#AmWriting

Jess here with Sarina Bowen to help simplify and demystify author contracts. Let’s start off with a wonderful resource called The Authors Guild. They have sample contracts on their website The Authors Guild Sample Contract ONE You’re not “selling” your book. You’re licensing it. TWO Grant of rights Term length Which territories Which formats Territories North American World English World Formats and sub rights Print and digital and audio Sub rights like “first serial” Translation MAYBE Time limits X years The life of the copyright AG says: The standard license term for traditional trade publishing deals is "the whole term of copyright" THREE Financial remuneration: advances and royalty rates. WHEN is it paid? What percentages? Advance and payment schedule On signing On acceptance of the work (after an edit) On publication A year after publication FOUR Manuscript delivery and acceptance. What happens if people are unhappy. FIVE Other clauses Copyright stipulation The Option Clause The Next Published Work Clause Cover approval vs consideration or collaboration Narrator approval vs consideration Indemnification What are reserves against returns? Reversion terms: bankruptcy, failure to publish, failure to pay, and out of print Red flags: Film rights, even if they say “non exclusive” Derivative works Lack of reversion language

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 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! Write What You WantA newsletter about tuning into the most lively possibilities for our writing—and then finding a home for that writing. Includes submission resources, writing advice, prompts, and interviews.By Dennis James SweeneyLinks from the podHeavy Feather Review’s Where to Submit listAM/PM, Amelia GrayUnderworld, Don DelilloMaking a Literary Life, Carolyn SeeHTML GiantKathleen RooneyLaird HuntEssay PressAutumn House PressClifford Garstang’s Literary Magazine RankingsMargot Atwell’s piece in LitHub about the big five thinking of small press as farm TeamDorothy, a publishing project#AmReadingDennis: God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl ThomasIndex for Continuance podcastMaterial Witness, Aditi MachadoRunaways: A Writer's Dilemma, Michael J. SeidlingerKJ: Margo's Got Money Troubles, Rufi ThorpeDeath 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 AndersonJess 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. Things we mention in the episode:Jenny’s Substack, How to Be BraveRebecca’s newsletter over at LinkedIn, Winthrop’s World of EducationSharepointQUICK 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.

Do you have a Doubt Monster? (Doesn’t everyone?) Amy Bernstein is an Author Accelerator certified writing coach, an #AmWriting Blueprint Challenge coach, a writer, a creative coach and many other things—but for our purposes, the author of Wrangling the Doubt Monster—a delightful book that you can open on any page for help wrangling your own doubts into something that you can live with, in the vein of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art or Gretchen Rubin’s Outer Order, Inner Calm. In this episode we talk—what else?—doubt monsters, declaring ourselves as writers and all the ways we live with our self-doubt and write anyway. Links from the Pod Bancroft Press Amywrites.live Persephone Books The Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett Beacon Street Books

One of the things I think we do well with on this podcast is addressing the long game of writing. It’s not just about writing a good book or pitching one or selling one, but about the work of doing it over and over again, of succeeding and failing, of PERSISTING. That’s why I love this conversation with Tiffany Yates Martin, who is an author herself under the penname, Phoebe Fox, but who also for 30 years has been a developmental editor working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors. She is a respected leader in the writing education field and my friend and colleague. Her new book, The Intuitive Author: How to Grow and Sustain a Happier Writing Career addresses the long sweep of a writing career. And I think there's a lot for all of us to learn from this book and this conversation. You can find Tiffany via her website, on Instagram at @tiffanyyatesmartin, or check out her books Intuitive Editing and The Intuitive Author.

“I put my effort into building trust, showing up, and being present for people who have opted into my universe.” A slight paraphrase of Jennie Nash On the day we recorded this episode, no one really knew what was going to happen to TikTok (Jess thinks it’s going away, everyone else doubts her) and Sarina was attempting to manage all the emails from people asking her why she was promoting businesses on The Place Formerly Known as Twitter (she wasn’t, she quit that app and someone promptly squatted on her name, pretended to be her and began promoting for-profit businesses). What do we do when we can’t trust the people in our social media circles to be who they say they are and what is the future of social media as a whole? We discuss these and many other questions. Things we talk about:“I’d rather be taken than be hard” Sarina quoted this via “a pastor,” and search as I may, I can’t find an attribution. We discuss the sentiment. The OpEd Project founded by Katie OrensteinMighty NetworksI called it the “red square app” but it’s actually the Red Note app or “Xiaohongshu” and as of this writing, is still the top free app in the Apple store. Here’s an explainer on the app from NPR.

I’m Sarina, and I’m a business nerd.Hi, my name is Sarina, and I’m a business nerd. I was born this way. I can’t help it. I realize that not everyone gets excited about spreadsheets, but if you have any writerly income at all, I’m begging you to make 2025 the year you treat your writing as a business. There are actually two reasons to do this: First of all it’s centering. Treating your writing as a grownup activity helps you frame your goal-setting around writing. It holds you accountable to your goals Secondly, and more practically, it makes tax time is so much easier, and it might save you money First, let’s do a little primer on how writerly income affects your taxes. Unlike a job, which sends you a W2 in January, writers are technically self-employed. In fact, the first time someone pays you for a book or an article, you have just become an entrepreneur.So, congratulations on your promotion from artist to businessperson. Let’s go over what that means for you. I must offer a disclaimer here: I’m not a tax professional and I’m not your tax professional, so please ask an accountant in your state if you have actionable questions.Most writers treat themselves as sole proprietors for tax purposes. That means you’re doing business as yourself, and you haven’t taken the additional step of forming a separate taxable entity. For the purposes of today’s episode, let’s assume that you’re in this category.Depending on the dollar amount—and the professionalism of the people who paid you—a 1099 tax form may appear in your mailbox in January of next year. That 1099 will also be reported to the IRS, who will expect you to report it on your taxes. When done correctly, this income shows up on your schedule C.It’s possible to deposit your writing income in your regular checking account, and many people do. But what if we assume that your writing business will continue to grow in volume and complexity? Then it’s time to consider treating your writing as a business in 2025.The first way to do that is to open a second checking account. My tiny bank in New Hampshire offers this kind of account for free. Opening it was as easy as going into the branch and explaining that I wanted an account for my sole proprietorship. This is the where you’ll deposit any earnings you make as a writer.The second useful account is an extra credit card that only gets used for business purposes. If you have any expenses during the writing year, they all belong on this card. Such as: Substacks you pay for to help further your writing career. (See what I did there?) Websites you join to assist in your work Transportation to writing-related conferences and research Printed materials you purchase for research Stock photography Your Canva subscription, etc Every one of these things is a business expense. Any money you spend in service to your writing career is deductible from the income you made from your writing. When you’re just getting started, the legitimate expenses might well exceed your income. This all gets netted out on Schedule C of your 1040.If you have this setup, you won’t have to scramble to figure out your business income and deductions at tax time. Your writing bank and credit card statements will tell the whole story.Furthermore, if you’re self-published, the business bank account provides an added layer of security. In my publishing business, I have had to provide my banking details to countless publishing platforms. I like knowing that my banking information is separated from my family’s money.This is also true of your social security number. There’s a fix for this, though. To avoid sharing your social security number with publishers and publishing platforms, all you have to do is request an EIN, or employer identification number from the IRS. It’s simple, it takes only minutes, and I’ll put the link in the show notes.And there you have it. Your homework assignments are ready—you’re opening a couple of accounts and requesting an EIN from the IRS. It’s not the sexiest part of your writer journey, but don’t let that stop you.Until next week, writers, keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game.Links!Your EIN can be attained here: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp

