Jane Friedman
@janefriedman.com
I report on the publishing industry through my paid newsletter, The Bottom Line, and educate writers on the business of authorship in THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER (University of Chicago Press).
In 2024, I consulted with Canadian novelist Elinor Florence to discuss the launch of her forthcoming novel from Simon & Schuster Canada, and how she might handle re-issuing her earlier two novels. I advocated self-publishing after her rights reverted, but then...
Here's my interview with her.
Here's my interview with her.
When You Publish a Career-Changing Book: Q&A with Elinor Florence | Jane Friedman
The author’s historical novel, Finding Flora, was an instant number-one bestseller in Canada which led to rerelease of two previous novels.
janefriedman.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:18 PM
In 2024, I consulted with Canadian novelist Elinor Florence to discuss the launch of her forthcoming novel from Simon & Schuster Canada, and how she might handle re-issuing her earlier two novels. I advocated self-publishing after her rights reverted, but then...
Here's my interview with her.
Here's my interview with her.
Maybe the stakes of your story seem high—like making a ton of money—but these are what @tiffanyyatesmartin.bsky.social calls “assumptive motivations,” where authors presume a universal resonance or value to what’s at stake w/o developing its particular, personal importance to a character.
The Crucial Ingredient Your Story May Be Missing | Jane Friedman
If you’re hearing that your story lacks structure or impact, you might be missing the interconnected cohesion of plot, stakes, and character.
janefriedman.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Maybe the stakes of your story seem high—like making a ton of money—but these are what @tiffanyyatesmartin.bsky.social calls “assumptive motivations,” where authors presume a universal resonance or value to what’s at stake w/o developing its particular, personal importance to a character.
"When contemplating other ways to grow my audience and my leadership consulting business, I decided to give in-person networking a try. ... I like making local, in-person connections. But deep down I’ve been wondering. Is it also avoidance?"
@blairglaser.bsky.social discusses the struggle.
@blairglaser.bsky.social discusses the struggle.
The Struggle Is Reel: Marketing Without Social Media | Jane Friedman
Needing to build audience for a new book, one author examines her avoidance of creating video content in favor of face-to-face connections.
janefriedman.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:39 PM
"When contemplating other ways to grow my audience and my leadership consulting business, I decided to give in-person networking a try. ... I like making local, in-person connections. But deep down I’ve been wondering. Is it also avoidance?"
@blairglaser.bsky.social discusses the struggle.
@blairglaser.bsky.social discusses the struggle.
For nonfiction writers: Five primary strategies help move people toward transformation.
Implementing one or more of these strategies as you write your book increases your readers’ likelihood of achieving transformation (and thus recommending your book!).
Insight from @ninaamir.bsky.social.
Implementing one or more of these strategies as you write your book increases your readers’ likelihood of achieving transformation (and thus recommending your book!).
Insight from @ninaamir.bsky.social.
How to Move Your Reader Toward Transformation | Jane Friedman
This excerpt from Nina Amir’s Change the World One Book at a Time examines how nonfiction authors can best effect change in readers.
janefriedman.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:37 PM
For nonfiction writers: Five primary strategies help move people toward transformation.
Implementing one or more of these strategies as you write your book increases your readers’ likelihood of achieving transformation (and thus recommending your book!).
Insight from @ninaamir.bsky.social.
Implementing one or more of these strategies as you write your book increases your readers’ likelihood of achieving transformation (and thus recommending your book!).
Insight from @ninaamir.bsky.social.
The following is a roundup of new publishers and agents announced in 2025—free to all.
Want to be notified every week of new publishers and agents? Sign up for my newsletter The Bottom Line (free version works as well as the paid version for this purpose). See comments for sign-up link.
Want to be notified every week of new publishers and agents? Sign up for my newsletter The Bottom Line (free version works as well as the paid version for this purpose). See comments for sign-up link.
New Publishers and Agents in 2025 | Jane Friedman
A roundup of new publishers, imprints, and agents announced in 2025, as covered in The Bottom Line.
janefriedman.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:58 PM
The following is a roundup of new publishers and agents announced in 2025—free to all.
Want to be notified every week of new publishers and agents? Sign up for my newsletter The Bottom Line (free version works as well as the paid version for this purpose). See comments for sign-up link.
Want to be notified every week of new publishers and agents? Sign up for my newsletter The Bottom Line (free version works as well as the paid version for this purpose). See comments for sign-up link.
For authors focused on building their platform this year: You'll want to browse this trend forecast so you're better prepared for potential changes.
