[1] Wells's third book with HarperTeen, Blackout was announced in Publisher's Marketplace as being the first of a series, including two novels and a novella, and was released in Fall 2013.
[5] Variant was released to much critical acclaim, receiving starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA.
Publishers Weekly also named Variant as one of their Best Books of 2011, and featured Wells as one of their "Flying Starts".
Kirkus referred to it as "An absorbing read that won't let fans of the first down",[7] while Booklist said "the claustrophobic tightness of the first book is replaced here by a loose series of threats that never solidify into something worth rooting against."
The Whitney Awards are sponsored by Storymakers, an authors guild that holds an annual conference in May.
Robison Wells served as president of the Whitney Awards Committee for three years, ending in 2010.
He also contributed to the mental illness anthology Life Inside My Mind, with an essay called "Twenty Pills."
[9][10] After experiencing a rollover accident in May 2021, in which he had a major concussion, Wells has spoken openly about his experiences with grief counseling and therapy to work through feelings of guilt.