Hi #AmWriters, Jess here. I’ve been wanting to do an episode on workbooks forever - on any form of companion text that pairs with nonfiction books, really. How do you propose them, write them, format them? You know me, I like the granular details. Fortunately, Ned Johnson and Dr. William Stixrud are publishing The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child in March, and Ned was willing to come on the podcast and teach me all about the nuts and bolts of putting a workbook out into the world. This episode truly flattened my learning curve, and I hope it does the same for you. People and things we talked about in this episode: William Stixrud Katie Hurley and A Year of Positive Thinking for Teens Tina Payne Bryson, The Whole-Brain Child and Bottom Line for Baby StrengthsFinder2.0 TriMetrix Moo.com Can you make custom post-it notes? Yes, yes you can. The Disengaged Teen by Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson LAST Last Call: Join the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge. We started January 5, but it’s JUST not too late to jump in. We’ll be walking Blueprinters through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode—and the first step is indeed on the shorter side, so you still have time to catch up if you subscribe now. Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice. We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts: What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it Introducing the winter book coach hosts Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story The Blueprint is the Solution for Time-Strapped Writers How to Use a Blueprint for Revision Befriending the Blueprint If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.) It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us! The Blueprint Challenge is for Supporters only—10 weeks to plan the book you want to write instead of 90K words figuring it out. You in? Subscribe now

Essay collections—readers love them, but publishers and editors are often unconvinced. Jennie and KJ talk to Amy Wilson about getting that contract, finding the through line and writing a book about pleasing people while also remembering to please yourself. Links from the podMary Karr The Art of MemoirWendi AaronsListen to Your Mother (Essay performances for Mother’s Day)Amy’s first book: When Did I Get Like This?Zibby Owens, Zibby BooksIna GartenWhat Fresh Hell (Amy’s podcast)Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser, Amy Wilson#AmReadingJennie: Be Ready when the Luck Happens, Ina GartenKJ: Meditations for Mortals, Oliver BurkemanReasons Not to Worry, Brigid DelaneyAmy: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi DenchLast Call: Join the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.We started January 5, but it’s JUST not too late to jump in. We’ll be walking Blueprinters through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode—and the first step is indeed on the shorter side, so you still have time to catch up if you subscribe now.Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts: What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it Introducing the winter book coach hosts Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story The Blueprint is the Solution for Time-Strapped Writers How to Use a Blueprint for Revision Befriending the Blueprint If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us!The Blueprint Challenge is for Supporters only—10 weeks to plan the book you want to write instead of 90K words figuring it out. You in?Subscribe now

Find Meghan at meghanpbrowne.com or check out her book The Bees of Notre-DameBooklab episode Redacted Kitty-Cat and Welcome to HeavenIf you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts: What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it Introducing the winter book coach hosts Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us! Plus, we have a sale on annual memberships until December 31, 2024 only—save 25% if you decide you’re in now.Get 25% off for 1 year

We cover last years’ goals, and which of us feel great and which feel… less great. (And the audio is also less great, because 3 of us gathered in our local library and the acoustics/HVAC system noise were less than ideal.) We end up talking about the ways we feel we need to be as women (supported by some great men) in the coming year and years, the somewhat surprising bro-commentary some of us get around our work, and how we feel like sticking together is going to be the key to maintaining our sense of self in 2025. It got pretty deep. Writer goals, sure, we have those. But we have more. We also reviewed our Words of the Year, then announce this year’s. I guess I should make that a big reveal? But I just don’t have it in me, so here we go: KJ: Inner Compass (which tells me that 2 words is FINE) Jennie: Teflon (you’ll love the discussion around this one) Sarah: Presence (she’s reserving the right to refine this) Jess: Growth (and a surprising announcement about her return to student life! There, there’s your cliff-hanger-go listen.) Links to things we discuss: Pacemaker app Five Year Lie audiobook Blueprint for a Book Winter Challenge Submit for First Pages Booklab! What’s your word for 2025 going to be? We love discussing and brainstorming words, so lay it on us in the comments. If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge. Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode. Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice. We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts: What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it Introducing the winter book coach hosts Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.) It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us! Plus, we have a sale on annual memberships until December 31, 2024 only—save 25% if you decide you’re in now. Get 25% off for 1 year

Today, I'm so excited to talk to my friend, Rosa Kwon Easton, about her debut novel, White Mulberry. Rosa holds a very special place in my heart and my history because she was at the first ever workshop where I taught my Blueprint framework, which is a method of inquiry for getting a book out of your head and onto the page before you start to write. At that time, Rosa thought that she was writing a true story about three generations in her family. She was calling it a memoir. And now ten years later, that story is being published as a novel. In this discussion, we talk about that long development process and the profound switch from writing a true story to writing fiction and how Rosa navigated the whole thing. Find Rosa at: rosakwoneaston.com, @rosakwoneaston on Instagram, or at one of her upcoming events. Find out more about Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book method here. Announcing the #AmWriting Blueprint Winter Challenge—bigger and better and more interactive than any we’ve done before. The Blueprint method will be effective for you if: You have a new idea for a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book you want to pin to the page. You are stuck somewhere in the middle of a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book and can’t figure out how to get unstuck. You are planning to revise a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book and feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. In the challenge you’ll get 10 podcast episodes on the Blueprint steps, five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of Jennie’s Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end. #AmWriting paid subscribers have the chance to sign up for all this NOW—and to help you out, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now! Get 25% off for 1 year

Hey listeners: This week, everyone gets a taste of what paid supporters 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 our first non-fiction first page submission, and then tackle a novel with an intriguing title and a great first line: Holding a pair of tweezers in one hand and a can of Scotchgard in the other, Stella Singh sprays the top of a golden brioche bun until it shimmers like a Las Vegas showgirl. 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 earlier this week, 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 supporters only. So if you haven’t—yet—decided to support the podcast we know you love, now’s the perfect time. In January, we’ll be launching a fresh new Blueprint for a Book with five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of my Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end—plus, KJ doing her own Blueprint right along with the rest of the crew. The Winter 2025 Blueprint challenge will be for paid supporters only. Paid supporters also get Booklab episodes, the ability to submit first pages for consideration for a future episode of Booklabs and weekly AMA’s with your hosts (starting up again in January). In honor of all that, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now! Get 25% off for 1 year Want to submit a first page? Paid subscribers click HERE for details.

Regular listeners will recognize the Blueprint for a Book—a method of inquiry Jennie Nash developed to lay a strong foundation for books in any genre that’s not about the craft of writing or building an author platform or any of the steps that come later in the writing life. It’s about understanding what you are doing and why you are doing it so that you can have clarity and confidence. Writer Allison Hammer is a Blueprint stan—she’s used it for years, again and again, often more than once on any given book (KJ seconds that one). We talk about why she adores the method, how she tweaks it (and why Jennie made it so strict in the first place. You can, like Allison, work through the Blueprint steps on your own—but with the Blueprint for a Book Winter Challenge coming up, you don’t have to! We’re going to be sharing more details about the Blueprint Winter Challenge in the coming days, but here’s a little on what it looks like: we have 10 podcast episodes on the Blueprint steps, five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of my Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end. #AmWriting paid subscribers will have the chance to sign up for all this later this month—and to help you out, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now! Get 25% off for 1 year Links from the episode: Episode 409: From Women’s Fiction to Romance in 30 Days with Ali Brady Find Alison at: www.alisonhammer.com, @thishammer on Instagram, or check out her cowritten works as Ali Brady on IG @alibradybooks Find out more about Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book method here.

Jess here, hosting my entire extended family for the holiday weekend and sending love to you and yours. Enjoy this #WriterGift flashback! It’s the gifts episode! Here are the links you’re looking for: KJ: Redbubble ❄️ Stamp blocks ❄️ Stamp blanks and stencils ❄️ Frixion Pens ❄️ Leuchterm planner Jess: Sarina’s Socks ❄️ Half Broke by Ginger Gaffney (for KJ, but Jess loved it, too!) ❄️ Fillion planner cover by Little Mountain Bindery ❄️ Jess’s favorite sticky tabs ❄️ Pens by Schneider ❄️ Sarina’s stamp with the kinda-sorta True North Series three pine tree logo ❄️ The “Begin” mug Jess wants a case of. Sarina: Hedgehog Pencil Holder ❄️ Post-its that fit over planner months ❄️ Corkicle (it doesn’t come with the sticker, sorry…) #AmReading Jess: Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir KJ: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow Sarina: The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod Zowie! Thanks for listening. If you want to check out our last gift episodes (and guides), click the years: 2019 2018 2017. If you’ve got other ideas we should know about, share them in the #AmWriting Facebook group. And if you’d like to subscribe to the shownotes email or support the podcast, click the button. Subscribe now To give a subscription as a gift, click THIS button! Give a gift subscription Big news, #AmWriters: our guided Blueprint for a Book Challenge was such a hit this past summer that we're going to run it again in January! Plus, we're adding even more interactive elements so you can connect with other writers. It’s a great way to start or refine a book idea, get some professional guidance from our Author Accelerator coaches, and stay motivated to do the hard work of thinking before you write. Whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction or memoir - this challenge could be just the thing you need. We will be launching in early January, so stay tuned to these podcasts for all the details, check the show notes, and make sure that you are a supporter of the #AmWriting Podcast, so that when it comes to January, you'll be ready to go.

