Rising Stars: Meet Frank Anthony Polito

Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Anthony Polito.

Hi Frank, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers. 
When I was in my mid-20s, I moved to New York City with my partner, Craig Bentley, who I met while studying Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit. After struggling for a few years to make it as an actor, I decided to give playwriting a try. At age 30, I wrote my first play, a two-hander about a pair of boys growing up gay in Metro Detroit during the 1980s called Band Fags! The story was based on me and my best friend and later, after receiving my MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, I was given the opportunity to adapt the play into a novel that was published in 2008. In 2009, I released the follow-up, Drama Queers!, which received the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance. Fast forward to 2023, I’m now the author of 6 published novels, with another on the way in 2024. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has definitely not been smooth. For every success I’ve had, there have been several setbacks. When my debut novel was published, a TV producer reached out to me about adapting it for a TV show. But it never happened. When I finally secured a literary manager and then a book agent, neither was able to help me sell a screenplay or a novel. Recently, I reconnected with the TV producer, now an Oscar winner for the movie Nomadland. He expressed an interest in a screenplay I’d written, a modern-day take on John Hughes’s Pretty in Pink. We spent over 6 months developing the script together. Then he pitched it to Paramount, who owned the rights, and they passed. But while I’ve had my share of disappointments, I’m not a quitter. I never give up. If someone tells me no, I keep looking for someone else who will eventually tell me yes. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m an award-winning author known for my novels featuring a queer protagonist. My most well-known book to date is Band Fags!, released in 2008. More recently, I’ve become known for the cozy mystery series Domestic Partners in Crime, of which there are currently two books, Renovated to Death and Renovated to Death. In October 2024, I will release the third book, Haunted to Death. The series focuses on a millennial gay couple who live in the fictitious Detroit suburb of Pleasant Woods, located between Royal Heights and Fernridge, who renovate old houses as part of their hit TV show “Domestic Partners” while also solving a murder or a few. 

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
If there is anything else you can do (besides something creative) that will make you happy — and a lot of money — do it! Being an artist is a difficult journey with no predictable outcome. You need to love what you do and come up with a plan as to how you’re going to do it. And when you have a setback, you can’t let it defeat you. You must pick yourself up and move on to the next thing, or person, or whatever that is going to help you succeed. You most likely will not become an overnight success. Everything takes longer than you think it’s going to. Again, you have to love what you do — and it has to be the ONLY thing you can do. Otherwise, do something else. 

Pricing:

• Renovated to Death – $15.95
• Rehearsed to Death – $16.95

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.frankanthonypolito.com
• Instagram: @frankanthonypolito
• Facebook: @frankanthonypolito
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fapolito/
• Twitter: @fapolito