When a former NYT journo who now writes novels (that would be me, hi) gets together with a current NYT journo now writing novels, they—we!—cannot stop talking about the challenges, advantages, schedules, pros and cons of book leave and what it is about fiction that lights some journalists up, and turns some off. It’s the good, the bad and the overcome-able, and a class in how people who know they can get the work done also flail, and yet still get the work done.

Mentioned on the pod:

Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff

Twice in a Full Moon, Christina Lauren

#AmReading

Liz: Naked in the Promised Land, Lillian Faderman

KJ: Didion and Babitz, Lili Anolik

Follow Liz on Instagram: @lizzyaharris

Hi #AmWriting listeners, Jennie here! Today, I'm talking to Jane Friedman, who is one of the most trusted voices in the world of publishing.She has advised and served organizations such as Writers Digest, The Chicago Manual of Style, The Editorial Freelancers Association, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. She writes two must-read newsletters for industry professionals. One is her personal newsletter, and the other is The Bottom Line (previously called The Hot Sheet), where she provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals. The reason I wanted to speak with Jane on the podcast today is that she has just released an updated version of her book, The Business of Being a Writer, which digs into the nuts and bolts of the writing life, including the work of getting published and choosing how to do that, and the work of making money. It is one of those must-read books for writers who are serious about making a mark.

Jane offers so much information, some tough love, and also a reason for hope, and I'm so excited I’m talking to Jane about her own writing process, and her advice for writers.

Links from the Pod

Jane’s Trademark situation via Writer’s Digest

Jane’s The Bottom Line Newsletter

The Author’s Guild (for AI info)

Simon Willison’s Things We Learned About LLMs in 2024 (via Substack)

Make Art Make Money, Elizabeth Hyde Stevens

How to Reform Capitalism, Alain de Botton

The Gift, Lewis Hyde

Dana Gioia

Alan Watt’s Out of Your Mind

Find Jane via her website: www.janefriendman.com, or on Instagram at @janefriedman

Hey listeners: This week, everyone gets a taste of what paid supporters will get more regularly—a special Booklab: First Pages episode. Each month (and sometimes more often), we’ll choose two “first pages” to review. A first page, for our purposes, is the first 350 words of your book—fiction, non-fiction or memoir. We will read the page aloud on the podcast and discuss with a single thought in mind: Would we keep reading?

First pages are incredibly important in every genre. If you can’t grab a reader on that first page, you might lose your chance of grabbing them at all. On the podcast, we’ll read the page aloud and then each cast our “vote”—would we keep going? Then—and this is the most important bit— we’ll discuss why or why not. Were we dying to know what would happen next, or turned off by an info dump? Ready to learn what you have to teach us or ready to see what’s on YouTube? Totally on board with a character or uncertain why we were there in the first place?

In this episode, we discuss a high-action page of sci-fi/fantasy and then a memoir, and in both—even though we KNOW we told the writers to give us only 350 words… we want more. Not more words—more from THESE words. And we have ideas for how to make that happen.

The opportunity to have your first page reviewed is available to our Sticker and Sparkly Star Sticker supporters only. (That’s anyone with a monthly or annual subscription via Substack). Always, there’s one central question: Would we turn the page? We tell you why or why not, and help these generous, brave writers to make their first pages irresistible—and their examples will help you make your first page sing.

This episode is for everyone! But Booklabs (like the one we released in December, discussing a novel with another great first line: Every expensive hotel has its own scent and a memoir of parenting an adult child with addiction) are usually for paid subscribers only. Find the rest HERE.

So if you haven’t—yet—decided to support the podcast we know you love, now’s the perfect time. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE.

I want you to put my first page to the test… but not until I listen to all the others!

Not only do paid supporters get Booklab episodes and the ability to submit first pages for consideration for a future episode of Booklabs, they also get monthly AMA’s with your hosts (This month is with KJ, coming April 25th). And…. formal announcement coming, but Jennie and I (this is KJ) realized last month that we’ve both finished a Blueprint and are starting to draft our manuscripts. We’re doing a (mostly) weekly series we call Writing the Books (WTB for short), and the first very very personal episode is coming your way April 15. Those will be paywalled, so that we can share everything.