Insight from Lacy Phillips, social media coordinator for P.S. Literary Agency: janefriedman.com/watch-for-th...
Insight from Lacy Phillips, social media coordinator for P.S. Literary Agency: janefriedman.com/watch-for-th...
Watch for These 2026 Social Media Trends | Jane Friedman
A social media manager shares her observations on how current trends might impact authors and publishers in 2026.
janefriedman.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:44 PM
For authors focused on building their platform this year: You'll want to browse this trend forecast so you're better prepared for potential changes.
Insight from Lacy Phillips, social media coordinator for P.S. Literary Agency: janefriedman.com/watch-for-th...
Insight from Lacy Phillips, social media coordinator for P.S. Literary Agency: janefriedman.com/watch-for-th...
Your book and your target market are not fixed. Just as startups “pivot,” your book will change as you write it, and your market will come into focus as you discover what’s out there.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
Write Your Book Like You’d Run a Startup | Jane Friedman
Sharing his work-in-progress has helped one writer build confidence and conviction about who his readers are and what they’re interested in.
janefriedman.com
December 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Your book and your target market are not fixed. Just as startups “pivot,” your book will change as you write it, and your market will come into focus as you discover what’s out there.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
What I will remember most about 2025: the Anthropic settlement, the growth of AI narration, the closure of 8th Note Press, and what seems like widespread acceptance or acknowledgment that book criticism/reviews/mainstream coverage has forever changed.
2025 Year in Review | Jane Friedman
The year's biggest stories in publishing, from the Anthropic settlement to the demise of NaNoWriMo and more.
janefriedman.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
What I will remember most about 2025: the Anthropic settlement, the growth of AI narration, the closure of 8th Note Press, and what seems like widespread acceptance or acknowledgment that book criticism/reviews/mainstream coverage has forever changed.
Think of scene building like creating a storyboard: frame by frame, you decide what the reader must see, feel, and understand. Instead of letting the scene meander, you build toward the decisive high moment and character change one “segment” at a time.
Insight from C.S. Lakin.
Insight from C.S. Lakin.
Crafting Cinematic Action by Scene Segmenting | Jane Friedman
By thinking like a filmmaker—planning your beats, deciding your shots—you create a vivid experience that pulls readers into the story.
janefriedman.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Think of scene building like creating a storyboard: frame by frame, you decide what the reader must see, feel, and understand. Instead of letting the scene meander, you build toward the decisive high moment and character change one “segment” at a time.
Insight from C.S. Lakin.
Insight from C.S. Lakin.
No two human reactions look the same, and none of them resemble the neat “adrenaline surge” we often see in fiction.
Learn about the four major stress responses—fight, flight, freeze, fawn—to reveal your character’s emotional architecture.
Insight from nurse and editor Sarah Brinley.
Learn about the four major stress responses—fight, flight, freeze, fawn—to reveal your character’s emotional architecture.
Insight from nurse and editor Sarah Brinley.
Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: Use Stress Responses to Strengthen Your Scenes | Jane Friedman
Understanding stress responses as learned survival strategies can help you turn every high-stakes scene into character development on the page.
janefriedman.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:34 PM
No two human reactions look the same, and none of them resemble the neat “adrenaline surge” we often see in fiction.
Learn about the four major stress responses—fight, flight, freeze, fawn—to reveal your character’s emotional architecture.
Insight from nurse and editor Sarah Brinley.
Learn about the four major stress responses—fight, flight, freeze, fawn—to reveal your character’s emotional architecture.
Insight from nurse and editor Sarah Brinley.
Writing advice often consists of principles like: keep up the forward momentum, make your point efficiently, get in and get out of a scene.
Yes, and...don't forget your characters experience happiness, too, which helps with story richness and believability. Insight from @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Yes, and...don't forget your characters experience happiness, too, which helps with story richness and believability. Insight from @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Please Allow Your Characters Moments of Happiness | Jane Friedman
When a story barrels from one conflict to the next, hitting pause for a well-placed glimmer of light can benefit both characters and readers.
janefriedman.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Writing advice often consists of principles like: keep up the forward momentum, make your point efficiently, get in and get out of a scene.
Yes, and...don't forget your characters experience happiness, too, which helps with story richness and believability. Insight from @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Yes, and...don't forget your characters experience happiness, too, which helps with story richness and believability. Insight from @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Published authors: Like me, I bet you receive daily emails and direct messages from supposed reviewers, book clubs, TV producers, and popular authors, that offer you some amazing marketing and promotion opportunity, for a price. 🤑
@tericase.bsky.social explains these scams and how to spot them.