It is of course the inimitable, the unconquerable, the inexhaustible Jo Piazza, all of whose adjectives require me to use spell check. I am a long time fan of Jo, and she’s been on the pod before—see also Episode 393, I Want to Sell Books, But I’m Also Writing What I Want to Write. She is the author of, most recently, The Sicilian Inheritance and coming soon, Everyone Is Lying to You, which started out as a serial in her weekly email/Substack, Over the Influence. She’s also the host of a great podcast, Under the Influence.As far as I know she’s the first person to pull off this feat. She probably isn’t, but we’re going to roll with it as a working theory. This is a great convo, and you will undoubtedly leave inspired, as I was, to write your own serial. (I probably won’t but I WAS inspired.)Join Jo’s Substack and vote on the cover HERE.#AmReadingJo:The Displacements, Bruce Holsinger (author of The Gifted School)Nightwatching, Tracy SierraHere One Moment, Liane MoriartyKJ:I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself, Glynnis MacNicolThe Wedding People, Alison EspachJo’s email/Substack Over the InfluenceBig news, #AmWriters: our guided Blueprint for a Book Challenge was such a hit this past summer that we're going to run it again in January! Plus, we're adding even more interactive elements so you can connect with other writers.It’s a great way to start or refine a book idea, get some professional guidance from our Author Accelerator coaches, and stay motivated to do the hard work of thinking before you write.Whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction or memoir - this challenge could be just the thing you need. We will be launching in early January, so stay tuned to these podcasts for all the details, check the show notes, and make sure that you are a supporter of the #AmWriting Podcast, so that when it comes to January, you'll be ready to go.#AmWriting is made possible by our “stickers” - readers who financially support the Podcast. As a thank you, Stickers get access to bonus content - like our Blueprint for a Book Challenge. To receive these posts and support the Podcast, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

The Anxiety is Real You can’t swing a Blackwing pencil without hearing another creator worrying about generative A.I. And we get it—the ubiquity of generative A.I. tools has soared over the last two years. In this episode we aim to take a deep breath and discuss the topic from a candid but calm position: why authors are worried, why we should be worried and what to do about it (besides anxious posts on social media.) Things to freak out about: a Two Part List In service to our measured discussion, we lay a bit of background. Sarina tells us why The Authors Guild is suing OpenAI, and why you should join the Authors Guild. Then we mine two different veins of anxiety: Column I: Billion dollar AI tools stole our intellectual property to train their models, and… Column II: AI might take my job. We delve into both these concerns, discussing ongoing litigation, the potential for licensing content to AI companies, and more. We also discuss how AI tools are affecting other parts of the publishing industry (such as audio book narration) and the pervasiveness of generative AI in our everyday lives. #AmReading KJ: The Paradise Problem, Christina Lauren Jess: The Widow on Dwyer Court, Lisa Kusel Sarina: Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

Today we’re talking about the need for a writer to be resilient over the long haul of a career and my guest is A.S. King A.S. King has been called “One of the best Y.A. writers working today” by The New York Times Book Review and is one of YA fiction's most decorated. She is the only two-time winner of the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award (2020 for Dig and 2024 for The Collectors) and has won the LA Times Book Prize for Ask the Passengers. In 2022, King received the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime achievement to YA literature and 2023, she accepted the ALAN Award for "artistry, courage and outstanding contributions to YA literature." Amy – which is her real name – has taught for years in MFA programs and is working on her PhD in creative literature I wanted to talk to Amy because I heard from a mutual friend – Caroline Leavitt – that Amy’s publisher had made a change to her promotional team just weeks before the launch of her newest book, Pick the Lock, which one reviewer described as "a punk opera, a primal scream, and a portrait of a family buried in lies." Many of our listeners are trying to get their foot in the door with their first book, or to get a career off the ground with their second or third and here is someone who has written 15 books, who is at the top of her game, and who still has things like this happen – which is to say things that go wrong, things that don’t go her way. I thought a conversation about what it feels like at this stage in a career would be illuminating – and was I sure right. Let’s get to it. Find A.S. King at AS-King.com Heads up! Join me—KJ—for Novelmber, which is very hard to pronounce but is my word for reclaiming my writing space in November. Think NaNoWriMo, our version—daily challenges and stretch goals, formatted by you, for you. There will be write-alongs, posts, a massive Google spreadsheet for sharing goals and updating progress, thoughts on how hard this is, and more than you want to know about why I need this regroup so badly. All writers, every genre, welcome. This is sign-up only—I don’t plan to spam the whole #AmWriting community with my wails of writerly distress daily for an entire month—but it’s also for everyone who wants in. I hope you’ll join me—I don’t want to go this alone. Don’t worry, signing up is simple! Here’s how: Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, toggle “Novelmber” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). THAT’S IT! Once you set that up, you’ll get all future Novelmber emails. Any audio or video will show up in those, along with write-along schedules. You’ll also want to add yourself to the Google Sheet where we’ll all record our overall goal, day’s goals, daily progress and what we’re feeling. I’ve started it off. Join me, help me, let’s make Novelmber WORK!

I couldn’t resist the subtitle, kids, sorry. It’s not that shocking—but Tim’s journey was definitely only for the bold.I’ve known Tim Grahl—or known of him—for more than a decade. I watched him help writers like Dan Pink launch their non-fiction books onto the best seller list, and devoured and followed his excellent advice about launching my own books (which you can find here at booklaunch.com). Then I watched—or rather, listened—as he pivoted into the world of fiction, enlisting editor Shaun Coyne to join him on a podcast and help him use Coyne’s Storygrid method to work on what eventually, after many revisions and a whole lot of failing in public, became Tim’s first novel, The Threshing. At the same time, he and Shaun were building Storygrid into what’s not just a business, but a huge community of writers and editors. He’s just published his second novel, The Shithead, a very different book from the first… I call it The Firm meets The Alchemist; Tim prefers Fleishman Is In Trouble meets Faust. Both work. We talk Tim’s sideways journey into fiction, and then we talk craft—in particular, how to learn what you don’t know, the myth of the lone writer in a cabin and the importance of feedback and then we dig into a passionate discussion of theme.You can check out The Shithead here. Links from the podBooklaunch.comStorygridShaun Coyne’s book, StorygridThe Prince of Tides, Pat ConroyThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafonThe Accidental Tourist, Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler(KJ also mentions Redhead by the Side of the Road)The Husband’s Secret, What Alice Forgot by Liane MoriartyHeads up! This is probably the only time you’ll see this. Join me—KJ—for Novelmber, which is very hard to pronounce but is my word for reclaiming my writing space in November. Think NaNoWriMo, our version—daily challenges and stretch goals, formatted by you, for you.There will be write-alongs, posts, a massive Google spreadsheet for sharing goals and updating progress, thoughts on how hard this is, and more than you want to know about why I need this regroup so badly. All writers, every genre, welcome. This is sign-up only—I don’t plan to spam the whole #AmWriting community with my wails of writerly distress daily for an entire month—but it’s also for everyone who wants in. I hope you’ll join me—I don’t want to go this alone. Don’t worry, signing up is simple! Here’s how:Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, toggle “Novelmber” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green).THAT’S IT!Once you set that up, you’ll get all future Novelmber emails. Any audio or video will show up in those, along with write-along schedules. You’ll also want to add yourself to the Google Sheet where we’ll all record our overall goal, day’s goals, daily progress and what we’re feeling. I’ve started it off. Join me for the first write-alongs HERE. (That’s a link to my Zoom Room.) I’ll be sitting there: Friday, November 1 10:30-12:30 (ALL TIMES EST)Monday, November 4 10:30-12:30Tuesday, November 5, 2:00-4:00More times coming. Join me, help me, let’s make Novelmber WORK!