Want to submit a first page? Paid subscribers, click HERE for details.

Social media is all aflutter over an article by Alex Reisner in The Atlantic: The Unbelievable Scale of A.I.’s Pirated Books Problem. In this episode, Jess and Sarina cover the news and its ramifications for authors.

You won’t want to miss this discussion about the lawsuits against Meta and OpenAI. We discuss problems and remedies, and the formation of legal markets for A.I. training. Like the work by HarperCollins on a paid licensing deal.

We also discuss the root cause: ebook piracy, and author reactions. Including this heartfelt one from author Julia Sykes.

Sarina has also written more about piracy, and how to move toward a world where it’s not as prevalent.

Join us for all the latest news!

Michael Dante DiMartino graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Film and Animation. His directing credits include the primetime animated series King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Mission Hill. DiMartino is the co-creator of the award-winning animated Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra. From 2002 to 2014, he served as executive producer and story editor for both series. He continued Korra’s story as the writer of the graphic novels Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire. His other projects include authoring the fantasy novels Rebel Genius and Warrior Genius as well as creating and writing the Audible Original fiction podcast, Sundown: A Time Capsule Society Mystery. His latest novel is the YA coming-of-age story, Both Here And Gone.

Currently, DiMartino serves as the co-Chief Creative Officer of Avatar Studios, developing new content for the Avatar-verse.You can find out more about Michael by visiting his website www.michaeldantedimartino.com, on Facebook /MichaelDanteDiMartino, or on Instagram @mike_dante_d

Let me start with this: if you have any interest at all in literary magazines or small presses, you want this book: How to Submit: Getting Your Writing Published with Literary Magazines and Small Presses. It’s a wonderful book and a great guide, and will lead you into this world and help you feel good about your journey without your getting lost in the universe of scattered information that’s available online. We’ve included a ton of links to that scattered universe below, but I encourage you to buy the book, which will ground you in your own journey.

I loved doing this interview, which felt like a return to my own roots in magazine work. As Dennis puts it in the book, there is something about doing the work of shorter pieces and pushing your own boundaries that can be remarkably helpful whether or not you’re also engaged in long form book, and there’s nothing I love more than a roadmap and a checklist. Start, please, by reading and exploring in this world, and then we hope to hear about you contributing. Send links, always!

You know, that’s a thing we should do. I’m creating a chat for links and success stories. By the time you see this, it will have been rolling for a while, but go check it out and add yours HERE.

And follow Dennis!

Links from the pod

Heavy Feather Review’s Where to Submit list

AM/PM, Amelia Gray

Underworld, Don Delillo

Making a Literary Life, Carolyn See

HTML Giant

Kathleen Rooney

Laird Hunt

Essay Press

Autumn House Press

Clifford Garstang’s Literary Magazine Rankings

Margot Atwell’s piece in LitHub about the big five thinking of small press as farm Team

Dorothy, a publishing project

#AmReading

Dennis: God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas

Index for Continuance podcast

Material Witness, Aditi Machado

Runaways: A Writer's Dilemma, Michael J. Seidlinger

KJ: Margo's Got Money Troubles, Rufi Thorpe

Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor

There are many misconceptions about what a hybrid publisher does or doesn’t do, and why it may or may not be a good choice for a writer. I thought hearing from a hybrid publisher directly would be educational for our audience, so I’m pleased to be speaking in this episode to Dr. Nick Courtright, CEO of Atmosphere Press.

Check out Atmosphere Press here or submit a manuscript here.

Hey ho, Jess here. This week, all four of us discuss some of the happenings out there in the publishing world.

First up: Super Bowl Sunday is apparently a great reading day. Sarina sent us a screenshot of her sales (she was tipped off by another author) and found out what many people are reading during the game:

So that’s fun.