@tericase.bsky.social explains these scams and how to spot them.
No, Colleen Hoover Did Not Email Me: Current Scams Targeting Authors | Jane Friedman
If you receive solicitous emails from book clubs or famous authors, follow these simple steps before replying or clicking on any links.
janefriedman.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Published authors: Like me, I bet you receive daily emails and direct messages from supposed reviewers, book clubs, TV producers, and popular authors, that offer you some amazing marketing and promotion opportunity, for a price. 🤑
@tericase.bsky.social explains these scams and how to spot them.
@tericase.bsky.social explains these scams and how to spot them.
I'll be at AWP next year as both panelist and exhibitor. 🤓
Visit #AWP26 Bookfair booth 624 to meet @janefriedman.com! Jane educates writers on the business of authorship and offers reported, fact-checked information on the publishing industry.
Jane Friedman | Reporting on the Publishing Industry
Jane Friedman has 25 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in how the digital age is transforming writing careers and storytelling.
janefriedman.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I'll be at AWP next year as both panelist and exhibitor. 🤓
In your memoir, you are working with scenes and transitions. Each of these components relies on very different principles. If you use either component in the wrong way, your book will not work.
Author Wendy Dale advises.
Author Wendy Dale advises.
Why Your Memoir Feels Like Rambling (and How to Fix It) | Jane Friedman
Having analyzed over 1000 memoir manuscripts in a 15 year span, Wendy Dale found two linked components of powerful, plot-driven storytelling.
janefriedman.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
In your memoir, you are working with scenes and transitions. Each of these components relies on very different principles. If you use either component in the wrong way, your book will not work.
Author Wendy Dale advises.
Author Wendy Dale advises.
When writing memoir, the person depicted on the page can’t be the person writing the book. Because if the memoir is any good, if your life has changed enough to write about and share with others, you aren’t that person anymore.
Insight from @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social.
Insight from @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social.
It’s Not About You: Your Memoir Is Someone Else’s Story | Jane Friedman
The person on the page can’t be the person writing the book. Because if your life has changed enough to write about, you aren’t that person anymore.
janefriedman.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
When writing memoir, the person depicted on the page can’t be the person writing the book. Because if the memoir is any good, if your life has changed enough to write about and share with others, you aren’t that person anymore.
Insight from @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social.
Insight from @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social.
Ever since I’ve been in the business, there have been pay-to-play book awards. They make up the majority of book awards, in fact.
Some of these awards do little harm, others are genuinely useful, but most don't make a difference at all. Learn more from @marygarden.bsky.social.
Some of these awards do little harm, others are genuinely useful, but most don't make a difference at all. Learn more from @marygarden.bsky.social.
My Brush with a Pay-to-Play Book Award | Jane Friedman
The majority of book awards are pay-to-play deals. Some do little harm, others are genuinely useful, but most make no difference to your career or sales.
janefriedman.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Ever since I’ve been in the business, there have been pay-to-play book awards. They make up the majority of book awards, in fact.
Some of these awards do little harm, others are genuinely useful, but most don't make a difference at all. Learn more from @marygarden.bsky.social.
Some of these awards do little harm, others are genuinely useful, but most don't make a difference at all. Learn more from @marygarden.bsky.social.
Over-writing is often a symptom of creative self-doubt. You don’t trust yourself or your reader to pick up clues, read between the lines, or to suspend disbelief as the tale unfolds—unless you cram in every single detail you can think of.
Insight from Amy Bernstein.
Insight from Amy Bernstein.
The Case for Shrinking Your Novel | Jane Friedman
Even experienced novelists overwrite. Here are five insights about ruthlessly cutting a manuscript—and why that’s a good thing.
janefriedman.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Over-writing is often a symptom of creative self-doubt. You don’t trust yourself or your reader to pick up clues, read between the lines, or to suspend disbelief as the tale unfolds—unless you cram in every single detail you can think of.
Insight from Amy Bernstein.
Insight from Amy Bernstein.
A longtime agent, Richard Curtis, who founded one of the first commercial ebook publishers, discusses why print remains steadfast as a format.
Why Print Never Died | Jane Friedman
This excerpt from the new book Digital Inc. by Richard Curtis examines why ebooks failed to supplant print as many tech pioneers expected.
janefriedman.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM
A longtime agent, Richard Curtis, who founded one of the first commercial ebook publishers, discusses why print remains steadfast as a format.