Hi all! Jess here. When I wrote my first book proposal (for The Gift of Failure), I had a foggy idea of what a “comp” was. A book just like the book you want to publish, right? Not exactly. Comps are a really important part of pitching any book - nonfiction or fiction - because it helps an editor understand your vision for the book and consequently, what the publishing house’s vision for the book could be. What does the market for this book look like? Who is on the shelf already? Why is this book similar or different? Like I said, an art. Come with me while I explore the parameters for comps and help you write a better “Comparable Titles” section for your next book proposal. I use the comp section from the proposal for The Gift of Failure to discuss comps in this episode, so here’s what the formatting looks like in that document:Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

“As I said in my earlier email, you have so much to work with here. First off, your premise is gold. Easy to summarize, clear conflict, big stakes. I’m envious! When you’re ready, agents are going to sit up and take notice—which is all the more reason to have a rock solid thing to give them when they ask (and they will ask—don’t send a single query until you have a full, completed, polished manuscript ready to press “send” on, because I think you will get requests immediately).”That’s from my October 2021 developmental edit* for guest Erin Quinn-Kong. This month, Hate Follow is out from William Morrow & Company—because Erin knocked the revision out of the park. In this episode, we dig into what it felt like to get those (tough love) notes, how she worked with them, querying and the big moments that came next. You’re going to love it—PLUS, Erin has agreed to let us share the full 6 page edit letter with supporters who purchase a copy of Hate Follow in any format and send us their receipt. (Details on how to do that below.)As I tell Erin in the pod, I knew from what was on the page (and from her journalism experience) that she COULD do this revision. It wasn’t an easy lift, though. Not every one would have wanted this kind of edit or been willing to work with it. (Honestly, I’m sitting on one RIGHT NOW and not sure I can stomach what it needs to get it there.) But Erin did it—with amazing results. Here’s a little more from the letter: “I have no doubt that you can do it, either. Even though this is still in draft form, I didn’t want to put it down, especially in the more polished first half. (I knew what I was getting! That’s not a criticism of the less finished section. It’s in the perfect place for this stage of the process.) I wanted to know what would happen, and that is so much of the battle won right there. There’s great conflict and drive in these pages.And fundamentally your writing is really excellent. In the sections that are more complete, you strike a good balance between inner dialogue and action, you move the story, your chapters end in good places. There’s also a solid cause-and-effect thread pulling the reader along—although, as you’ll see, I think that drops in a few places and needs some shoring up. But those issues aren’t as big as they sound.”This is a great episode—huge thanks to Erin for being willing to play along. Follow her (but don’t hate her!) at @erinquinnkongwrites on Instagram or subscribe to her email: The (Writing) Group Chat on Substack.Links from the podThe Only Game in Town, Lacie WaldonEpisode 402: How Bad Can a Good First Draft Be*from KJ: I did a developmental edit for Erin while doing the Author Accelerator Book Coaching program, but although I’m certified, I don’t offer coaching services. How can you read Erin’s developmental edit letter? For starters, you need to be a paid supporter—and we’re offering a super-quick October surprise special. Head to https://amwriting.substack.com/halloween2024 for 20% off your next year. Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

KJ here, team. In this episode, Jennie asks the questions, and I walk us through the whole thing from start to finish—the options, the renewals, the moment we thought we were getting the rights back and the big calls that finally convinced me this was really going to happen—and then of course what it’s like when it DOES. Above are a few glam shots from the premiere screening, which will never not be one of the biggest nights of my career. I’m not sure how you top it. You can watch The Chicken Sisters—an 8 episode series starring Schuyler Fisk, Genevieve Angelson, Lea Thompson, and Wendie Malick on Hallmark Plus (or Amazon Prime) now. Here’s a little preview on YouTube, too.Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

Hey #AmWriters, Jennie here. I'm excited to welcome editor and publishing strategist, AJ Harper to the show to talk about the art of helping writers do their best work. AJ helps nonfiction authors write foundational books that enable them to build readership, grow their brand, and make a significant impact on the world. She was part of the writing coaching team for TEDx Cambridge, one of the largest TED events in the world. As a ghost writer and a developmental editor, AJ has worked with business writers of all kinds, guiding them to bestseller lists and to many millions of copies sold. She's worked on 10 books with business writer Mike Michalowicz, including Profit First: Transform Your Business From a Cash Eating Monster to a Money Making Machine. Her own book on writing came out in 2023. It's called Write A Must Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives, Including Your Own. This book is one of the best books on writing nonfiction I've ever read and it's one of the best books on writing period, which is why I wanted to have AJ come on and talk to us. Our conversation will be incredibly helpful for anyone writing nonfiction, but also for people writing fiction and memoir. AJ is just really smart about story structure, thinking about the reader, and fine tuning your ear for good writing. Her story about how she stepped out from behind the ghostwriting curtain to raise her own voice and claim her own authority is riveting.Books mentioned in the episode:Little Women, Louisa M. AlcottThe Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. WhiteCaddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie BrinkHey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

Sarina here! There was a scramble over who got to interview Lyndsay Rush about her poetry, but I raised my hand first. I’ve always thought of poetry as the fustiest kind of writing, but the moment I opened A Bit Much, I knew that Lyndsay was here to change my mind. Not only is her poetry gorgeous, her path to becoming a published author was unusual in all the best ways. Tune in to hear how she accidentally became a poet. And how she accidentally accumulated over 140,000 Instagram followers. We ask her about that magic moment—when she suddenly realized that this Instagram poetry habit of hers was going to be a whole big thing. It’s a publishing story for the ages! Or just skip to the good stuff and find A Bit Much at Bookshop, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. Lindsay on Instagram. Lindsay on Tiktok. Lindsay on Threads. Hey everyone, I'm Jennie Nash, and if you're interested in becoming a book, coach, I have a special offer for you. It's a free pass to a mini course called The One Page Book Coaching Business Plan. This course walks you step-by-step through how to envision your future book coaching business and it leads to a one-on-one strategy session with me! Go to bookcoaches.com/ABC and at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to the course. That's bookcoaches.com/ABC. You can use the code FROMJENNIE to get in free. That's FROMJENNIE all caps and make sure you spell my name out: J E N N I E. We're going to be raising our prices in 2025 so now's a great time to get certified if you think it's something you want to do. I look forward to speaking with you.Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

It’s a new Booklab: First pages episode! At some point—maybe next week—these episodes will go out only to our fellow Stickers (supporters of the podcast). Want to join that crew, where you’ll be able to send in your own first page for the pod, join write-alongs and get AMAs from our hosts and guest book coaches?I’m a sticker! Or I want to be. Also I get that y’all need support to get this out here and I love that it’s here so yeah.Subscribe HereOn today’s episode, we discuss the first pages of SAILING TO THE MOON: THE TWO YEARS AT SEA THAT SANK MY MARRIAGE, a memoir and The Pie Window, a novel. Would we turn the page? Opinions are mixed, but good advice for improving—these first pages and yours—abounds. THANK YOU to the writers willing to submit their work for our discussion.Did you like First pages? Have ideas for how we can make it better? We’d love to hear it and we’ll talk back, so comment away.We offered some comps to our first submitter:Jennie offered Between Two Worlds: An Inspiring Story of a Kiwi Woman Who Left Her Heart in UgandaJess offers Wind, a movie from her teenage yearsAnd to our second submitter:The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins ReidThe Twisted Ones, T. KingfisherA Prayer for Owen Meany, John IrvingPS to the second submitter: we also wanted a little hint about the pie window on that first page!Want to submit a first page to Booklab? Fill out the form HERE.Theme music credit: “Circle,” by Phoebe LaheyHey everyone, I'm Jennie Nash, and if you're interested in becoming a book, coach, I have a special offer for you. It's a free pass to a mini course called The One Page Book Coaching Business Plan. This course walks you step-by-step through how to envision your future book coaching business and it leads to a one-on-one strategy session with me! Go to bookcoaches.com/ABC and at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to the course. That's bookcoaches.com/ABC. You can use the code FROMJENNIE to get in free. That's FROMJENNIE all caps and make sure you spell my name out: J E N N I E. We're going to be raising our prices in 2025 so now's a great time to get certified if you think it's something you want to do. I look forward to speaking with you.Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.

