@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).
Try searching for “how to structure a story” and you'll get a panoply of instructions for the “right” way to structure a story:
Hero’s Journey
Three-act structure
Save the Cat
Snowflake method
Freytag’s Pyramid
Fichtean Curve
What do you do with them? @tiffanyyatesmartin.bsky.social advises.
This case study in hiring a book publicity firm is both laugh-out-loud funny and highly informative. Few people share these poor experiences due to shame and embarrassment.
If you're thinking of hiring *anyone* to help you with book publicity, this is a must-read.
Making the leap from journalism to book-length work brought one writer into contact with a new challenge: being truly edited.
@julietizon.bsky.social shares lessons.
Be forewarned, if you write fiction involving animal characters, especially for adult readers, people will likely refer to your story as “quirky.”
Book coach Erin Radniecki advises on when animal POVs can benefit your story.
Recently, the LA-based TV literary agency Kaplan Stahler brought on Jillian Davis to start their book department. She focuses on authors of YA, romance, and women’s fiction.
I’m grateful to Jillian for answering a few questions about the unique space she’s in.
"Readers don’t care about what you’ve gone through. It’s not that they’re callous ... they need to know what’s in it for them."
@lisacooperellison.bsky.social explains how to identify a memoir's essential question.
If you view writing purely as process—a way to understand yourself—feel free to stop reading here.
If, however, you aim to shape your material into a work for others, then you need a follow-on practice.
Here's what to do, from @audreykalman.bsky.social.
If you're dealing with a company to create/run/host this kind of tool for you, the risk appears low unless that company's security were compromised (which, of course, happens).
For authors in the consulting/scholarly/nonfiction space: (1) retain chatbot rights in your publishing contracts and (2) readers may come to expect these tools as part of your published work. Amazon is already using chatbot functionality in books w/o having the rights (of course they are).
If you can't make it live, the recording will be available this evening at my YouTube channel: youtube.com/@janefriedman
I am quite excited for today's (free) business clinic where I'll discuss self-pub when you're successful versus the opportunity to work with a publisher. Author D. Liebhart has meticulously tracked her sales and expenses, and is openly sharing her numbers. This is rare! Join me at 12p Eastern today.
Every scene needs three things:
1. A Railcar (main event).
2. A Coupling (transition/consequence). The piece of logic that locks one scene to the next.
3. Subjectivity (the meaning & feeling).
Author Leslie Bradford-Scott deconstructs scenes by using the metaphor of trains.
"How was a middle-aged male, a cop for that matter, supposed to write about a woman trying to make sense of her complicated life? More to the point, how do we write authentically when a character’s life experience is so different from our own?" —David Lane Williams
Writers hear the advice to join a critique group and perhaps hope it will serve every need—motivation, accountability, encouragement, feedback, companionship. But it’s hard for one group to provide all those things to all members at the same time.
@zenaryder.bsky.social suggests what to do instead.
"Divorcing your tone from your content does not strip your memoir of its authenticity—in fact, it deepens it. There’s more to your book than just what happens in the story. Pairing content and tone can give you access to meaning beyond merely the scope of the plot." —Stephanie Mitchell
"Every small publishing house led to another small publishing house I had never heard of before. So, despite my starting out with a short list of publishers, the list of possibilities for unagented submissions just kept growing."
—Audrey Ship (@audreyshipp.bsky.social)
"I was introduced to glimmers during a workshop facilitated by author Pam Houston at the Breadloaf Conference in 2023. She spoke of experiences that stay with you because they make life sharper, sweeter, and meaningful."
Why author Sheila Myers continues despite her 1099s looking poor.
A great opportunity here to help yourself and do some good for others at the same time. Publishing auction ends tonight.
Withholding information is an important storytelling skill. But you shouldn’t withhold any old information; you should hold back information that matters to the character.
Insight from writer and editor @erinhalden.bsky.social.
Honored to run it, thank you for giving me the opportunity.
"[Writers will] be misunderstood. We’ll be criticized by strangers. Sometimes even by people we love. Writing is an act of exposure, and writing about something this personal, this political, and this dangerous feels like standing in a blizzard naked." —@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social
"Improv clarified something important for me about writing. When I hedge in my novels ... it’s the same impulse at work: self-protection. But just like onstage, hesitation drains momentum. A bold choice, even an imperfect one, gives the story something to push against." —Kyla Zhao
Most writing advice tells you to cut ruthlessly.
But what if some of the most powerful writing happens in the spaces between your “important” scenes?
Author Seth Harwood offers powerful insight into storytelling using Raymond Carver as an example.
A bar chart showing the electricity use of several daily activities with the subtitle "The 'typical query' is not a useful way to think about coding agents' energy use." The bar for a 'typical ChatGPT query' is not even visible. My median Claude Code session is somewhere between the average US household per minute and toasting bread for three minutes. My median day with Claude Code is something like running a dishwasher.
Whenever I read discourse on AI energy/water use that focuses on the "median query," I can't help but feel misled. Coding agents like Claude Code send hundreds of longer-than-median queries every session, and I run dozens of sessions a day.
On my blog: www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2026-01...
Please don't abstain—I don't! 🤓
Should you hire a book publicist? There's no one right answer for all. I tell every author: don't expect the investment to come back to you in the form of sales. But it can be a worthwhile investment that delivers a career-long boost.
@heathersweeney.bsky.social offers pros & cons.
Later this month: I'll be speaking at the IBPA and BookLife Boot Camp, where author @russellnohelty.com and I will discuss how authors can control their own destiny, leverage their intellectual property, and build their audiences.
Learn more: www.ibpa-online.org/store/viewpr...
YouTube: youtube.com/@janefriedman
Today at 1p Eastern! This one is setting some registration records.
Can't make it? 🥲 Recording will be available later on my YouTube channel. See comments for link.
Register for free: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
We’ve all seen it before in movies. The female character who gets into a car with a stranger or walks into a house when the door is ajar and looks like it’s been broken into. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Author Courtney Psak discusses this phenomenon in storytelling and how it underlies her latest novel.