The problems that afflict the first draft of a screenplay also plague the first draft of a novel.
Learn why (and how to fix) from screenwriter & author @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Learn why (and how to fix) from screenwriter & author @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Edit Your Book As If It’s a Screenplay | Jane Friedman
A writer’s script-editing experience helped fix her novel’s problems with pacing, flat characters, and scenes that didn’t propel the story.
janefriedman.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:43 PM
The problems that afflict the first draft of a screenplay also plague the first draft of a novel.
Learn why (and how to fix) from screenwriter & author @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
Learn why (and how to fix) from screenwriter & author @lesleykrueger.bsky.social.
In crime fiction, the most powerful moments often aren’t about car chases or shootouts—they’re about impossible choices.
Learn more from the authors of The Night Police novels.
Learn more from the authors of The Night Police novels.
Crafting Ethical and Moral Dilemmas in Crime Fiction | Jane Friedman
In crime fiction, the most powerful moments often aren’t about car chases or shootouts—they’re about impossible choices.
janefriedman.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
In crime fiction, the most powerful moments often aren’t about car chases or shootouts—they’re about impossible choices.
Learn more from the authors of The Night Police novels.
Learn more from the authors of The Night Police novels.
You don’t need to be writing a “workplace novel” for work to be integral to your protagonist’s life. But using it as more than a backdrop can supercharge conflict and character development, says Jennifer Landau.
Using the Workplace to Add Depth to Your Novel | Jane Friedman
Using the workplace as more than a backdrop can supercharge the stakes, conflict, and character development of your fiction.
janefriedman.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:31 PM
You don’t need to be writing a “workplace novel” for work to be integral to your protagonist’s life. But using it as more than a backdrop can supercharge conflict and character development, says Jennifer Landau.
"When I would get interviewed and then rejected, it was annoying. When I received a form rejection, it was annoying. When I received no response, it was annoying. But nothing stalled me for one minute." —Libby James
How a 100 Rejections Challenge Prepared Me for Life’s Biggest Rejection | Jane Friedman
A slew of literary rejections helped one writer develop the perseverance needed when a failed marriage left her urgently seeking a new job.
janefriedman.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"When I would get interviewed and then rejected, it was annoying. When I received a form rejection, it was annoying. When I received no response, it was annoying. But nothing stalled me for one minute." —Libby James
I was a writer-in-residence at Good Contrivance Farm this year, and it's one of the most generous and quality organizations I've worked with.
What @janefriedman.com says!
If you can, please support writers, readers, and the Good Contrivance Farm Writers' Retreat.
secure.givelively.org/donate/good-...
If you can, please support writers, readers, and the Good Contrivance Farm Writers' Retreat.
secure.givelively.org/donate/good-...
November 14, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I was a writer-in-residence at Good Contrivance Farm this year, and it's one of the most generous and quality organizations I've worked with.
"I used to think memoir was navel gazing, the writing equivalent of pouting and blaming others. I may have decided this because of how I was raised, thinking that I was supposed to be strong at all times." —@ronitplank.bsky.social
Even writers themselves have misconceptions about memoir.
Even writers themselves have misconceptions about memoir.
What I Got Wrong About Memoir and What I Now Understand About the Genre | Jane Friedman
An author reconsiders her biases, finding the best memoir writing to be courageous, complex, and capable of transforming others and ourselves.
janefriedman.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:36 PM
"I used to think memoir was navel gazing, the writing equivalent of pouting and blaming others. I may have decided this because of how I was raised, thinking that I was supposed to be strong at all times." —@ronitplank.bsky.social
Even writers themselves have misconceptions about memoir.
Even writers themselves have misconceptions about memoir.
"I had heard of book awards, but I wasn’t confident in two things: the contest fees and the idea of competing against other books. I felt I didn’t stand a chance."
@chitalmehta.bsky.social did, in fact, stand a chance.
@chitalmehta.bsky.social did, in fact, stand a chance.
How Revising My Novel While Querying Helped Me Win a Book Award | Jane Friedman
When agents suggest further revision, we might need time and distance to see our MS through their eyes—but doing the work can pay dividends.
janefriedman.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:21 PM
"I had heard of book awards, but I wasn’t confident in two things: the contest fees and the idea of competing against other books. I felt I didn’t stand a chance."
@chitalmehta.bsky.social did, in fact, stand a chance.
@chitalmehta.bsky.social did, in fact, stand a chance.