Jennette McCurdy’s Author Era Continues With A Huge Novel Announcement

The Jennette McCurdy Renaissance has been one of 2022’s biggest celebrity success stories. Her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, released Aug. 9, became an instant New York Times bestseller. Now, on the heels of telling her own story about her childhood in her own words, the former iCarly star is gearing up to tell another story. Actually, she’ll likely be telling multiple stories.

On Oct. 17, Publishers Weekly reported that McCurdy signed a notable two-book, seven-figure deal with Penguin Random House’s Ballantine Books. McCurdy’s literary agent Peter McGuigan told the publication that her book advance is worth “several million dollars,” and she’s also reportedly fielding international offers.

Don’t expect another memoir because McGuigan told Publishers Weekly of McCurdy’s next literary move is in the fiction space.“Being a novelist is her dream job,” he said.

McCurdy securing a lucrative book deal shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the massive success of her memoir. As McGuigan told Publishers Weekly of McCurdy’s memoir success on the New York Times Bestseller List, “We were number one for eight weeks straight.”

I’m Glad My Mom Died was highly anticipated as McCurdy chronicled her tumultuous years as a child star while appearing on Nickelodeon TV shows like iCarly and Sam & Cat. Specifically, McCurdy’s memoir includes separate allegations of abuse against her mother and a man she refers to in the book as “The Creator.”

In the book, McCurdy said that being famous was her mother’s dream for her and not her own. McCurdy eventually retired from acting but has remained in show business, including writing and directing the 2018 short film Kenny. “I never got the chance to be cast in a project I was proud to be part of. Now I have a better chance of making things I’m proud of than getting cast in things I’m proud of,” she told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2018.

In an August 2022 appearance on Anna Faris’ Unqualified podcast while promoting her memoir, McCurdy revisited the idea of returning to acting one day. “I really thought that I was done with acting. I’m never doing that sh*t ever again. Goodbye,” she said. “And then, after finishing the book — I didn’t finish it that long ago, probably a couple of months ago — I remember having the thought ... ‘I wonder if there’s a way to act where maybe I write a role for myself.’ I don’t even know what it could mean, but maybe there’s a way of kind of reclaiming it.”

As for what McCurdy’s debut novel might be about, well she told The New York Times in August that she’d begun work on a new book, as well as several essays about her twenties.

“[The novel’s protagonist is] either who I wish I could be in some aspects, or who I hope I never am in other aspects,” she told the publication. “But it’s probably me, right?”

There’s no word on when McCurdy’s novel will hit be released. Here’s hoping the release date is announced soon.