Hello #AmWriters! This week, I’m answering a bunch of questions we received via [email protected] and our #AmWriting Facebook group. Here’s to flattened learning curves! 1. I just got my first speaking inquiry. How do I know how much to ask for?2. Someone asked me to provide video content for a conference/summit/virtual event. What should I charge?3. What’s all this about affiliate codes and revenue sharing for conferences?4. What reference books would you recommend for writing nonfiction?5. It’s time to ask for blurbs for my book! How do I figure out who should blurb? How do I ask? Can someone quoted in my book blurb my book? 6. If I quote myself in my own book is that plagiarism? What if I really need to use that quote, how do I do it?7. I’ve been asked to speak but I’m freaked out by my time slot/some other challenge to audience numbers. How do I get people to stay and listen?8. What are the “marketing materials” you keep talking about for events and where did you get all of it?9. Scam alert! See also “I Got Scammed So You Don’t Have To” by Jen Mann of People I Want to Punch in the Throat. Hey writers. I'm Jennie Nash, founder and CEO of Author Accelerator. It's back to school time, which means it's a great time to start training to become a book coach. By this time next year, you could be certified and out there helping writers bring their books to life- even if you're not a published author yourself. Take our quiz, The 10 Characteristics Of a Great Book Coach, to find out if you have what it takes to become a great book coach. Visit bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz that's the clunkiest URL ever so let me say it again: bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz We'll also put it in the show notes so you know you're going to the right place.

Is it time for me (this is KJ) to start a new novel? Not quite-quite-quite, but that time is coming. There’s a decent chance that the novel I’m working on now will be finished, in the now-we-try-to-sell-it sense, soonish. And that will take some time, and maybe it won’t happen (I know, you think I’m just saying that but no, it’s really quite possible). Even if it does, at some point very soon that will be out of my hands for long enough to start working on something new—and if I’m lucky, that will co-incide with November and National Novel Writing Month, which is my favorite time to write a 55K word draft that probably will contain approximately 1737 words that end up in an actual novel but that seems to be part of my “process”. I think my process is a raging dumpster fire but out of the ashes arise books so fine, this is how I do it. First, I’ll need an idea. Jennie Nash and I recorded a whole summer about “Ideating” (Episodes 366-373—The Idea Factory). I’d argue that this is possibly the most important part. Sarina and I have a partially joking saying: Friends don’t let friends write books without hooks. But an idea is a multi-part creation. It’s not just a hook, it’s not just a premise. A premise is vampires that feed only on people descended from the original crew and passengers on the Mayflower, and maybe that’s a hook as well. It’s not an idea until we know why it matters, and who it matters to within the book and why it might therefore matter to readers. Honestly, I’ll probably get that second bit wrong to start with, but you have to start somewhere. Right now, though, I don’t even have the first bit. Maybe you don’t either. Maybe you have an idea noodling around inside you, or more likely fifty. Maybe you can mash some of them together. Maybe they’re all amorphous or flimsy or when closely examined take place in a world or mood that you don’t want to live in for the next couple of years. But you have to pick one and see where it goes. I started this thinking I could help with that, and now I’m not so sure. I mean, I have a plan. I know what I am going to do, or what I think I’m going to do, but it’s hardly a step-by-step formula for success. It’s going to go something like this: Wander the bookstore. Most people buy their books online from descriptions now, but genre still matters. Look at the piles of romantasy (romance/fantasy), the growing tables of horror and horr-antsy (I made that up but it should be a thing). The buy-one-get-one-half-off tables of romance and thrillers, and speaking of thrillers, that’s a pretty broad category that ranges from “your heart is in your throat the whole time” to “huh, I wonder what’s going on here”. Series mystery, which I think is the only thing left that’s really “mystery” and not “thriller”. Pick up a book from “fiction” that’s described right in the cover copy as a “second chance romance” and try to figure out why it’s in one place and not the other. (One Last Shot by Betty Cayouette, which I found by googling what I remembered from the cover copy: book second chance model photographer theo italy. Nicely done, Google.) Sigh, give up, and try not to contemplate whether the world really needs any more books. It does not. But I need to write one, so it’s getting one. #sorrynotsorry Play the airport game, which we talked about in Episode 367 HERE). Basically it goes like this: go to an airport (or ask a friend who’s going somewhere). Find the Hudson or whatever your airport general shops are called that has the SMALLEST selection of books. Like, one rack face out. Take a picture and then walk yourself through it and ask, “which of these books is most like something I could have written?” Examine those books closely, asking two primary questions: 1) why is this in the airport bookstore (why do people love it/buy it) and 2) why is it like something I could have written? Then spend your flight, or two hours in a coffee shop, coming up with an idea and a brief pitch for something that resembles each one of those books. You have no more than 30 minutes for each book/pitch, and it must have a title, a logline, rough flap copy, inner and outer plots and a story arc with a beginning, middle and end. Do a wild title brainstorm. Sometimes a book just has a great title. Beach Read, Summer Romance, A Star is Bored, Blonde Identity. The last time I made a list of “great titles” I hit one—Romantic Comedy—that someone else has recently used to great success and came very very close on two others. Should you write a book just because you have a great title idea? No of course not, but some great titles could apply to a LOT of book ideas. People are buying the vibe, not the plot, when they buy Brooklynaire. Mayyyybe look over your old idea notebooks, if you have them. I have some mixed feelings about this, since I don’t want to let my current idea generating muscle off the hook. But these might also jog something loose. I have my 2022 book out now for this purpose. Pick a couple i

It’s the second Booklab: First Pages episode! At some point, these episodes will go out only to our fellow Stickers—supporters of the podcast. Want to join that crew, where you’ll be able to send in your own first page for the pod, join write-alongs and get AMAs from our hosts and guest book coaches? I’m a sticker! Or I want to be. Also I get that y’all need support to get this out here and I love that it’s here so yeah. Subscribe here On today’s episode, we discuss the first pages of Title Redacted, a novel and Welcome to Heaven, an upper middle grade novel. Would we turn the page? Opinions are mixed, but good advice for improving—these first pages and yours—abounds. THANK YOU to the writers willing to submit their work for our discussion. Did you like First pages? Have ideas for how we can make it better? We’d love to hear it and we’ll talk back, so comment away. We offered some comps to our first submitter: Whip Smart, Melissa Febos I Love a Man in Uniform, Lily Burana A Certain Appeal, Vanessa King Want to submit a first page to Booklab? Fill out the form HERE. Theme music credit: “Circle,” by Phoebe Lahey It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over, and in the next few weeks, we will be wrapping up our special Blueprint Challenge that we did here at the #AmWriting podcast. As a part of that challenge, anyone who signed up for and completed it will be getting a list of exclusive offers from Author Accelerator book coaches to help them with their blueprints. But if, as the summer closes, you're at a point where you feel like you could use some help from a book coach, we suggest you check out Author Accelerator’s book coach directory. They’ve certified more than 260 book coaches in fiction, nonfiction and memoir, and one of them may be the perfect person to help you get your book back on track. Head to https://www.authoraccelerator.com/matchme to find the book coach that’s right for you.