Next up, Sean Manning of Simon & Schuster announced no more blurbs (yay!)…unless you want to (boo!) in Publisher’s Weekly and everyone had a lot to say about it. The New York Times, LitHub, lots of others. We add some perspective to the conversation as both blurbees and blurbers.

Here’s that wonderful AJ Jacobs NYT piece about not blurbing.

And Rebecca Makkai’s piece on not blurbing anymore in her Substack.

PEN America

The Authors Guild. Please join.

Authors Against Book Bans. Please join.

Is Sarina Bowen going to jail? We sure hope not.

Here’s OK SB593, the legislation we discussed by the dude in Oklahoma. Make sure to check out the language on pages 10-11. Don’t take our word for it, read it yourself.

Here’s an example of the work The Authors Guild is doing to stop book banning, in this case in Idaho.

I mentioned author and illustrator Katherine Roy in passing, so here’s her episode and her website, and the book I mentioned, Making More: How Life Begins.

Hi listeners! Sarina here, with a topic that has been on my mind for years. When I began my career, everyone told me I had to develop a “thick skin” to do this job. But it turns out that a “thick skin” is one of the only things you can’t buy on Amazon.

Today I invite my friend Lauren Blakely onto the podcast for a frank discussion of all that we’ve learned about resilience, one-star ratings and feedback these past ten years or so.

Together, we offer the beginnings of a handy framework for how to think about feedback. We offer some actionable advice for what to do, where to turn and how to process unsolicited criticism.

You do not have to attend every conversation you’re invited to. - A wise stranger on the interwebs.

Since avoiding negative feedback just isn’t feasible, we discuss the following coping mechanisms.

* Checking in with a friend and having friends in the business

* How to make sure that good feedback is as available and memorable as the bad

* Recognizing that clinging to negatives is how the brain works. That reflex has an important evolutionary role, but we don’t have to subjugate ourselves to it.

* Lifting up other people as soulcraft

Where to find Lauren Blakely:

Ms. Blakely is the author of multiple bestsellers. For a master class in how to package genre fiction, you’ll definitely want a peek at her backlist.

Find more from Lauren at Instagram!

What we are reading:

Lauren is loving the forthcoming Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur. It’s a hockey romance.

Sarina is loving The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, which tickles her geeky, paper-loving heart.

“If the language isn’t there, I have difficulty showing up for the idea” - Jenny Anderson

Jess here. Rebecca Winthrop, Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, and Jenny Anderson, award-winning journalist, paired up to write one of my favorite education and parenting books in recent memory: The Disengaged Teen.

While I adore the book and could go on for ages about it, that’s not why I invited these two to come on the podcast. I am fascinated - and strangely horrified - by the idea of co-writing. Maybe it’s my control issues, who knows. I’ve asked Sarina Bowen about her writing partnerships with Tanya Eby and Elle Kennedy (come ON now, have you read their award-winning trilogy, Him, Us and Epic?) so I thought I’d give her a bit of a break and ask Rebecca and Jenny to tell me all about how their writing collaboration went with this book.

I learned a lot during this podcast, but the thing I’m definitely taking with me is the concept of “clearing” before a collaboration or writing session. I’ve tried it a few times and so far, I love it. No, I can’t find any links for this specific practice despite the breadcrumbs “Narrative company” and “clearing,” so if you find out on your own, drop me a line so I can give credit where credit is due.

Edited: A lovely listener came through! https://www.narativ.uk/

Things we mention in the episode:

Jenny’s Substack, How to Be Brave

Rebecca’s newsletter over at LinkedIn, Winthrop’s World of Education

Sharepoint

QUICK NOTE for non-fiction writers! Friend of the pod Christie Aschwanden is running her non-fiction book proposal workshop again for the first time since 2022. It’s 8 weeks long and participants are carefully vetted (requires an application) and it’s had great results in the past. All details HERE: The Book Proposal Factory.