pursued his dream of being a writer at an early age and continued to write despite his obstacles, rising above issues including child abuse, welfare, food stamps, racism and homelessness.  

All this built strength and character as an adult, helping him to preserver when his screenplay for Forever My Lady was rejected many times by Hollywood studio executives, who told Rivera he would never make it. Rather than just give up at this point, he made the decision to turn his screenplay into a novel, which later became a critical hit and was named “Book of the Year” by MiGenteMagazine.com. Rivera self-published Forever My Lady, building up a very strong fan base of thousands, which peaked the interest of a literary agent and landed him a deal with Grand Central Publishing.

Jeff Rivera is now officially a “triple media threat !” His segments on The Write Stuff are currently airing, as the syndicated show made it’s debut this month in various markets around the country, including many of the CW and My Network TV stations. He will start shooting his interview segments for Media Bistro Weekly Round-Up this week, while also starting his blog and on-camera work for The Huffington Post. Stay Tuned !

** FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.JEFFRIVERA.COM

Links to Jeff Rivera television work as a "Media Personality":

GalleyCat Coverage: Literati-a-go-go Event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q7v0NL_y24

Bootleg Books:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3CsV0Qw-HE

The Write Stuff on BarnesandNoble.com
http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=156116aeefeb7e6a732aaea7b5bb295217b4f162&rf=sitemap