The Line

Courtney Brandt

Courtney Brandt has always been a do it herself kind of gal, but her tenacity finally paid off when she successfully cracked into the publishing industry on her own.

Brandt, 26, of North Hollywood, California wanted to target one of the most unrepresented fictional audiences in the United States today: young adults interested in high school marching band. A former drum line performer herself, Brandt saw great potential in this market. As she spoke about the subject, her passion for marching band shone through.

“Every high school in the country has a marching band, so why isn't there a series about them?” Brandt asked enthusiastically.

Brandt’s self-published freshman novel “The Line” tells the mishaps and adventures of young Lucy Karate, the only female on her high school drum line. The first in a series of five books, “The Line” is a celebration of the marching band experience, according to Brandt. She hopes the series “validates the experience of the 'band geek'” in high schools across the country.  

“For too long, we've been an underrepresented and misunderstood group and I want my book to change that fact,” Brandt said.  “It's okay to be in marching band and be proud of the halftime show! After all, a good performance takes a lot of hard work, time and dedication.”

Obviously no stranger to hard work and dedication herself, Brandt recalled the bumpy and frustrating road that led her to pursue self publication without the luxury of having an agent on her side.

"I heard ‘no’ over one hundred times,” she recalled frowning. “They would say, ‘you're a good writer, but we just don't think the idea is mainstream enough.’ I couldn't understand why I had so much support from my target demographic and zero understanding from those who could bring my book to an audience.”

Brandt has successfully combined her passion for music and writing to help provide a larger selection for young adult fiction. She explained that her knack for writing stemmed back to elementary school. After working with screenplays for a short time, she finally progressed to novels two and a half years ago. She has big plans for the series; she hopes to obtain an agent, a publisher, and perhaps even a movie option in the future.

“I think it could be the next ‘High School Musical’ and I would love to get people's attention by having it end up on a bestseller list,” she said.  

Drawing from some of her own experiences on drum line was a good source of inspiration for Brandt. She claims at least one event in each book of the series actually happened to her.

“Most of the romance in the books is fictional,” she says, “I wish I had been fighting off guys like Lucy does!”

Brandt expressed great appreciation for her fan base, many of whom are present and past marching students from her hometown, Snellville, Georgia. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Arts.

Mini-Biography Video