About Jay
Journalist - Author - Freelance Writer
Jay Zimmer recently retired as an award-winning broadcast and print journalist with more than 40 years of experience. Born in Indianapolis, he attended Ball State University, Jordan Conservatory of Music and Marian College. He began his career while still a student at Cathedral High School, going to work in November of 1968 at a Franklin, Indiana radio station. He graduated to television news where he spent twenty years as a field reporter and assignment editor. He worked in Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California and Washington D.C. He has won a wall full of awards for his reporting. These include seven Associated Press first-place awards, and one from UPI, plus an Alfred I DuPont nomination for investigative journalism. Intermingled with his broadcast work, he was Editor of the Knox County Daily News, and Managing Editor of the Indiana Journal of Commerce and Industry, he was the founder and editor of TriState, and editor of Metropolitan Tee Time, a golf magazine.
First Novel
In 2007 his novel Dry Terror was released by iUniverse. It is the first of a seven-book series about the exploits of Baltimore newspaper editor Peter McDermott and his co-workers, including publisher and boss Charles Hume, and intrepid reporter Rodney Pitcher. The novel generated considerable interest because its basic premise -- terrorists taking over the U.S. water distribution systems and closing the tap -- could actually happen.
Freelance Writer
Jay has written b2b articles for Baltia Airlines and for a web site that specializes in selling nautical gifts and equipment. He also wrote the entire content for the 2010 catalog for Escalade Sports, as well as numerous magazine articles. He has sold an article to national rock and roll magazine Crawdaddy.
In 2008, Zimmer released Code of Theophilus from new publisher Strategic Book Publishing. It is the second installment of the Peter McDermott adventure series. (See the Code of Theophilus Page!)
The third installment, Murder Handed Down, is complete and before his publisher.
The fourth installment, "The Color of Dark is being written.
He lives in Evansville, Indiana where he works as a freelance writer. He is an avid boater, keeping his small cabin cruiser in an Ohio River marina, where he serves as Commodore of Inland Yacht Club.
Jay was signed by the WL Literary Agency in April 2008
Agent Hil Mallory told Jay he should pitch his manuscript for his second novel to Strategic Book Publishing as they were looking for fiction titles and needed a few authors that the agents could vouch for. They accepted the novel for publication fairly quickly and have a well-deserved reputation for moving fast to get a title into print.
Jay is available to do book signings and book talks on either or both of his titles. Please use the information on the Contact page to schedule your event.
Jay is represented before the Film and TV world by agent Cindy Serlo. He was recommended to her by fellow Evansville author Mike Whicker, whose novel, Invitation to Valhalla, is soon to be a major motion picture -- a deal that Cindy negotiated for him.