Hey writers! I’m Jennie Nash — and this is the #amwriting podcast, the place where we talk about writing all the things: short things, long things, fiction, non-fiction, pitches and proposals. Today, we’re going to dig into a part of the writing process that comes WAY before you write anything — which is giving yourself permission to write in the first place. So many writers are shut down by teachers, people who love them, critique partners, well-meaning editors and book coaches, perhaps the entire culture– and the impact of that shutting down can last for decades, if not entire lifetimes. In my Blueprint framework – a method of inquiry for starting a project -- the first question is why write this book? Why do you want to do this? It’s amazing to me the number of times that the deep level why has to do with reclaiming a voice that was shut down. My colleague and friend Julie Artz was shut down when she was 25 and 20 years later she is finally grappling with what happened – and feeling a creative spaciousness that eluded her until now. She’s been on the show before, but I invited her back to talk about this important topic. About Julie:Julie Artz is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman, Writers Helping Writers, AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Connect with her on Instagram @JulieArtz and download her freebie on giving yourself permission. https://pages.julieartz.com/giveyourselfpermission It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over, and in the next few weeks, we will be wrapping up our special Blueprint Challenge that we did here at the #AmWriting podcast. As a part of that challenge, anyone who signed up for and completed it will be getting a list of exclusive offers from Author Accelerator book coaches to help them with their blueprints.But if, as the summer closes, you're at a point where you feel like you could use some help from a book coach, we suggest you check out Author Accelerator’s book coach directory. They’ve certified more than 260 book coaches in fiction, nonfiction and memoir, and one of them may be the perfect person to help you get your book back on track. Head to https://www.authoraccelerator.com/matchme to find the book coach that’s right for you.

It all Started on the ‘Book Sarina, here! This episode began in a Facebook thread. In a writers’ group, author Dena Moes R.N. expressed some concern about trying to bring a book to market during a very noisy news cycle. I pushed back a little, given the nature of her book: It's Your Body: The Young Woman's Guide to Empowered Sexual Health. This lovely book is no stranger to politics. In 2024 it’s political to even suggest that a young woman has the right to decide the fate of her own body. What could be more timely? Dena and I brought our friendly debate to your door, where we cover: What does the election cycle really mean for books and book buyers? What are some elements of Dena’s story that play well with readers who are staring down the barrel at a very important election? Who should Dena talk to about this book, and why? You can see some of the content Dena is working on at Instagram and Tiktok You can find the book at Amazon and Bookshop. Books we’re reading this week: Dena is reading I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol and The Inner Practice of Medicine by Dr. Wendy Lau. Sarina is reading: Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center and One Jump at a Time by Nathan Chen. Are you a “sticker”? Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that). We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below). Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.) I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now. Subscribe To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

Hello #AmWriters! Jess here at the beginning of a very busy fall speaking season, coming to you from the northwest corner of Indiana. I’ve talked to you before about the nuts and bolts of my speaking work, but I thought it would be fun to bring you along with me and talk about the things I pack, plan for, and think about when I’m on the road. If I missed anything you want to learn about, head on over to the #AmWriting Facebook group and hit me up with questions! What’s in my speaking bag:What I found when I visited the Lafayette Barnes and Noble in search of Sarina Bowen’s books (look for the yellow pages!):Then I went over to the thriller department and found:And when I looked for KJ I found:And finally, I check for my books so I can sign them, photograph the books and let readers on social media know there are signed copies at the bookstore! I was not originally face out but once I signed, the bookseller re-arranged so I could be. Loved her for that. Are you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.SubscribeTo join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

The title of this episode comes from a great George Michael quote that Sarina reminded us of and one that I now think about all the time: People thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn’t. I just wanted to people to know that I was very serious about pop music.That’s us here. We’re very serious about fun reads—and so grateful that Emily is too. This episode was recorded as Emily was releasing Book Lovers. This year, you can read her newest, Funny Story, which was just the delightful escape Sarina and I both needed this summer. And let me remind you right here that you can—and should!—also grab Sarina’s latest, the fantastic The Five Year Lie—a very very fun read. This was a great talk and we know you’ll love it—but for your entertainment, here’s what AI had to say about it: The speakers discussed their experiences and insights on writing and publishing, including the importance of maintaining a consistent brand, balancing creative expression with validation, and creating authentic conflicts in fiction. They also shared their thoughts on the value of joy and love in literature, and how societal pressure to produce world-changing literature can lead to a lack of appreciation for works that prioritize happiness and joy. Additionally, they discussed their favorite thriller books and the impact they've had on them, and shared book recommendations in the romantic comedy genre. Overall, the conversation highlighted the challenges and rewards of writing and publishing, and the importance of prioritizing joy and happiness in literature.Something like that, yeah. But with more shrieking and laughing. This discussion was so true to our hearts (KJ writing, Sarina co-signing). It’s hard to for some of us to give ourselves permission to write fun books in a world where “things we like” and especially “things women like” are often dismissed as less worthy. After Sarina reminded us of this George Michael quote—when asked when he was going to “write serious music” his response was “You don’t understand. I’m very serious about pop music.” And KJ immediately demanded that everyone read This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch which is, instead, a book about exactly what we just said. That you should read. Immediately. We’ll wait.So how do your get very serious about writing fun reads? Emily’s insight on how to turn the seemingly small internal battles that our kind of fiction often hinges on is perfection: “you have to make things realer than real life”. For more, hit play.Links in the Pod#AmWriting Episode 302 with Katherine Center#AmReadingEmily: Miss Aldridge Regrets, Louise HareThe Bodyguard, Katherine CenterThe Change, Kirsten MillerSarina: The Bodyguard, Katherine CenterUpgrade, Blake Couch (Emily then shouted out Dark Matter and The Letty Dobesh Chronicles with its Good Behavior TV adaptation)KJ: This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Tabitha CarvanThank You for Listening, Julia WhelanEmily Henry on Insta: @emilyhenrywritesJoin Emily’s newsletter: Get My Grocery ListAre you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.SubscribeTo join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

Hey writers! Maybe I say this all the time, but this episode is GREAT. Remember how in Episode 402 I asked the question for the ages: How Bad Can a Good First Draft Be?At that point I was on a fifth draft and it was sadly still pretty “bad”— think “I built a bookshelf but one of the shelves is on the back and I don’t think it necessarily needed window shutters or a fan”. I settled in to outline, not what WAS there but what I knew SHOULD be there on both the plot (outside) and emotional arc (inside) levels. And damn if it didn’t help. It always helps.This episode is me and Jennie talking about how I did that, why I needed to and how much it helps. Funny story: last week after the episode as i was revising I looked at one of the new scenes I’d plotted out and thought, nah. Things were running a bit long, I thought. I don’t need that.It took 48 hours of wrestling with what came next to realize that the problem was: yes, I did need that scene. It didn’t do masses of plot work but it was huge emotionally. Put it back in and started rolling along.Whew. Ok, episode—enjoy!Are you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

Writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey were thirty days away from a publisher deadline for their third book when the news came down: change this book from women’s fiction to romance.Should they do it? Could they do? How would they do it???In this episode, Jennie Nash digs into this juicy question.Books mentioned in this episode:The Beach TrapThe Comeback SummerUntil Next SummerAre you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).Writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey were thirty days away from a publisher deadline for their third book when the news came down: change this book from women’s fiction to romance.Should they do it? Could they do? How would they do it???In this episode, Jennie Nash digs into this juicy question.Books mentioned in this episode:The Beach TrapThe Comeback SummerUntil Next SummerAre you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

