About Me
About the Author (The Life Of a Hustler)J.M. Benjamin is an Award Winning and Essence Best Selling author hailing from out of Plainfield, New Jersey. In 2006, he quickly emerged in the fast growing genre of Urban Literature, making his presence felt with his freshman novel Down In The Dirty, published by Flowers In Bloom Publishing. Ironically, having spent more than half his life in the streets and a substantial amount of time incarcerated, J.M. Benjamin’s only credential as a street tale story teller is simply his own first hand experience and knowledge of what the streets consist of. J.M. Benjamin's upbringing provided him with the necessary tools he now uses in his work to capture and display the reality and horrors of the streets world-wide. He became a motivational speaker after numerous of articles were featured on his life story as ex-inmate turned author, sharing his experiences and knowledge of the streets at various high and junior schools, colleges, probation and religious programs for the youth, institutions for incarcerated men and women, and urban communities throughout his travels, in hopes to make a difference. His accomplishments as an author have been recognized in The New York Times, The Courier News, The Herald News, and many more. JOLIE magazine ranked J.M.’s freshman novel Down in The Dirty as #2 hottest summer read. He was nominated for BEST NEW Breakout Author Of The Year and Best Street Novel Of The Year 2006 by the African American Literary Awards, which, he won for Best Street fiction of the Year. He was nominated in two categories and won for Best Street Lit at the Chicago Black Authors & Books Award hosted by Infini Promoters. His book Down in The Dirty was featured on the Wendy Williams Experience Book club as the book of the month for July 06 and was voted the #1 Urban Book out of the Top 10 Street Lit novels sponsored by The Writer s Inn. All of this in under a years time after being released from federal prison. In Feb. 2007, J.M.Benjamin released his sophomore novel My Manz And Em independently. His work was promoted on The Michael Baisden show during the topic of incarcerated authors. He was nominated for Best Street Fiction again at The AALA for his second novel. In September of 2007, he partnered up with a friend and opened a music and book store (Music N Motion & Real Edutainment Books), where his third novel, an Essence Best Seller (May 08) and Black ..April 08) favorite, Ride Or Die Chick book release party was held. Six months later J.M. and partner opened up a larger music and books store downtown in his hometown of Plainfield NJ (144 East Front Street). He appeared on NJN show Another View with Candace Kelley about life growing up in Plainfield and turning his life around through writing. He also appeared on an elite panel for the Lynn Doyle Show and was interviewed by Kevin Walsh during Barak Obama’s presidency nominations. In October 2008, J.M.Benjamin ventured out into a another arena of the literary world, trying his hand at street distribution for authors and independent publishers alike, becoming responsible for some of your favorite street lit novels gracing the tables and stores of your local street vendors and African American book stores. Ultimately, J.M.’s consistent and quality work ethics landed him an opportunity to become a part of a new distribution company, Alliance Book Group (www.alliancebookgroup.com) and recently launched a new independent publishing company himself, signing four new and known authors to A New Quality Publishing. J.M.’s title Ride Or Die Chick was chosen by audiblebooks.com as the first urban lit book to be available on itunes.com. His fourth book On The run With Love was released July 4, 2009, which marked his two year anniversary of being out of prison. As a contribution to his community, incarcerated & ex-offenders and the youth, J.M. Benjamin, along with colleague and friend Randy Kearse self- published under his company a non-fiction motivational book titled From Incarceration 2 Incorporation. His highly anticipated titles Heaven & Earth and Ride Or Die Chick 2 are due out in 2009. Since being introduced to readers in the anthology, Menace II Society with the short story titled Keeping It Gangsta he has secured a position in the Urban Literature genre and become a major asset when it comes to making a difference in the minds of his readers. He is also a contributing author to the anthology presented by Nikki Turner, Christmas In The Hood, and a non-fiction motivational book titled Changin Your game Plan. All of this in a two years time frame. From the time he wakes up until the time he steals 3-4 hours rest, J.M.’s day consists of hustling.You have Doers and you have Talkers…Which one does it sound like I am?You can reach J.M. at: A New Quality Publishing P.O.Box 589 Plainfield NJ 07061 Myspace.com/jmbenjamin_authorOrReal Edutainment Books & Music N Motion 144 East Front St Plainfield NJ 07060