Hi! Jess here. I just finished Catherine Newman’s new novel Sandwich, and I’m feeling a lot of feelings. I expected Sandwich to be great because I love everything Catherine Newman writes, but it was a balm for a wound I did not realize I was nursing. That’s what I love about books. Our feelings about them are highly personal and subjective. Some of my favorite books possess little literary merit but have found a place on my list of essential re-reads based on their emotional, temporal, or geographical entanglements. Sandwich is a town on Cape Cod, where the bicep would be if the Cape were to let up on tricep day. A big part of my childhood was spent in a lovely house on Corn Hill in Truro, the second to last town on the very tip of the arm, where the Cape would wear her watch if she cared about the time. When I was very small, my parents rented with friends, but when their best friend, Richard, bought our favorite of the hilltop houses, it became our second home, the place where my most visceral, cherished, rose-tinged memories were formed. The pine floors were soft under my feet, the sound of the bayside waves constant and gentle, and the light of the morning sun in the front bedroom remains my favorite filter. When the house burned in the eighties, we all wept as if a family member had died. My father oversaw its reconstruction down to the perfect placement of the toilet. In a house bursting with actors, musicians and other sorts of wonderfully loud and dramatic guests, it was the only place one could be alone to lean on the windowsill looking out at Provincetown, down at the rock that emerged at low tide, and the cute boy from the cottage two doors over. Richard died in 1992 and he took the magic of that house with him. We tried, we really did. We agreed to think of it as a new place, a future place, but our last gasp visit ended in an explosive family fight that served as final punctuation on that chapter of our lives. Cape Cod has changed since the seventies and eighties for everyone, of course. It’s fancier, more curated. Less wild and dangerous, more pruned and planned. Everyone knows where the hidden freshwater pond is, and they are all there, all the time. I mourn the loss of what Cape Cod was to me, but Catherine Newman brought it back for me while I was immersed in her words, and for that, I am grateful. Her novel bears little resemblance to my lived experiences, and yet it evoked moments and images that resonated deep in my body. That’s what great books do for us. They help us feel things we thought we’d lost. They describe the things we lived and how they felt. Read Sandwich. It will likely be something completely different for you than it was for me, but it will be something beautiful, nevertheless. And with that, here’s our episode with Catherine Newman about genre-hopping and writing all the things. “We’ll be tending our wounds. And we’ll be as young and as whole as we’re ever going to be.” - Catherine Newman, Sandwich #AmReading KJ: Henna Artist by Alka Joshi Recipes for a Beautiful Life by Rebecca Barry Jess: Sure Shot by Sarina Bowen Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver Missing You by Harlan Coben Catherine: Know My Name by Chanel Miller Sea Wife by Amity Gaige The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia Original shownotes: Why stick to any one genre? Our guest this week is Catherine Newman: memoirist, middle grade novelist, etiquette columnist and now the author of How to Be a Person: 65 Highly Useful, Super-Important Things to Learn Before You’re Grown-Up. While she’s at it, she writes a cooking blog, co-authored a book on crafts for kids and edits ChopChop, a kids cooking magazine. And she pens frequent funny essays for everything from O to the New York Times to the Cup of Jo website. In other words, she’s putting a pastiche of writing together and making it work with an insouciant disregard for any and all advice about self-branding or owning an niche or sticking to one topic or identity. In fact, I’d argue that “insouciant disregard” might just BE her brand. This episode also includes the immortal words “I’ve never had to kill anything during the podcast before,” uttered by Jess—so that’s a reason to listen right there. But there are plenty of others—this is a real nitty gritty episode on building a career and getting things done. Are you a “sticker”? Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that). We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).

It’s SO SO EASY for creatives to get caught up in chasing after praise and approval to boost their own mood and productivity. How can we spend less energy "borrowing self" from other people's reactions, and more energy pursuing what's important to us? KJ asks Kathleen Smith, author of True to You: A Therapist's Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself, to help us find our true writer-selves at all the moments when all the other opinions and demands and pseudo-beliefs beckon. The goal? Hanging up a mental sign that says “currently closed to imaginary commentary.” Kathleen Smith PhD, LPC is an author, licensed therapist, and expert on relationship systems with degrees from Harvard University and The George Washington University. She is the author of Everything Isn’t Terrible: Conquer Your Insecurities, Interrupt Your Anxiety, and Finally Calm Down, a funny, practical guide that breaks down psychotherapy concepts into accessible stories of change and True to You: A Therapist’s Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Starting Being Yourself. She also writes a weekly therapy newsletter, The Anxious Overachiever, —and clearly we all need THAT. #AmReading Kathleen: Wild Rituals, Caitlin O'Connell KJ: The Creative Pragmatist, Amy Smilovic (largely unobtainable, so check out her Substack here.) Find Kathleen via her website, Facebook, or Instagram Are you a “sticker”? Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that). We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below). Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.) I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now. To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

We only meant to dissect the success of the writer from this NYT piece briefly, but it turned out we had a lot to say. No, we can’t all imitate her (nor do we want to) but there are things to be learned here. And things to be learned by checking in on your goals at mid-year! How’s it going out there? LINKS New York Times: How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller The Atlantic: The 24-Year-Old Who Outsold Oprah This Week The Nothing Sells Books but Books Still Sell essay and episode #401 Not linking to the workbook we discussed bc I have my doubts… Not linking to the TT stuff either so sue me. Start Where You Are, Meera Lee Patel oh OKAY I’ll link to the workbook: The Shadow Journal, Keila Shaheen Rachael Herron’s Ink in Your Veins Podcast Ep. 183 with Jennie Nash Sarina’s latest book, The Five Year Lie Jess on Instagram and TikTok killing it Funeral in my Brain, Lisa Levy (coming soon!) 2024 Words KJ: Unapologetic Sarina: Abundance Jess: Recreate/Recreate Jennie: I… do not remember. (It was Zone of Genius) #AmReading Jess: Ali Hazelwood’s Not In Love, Funny Story by Emily Henry KJ: I Hope This Finds You Well, Natalie Sue Sarina: The Paradise Problem, Christina Lauren Jennie: They’re Going to Love You, Meg Howrey An #AmWriting Success Story, Episode 404 Are you a “sticker”? Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that). We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below). Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.) I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now. To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

The Blueprint is a process of inquiry that ideally happens before you start to write a book, but is also incredibly effective before you start to revise a manuscript or if you happen to be stuck writing chapter three, or thirteen, or thirty-three over and over again. Jennie created the Blueprint and KJ is both a fan and a book coach who is certified to teach it. In this short episode, we chat about why the Blueprint is so great and why it would be great for you to do it with us this summer! Do The Blueprint With Us This Summer! Starting July 2, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode. Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice. We’ve also invited four Author Accelerator coaches to host weekly AMAs (ask me anything) and write-alongs so you can ask questions, block off time to write, and meet other #amwriting listeners who are working on their projects, too. You can meet Amy Bernstein, Candace Coakley, Sara Gentry, and Stuart Wakefield in this post. If you finish your Blueprint over the summer, you will be eligible to win a review from either me or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.) To play along, you must be a paid subscriber. Once you pay, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, that’s fine — just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu). I want to join the Summer Blueprint Sprint! Subscribe now I want to invite all my writer friends to join me! Share

The #AmWriting team is so excited to present this interview with Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead – because it’s an #AmWriting success story! Barb was the random winner of The Summer Blueprint Challenge we ran in the summer of 2022. She won a Blueprint review with Jennie Nash – and the book proposal that came out of that work recently landed Barb a book deal. (Want a chance at something like that for yourself? Keep reading—we’re hosting a new Blueprint Sprint!)Her book, WILDER WEATHER: What Laura Ingalls Wilder Can Teach Us About Watching the Weather, Understanding Our Climate, and Protecting What We Cherish, will be published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press in 2025 — a perfect match of topic and publisher, as you will hear in this episode. We are offering this challenge again this summer — and this same prize. Anyone who finishes the Blueprint this summer is eligible to enter the drawing to win a Blueprint review. You can read all about the Blueprint challenge HERE — and you can join us at anytime this summer. We’d love to have you for the podcasts (there are ten in the series), the AMAs, and the write-alongs! Any paid subscriber is welcome.To learn more about Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead’s work, check out her Substack here: Wilder WeatherWeather, climate, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Paying attention to the past to understand the present and future. Everybody likes to talk about the weather!By Barb Mayes BousteadYou can also visit her author website and find her on Instagram at @windbarbYou can download a draft of her book proposal HERE.The Laura Ingalls Wilder conference she mentions in the show is LaurapaloozaThe Blueprint Barb did is from Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big IdeaAre you a “sticker”?Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things: Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green). Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions. Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).

Hello #AmWriters, Jess here. When Rosalie Haizlett emailed to introduce me to her work, I was intrigued. At the time, I was working on the marketing section of a book proposal, trying to thick- and thin-slice the book’s potential audience and explain why my fanbase as well as new readers might purchase this particular book I was describing. So when Rosalie emailed to tell me about her forthcoming book, Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains: An Artist’s Journey my head exploded. How do you convince a publisher to let you write about such tiny worlds, no matter how beautiful your art and eloquent your writing? Rosalie generously answered my questions in the spirit they were asked: with a genuine love for small presses, books about very specific subjects, and wonder for her process and her end product. As a bonus, I found out about some of the most incredible fellowship opportunities for writers and illustrators, ones I’m tempted to apply for myself! I hope you enjoy this episode as much I did. Rosalie’s websiteRosalie’s #AmReading suggestions: Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall and Sophie’s website because it’s gorgeousRare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies and Bees by Sarah KaizarJess’ #AmReading suggestion:The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen, duh.

Let me start by answering the question posed in the title: very bad. Very very bad. Terrible, even. Plotless meandering senseless drivel involving two-dimensional characters continually lifting cups of coffee to their lips and then never putting them down and suddenly, without warning, pumping gas instead. Although, to be honest, that last is never my personal problem. My (incoherent, emotion-less, inconsistent) characters tend to meticulously move around a reasonably clear, if poorly described, landscape. They speak in full, grammatically correct sentences. They even banter and they’re often quite entertaining as they go about doing completely the wrong things for the wrong reasons. And this was my problem. I heard the phrase “shitty first draft” (as you no doubt have) many times, and I thought, well, but it’s not. It’s not unreadable, or incomprehensible. If you picked it up and read just one paragraph you’d mistake it for a real book. Pull any single paragraph out of any draft I’ve ever written and you’d go, yeah, okay. That’s a book by a writer! Not a great writer or anything. My point is that the writing is always fine. Good, even. Sometimes better than good. So when the drafts themselves turn out to be pretty shitty, I tend to be way more crushed than I should be—because “shitty” doesn’t mean what I thought it did. It’s taken me far longer than it probably should have to figure that out. Maybe everyone else is way ahead of me here. But the thing that makes a shitty first draft “shitty” isn’t that the writing is bad. It’s that it’s a terrible book. When I first started writing fiction, I had only my own early drafts to compare things to. They weren’t (aren’t) good—they lacked structure, were too complicated, explained some things too much and other things not at all. There’s no interiority, emotion or description. I write around the plot, or include too much plot, or try to attach a plot that’s not thematically integrated with the story. The bones are soft floppy poorly formed and malleable—but if I, say, burn down a barn, the scene itself will be exciting and consistent. That often fooled (fools) me into thinking my draft is further along than it is. And then I thought it was just me—other people probably wrote pretty good book drafts that then needed revision in different ways. Other people started with good bones and worked out from there. Only I, special stupid snowflake that I was, kept writing all the skin and clothing and hair and sometimes organs to go on wrong or non-existent skeletons. I’ve since read a lot of other first drafts and I’ve realized: I was totally wrong. This is how lots of people do it. This IS what “shitty first draft” means. (Or it can be, it probably means lots of other things too). Most of us (honestly, even if we blueprint and outline and all the things) are going to end up with someone telling us that the book has no middle, that we need to cut the first 2/3, that our protagonist isn’t unlikeable per se, but rather that there is nothing on the page to like or dislike. Someone will say, he has no agency. She’s too passive. There’s nothing at stake in the first third of the book, why on earth would she take this job/go to this party/answer that phone call, why this, why him, why now. And they will be right (although they might not be right about how to fix it). Whether it’s a freelance editor, a good beta reader or the hosts of TSNOTYAW who tells you that your draft, be it first or second or fifth, is still firmly mired in “shitty” territory, the most common reaction is something along the lines of: This is too bad. It’s too awful, if I’ve come this far and I still don’t have this or that fundamental thing in place—if there is somehow no climax or no reason to relate to the character or no clear arc or evolution, if somehow this is 80K words but it is still not a book… Yeah. Turns out that’s the way it works. For a LONG time. For draft after draft after draft. For the draft that gets you an agent, even maybe. Maybe for the draft that you sell. Revision—re-drafting— isn’t polishing, or even adding dialogue or emotion or removing a character or changing the POV from third close to first present and back again. Until the very last versions, it isn’t just working with the words on the page. It’s working with the ideas and the concepts and the scenes and the moments. The characters and the themes and the arcs. This is what we mean when we say good writing comes last (Episode 354) and when we try to distinguish between editing and revising. They’re all shitty drafts. Until—and this only happens if you just keep going in there and tearing out the liver you stuck in where the heart should be or whatever—it’s finally a book. I don’t know about you but I hate this every single time. Some people do it faster than others but every writer whose early drafts I’ve ever read is going through some version of the same thing. It starts with something mind-bogglingly terrible—when considered a

It’s EPISODE 401! That’s a lot of episodes. We’re proud. We’re also not done—and a couple weeks ago, a fellow writer decreed, in an email post that went rather viral, that No One Buys Books. We disagree. Instead, we offer the following less bleak but not entirely rosy corollary: Nothing Sells Books. But Books Still Sell. Coming at you in this episode are four somewhat cynical authors, one who spends her time now working with writers rather than writing herself. We’ve all had books hit various lists… and we’ve all had books that have not, have neither hit any lists or reached target numbers or earned out or anything of the sort. And we have thoughts. Listen for them… but meanwhile, here I am, KJ, with my very own soapbox bc I said “I’ll write the shownotes” and the others, spotting an opportunity to let someone else do a thing, semi-wisely agreed because now I get to tell you what I think.I mostly think that we authors have bought into a story in which we have more control over our sales than we do. We believe—or want to—that we can TikTok hustle up readers, tweet our way to success, muster our many Facebook friends to buy three copies each (it’s not that much!), put some links in our Substacks and call on our Notes, Threads and Insta buds to click those links. And traditional publishers want so badly to believe that too—because if it’s not true, then we don’t know what is. Reviews MIGHT sell books. Ads sometimes work. Even celebrity book clubs, the last magic best-seller wand, only work when there is a match-up between readers and the book—some Reese, GMA and Jenna picks sell big while others don’t, and there is absolutely no way to beg, buy, or steal your way onto them anyway. (Maybe? Story idea, yours for the taking: author blackmails way onto celeb book list, things go terribly wrong.)And I want to tell you that this is not true, because I don’t entirely want it to be true. It arguably hasn’t been true for me, and I’ve seen it not work for many if not most of other authors. To get more specific, I’ve had not one but TWO excerpts of a book in the NYT and had it not move the needle. I’ve had an essay in LitHub, ditto. I’ve been on many, many podcasts, I’ve sent emails, I’ve made TikToks and reels, and I’ve watched friends push these buttons hard and less hard to mixed results—but not NO results, and that’s an important distinction. Below, I’m offering a few success stories, all with massive caveats, the most important of which is this: I probably only see the successes.The TL;DR is this: nothing easy sells books. There is no short cut or even a long cut. For most of us, nothing we ourselves are willing to do or are capable of doing in the short term is going to move enough titles to make a significant impact on our success. The second half of our koan is also true, though. Books still sell. But most book sales, especially those that lead to wild success, come from forces beyond our control. Word of mouth, a lucky media hit, a celebrity boost. A hit TV show that comes out of the blue years after a series is published (Bridgerton), or maybe after the author has died (The Queen’s Gambit). Or they come from enough people picking up the book and sharing it with enough others in ways that cannot be planned or gamed. You can’t count on those things, although one thing remains true: lightning can’t strike a book that hasn’t been written.The most important thing to do is to write the books.Sarina notes in the podcast that nothing sells (your) books like more books (by you)—witness, for example, Taylor Jenkins Reid. Daisy Jones and the Six was not her first book by any means—but its success brought her backlist roaring into prominence. I think about TJR a LOT, because she stuck to the thing I want to stick to—writing the books, not recording video confessionals about the writing process and setting them to the music du jour. But… that’s a thing. That people like. That honestly can (maybe, kinda, and I’m not at all sure how much you control this) sell books.The depressing (to me) truth is that if you really throw your whole heart and soul into marketing your title, you might be able to get somewhere, but the thing is I am talking ALL IN. I’m talking hours of content creation one way or another. It might be hard-hitting researched work in an area that fascinates people. It might be hot takes on a world that really is your wheelhouse. It might be soul-baring, emotional videos about the process. It might be really digging into Facebook ads and Amazon algorithms, SEO and tagging. Either way it’s a lot of non-writing work to create podcasts, ads, videos and well-produced reels. It takes time, much of it spent on details like lining up the right music and analyzing results and repeating again and again and none of that is easy or fast. Let me offer some case studies. First, Breanne Randall. This one is painful for me because we had similar books coming out at a similar time (Playing the Witch Card and The Unfortunate Side