A note from Jane
What changes in publishing have surprised me? And what hasn’t surprised me?
That was one of several great questions asked at my book launch event at the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati last week.
Like most people, I vividly remember what I get wrong. So it was easy to talk about that. In the early 2010s, I believed that the number of ebooks sold in the US would ultimately match or surpass that of print. But it turns out print has incredible staying power. If you average out book sales across all traditional publishers and categories, ebook sales have remained “stuck” at 20–30 percent of all sales. In fact, even audiobook sales have surpassed ebook sales in some sectors. (To be fair, though, if you look at the self-publishing market for fiction, it’s 80–90 percent digital, dominated by Amazon sales.)
During the event, I could not wrap my head around what has not surprised me or what I’ve been right about over time. But now that I’ve had time to consider it, the answer is obvious: Email’s importance to authors and publishers, along with the power of direct-to-consumer reach. I’ve been standing on that soapbox for 15 years, and it’s never been more powerful and more sought after by everyone in the media business.
That’s why I’m so grateful to be in touch with you in this way. It gives my business great resilience as I meet the challenges ahead posed by AI, the tech industry, and the sociopolitical landscape. I hope I don’t turn out to be wrong in another 15 years’ time about that resilience.
Jane
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A streamlined to-do app: Todoist
An ungodly number of project management and note-taking tools exist, and I refrain from using them all except Notion. But Notion is not good at dynamic, focused, auto-updating to-do lists.
Recently, I went looking for the best to-do list app that my husband can use to support task management, since Notion won’t work for our needs. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to land on Todoist as one of the superior solutions. It has intuitive elegance, and I love that it doesn’t try to be anything more than a to-do app. Better yet, you can install a free extension on Thunderbird to send a task to Todoist straight from email. You can also integrate Todoist with Gmail.
I switched email hosting providers
For as long as I’ve owned and run my own website (janefriedman.com), I’ve used my website host as my email host as well. I’m not saying it’s a best practice, but it’s always worked for me. Unfortunately, as of last month, it stopped working for reasons unique to my situation. So I went looking for a dedicated email host.
While many people recommend Google and Zoho for email hosting, I decided to go with MXroute and couldn’t be happier. The transition was seamless; I did not run into a single problem with the migration. But I only recommend it if you’re tech savvy or can hire someone who is tech savvy to assist you.
Audio transcription for Mac users: MacWhisper
I stopped using Otter long ago for audio transcription and I have to wonder how they can keep their prices so high. I now use MacWhisper. One-time purchase, use it forever. Basic version is even free!
Related: If you have an ElevenLabs subscription, they now offer speech-to-text transcription. Pretty much flawless for every use case so far.
Want to send a physical newsletter?
This tip comes from reader Michelle Kitz, a fun idea: “I’ve run into a service, StampFans, that does physical newsletters for you. Another way to monetize. I’m polling my readers to see if they’d be interested because they seem to prefer physical books to ebooks so maybe a physical newsletter would be something they want.”
Build a Better, More Profitable Editing or Coaching Business with Jane Friedman / April 17, 1–2:30 p.m. EDT
Hosted by Writer’s Digest: Many writers, especially those with a decent track record of publication, supplement their income with freelance editing or coaching on the side. However, writers can easily subvert their efforts by being overly generic and expressing openness to every possible type of project. The key to success as a freelance editor is, in fact, to go narrow. Writers can develop a more successful freelance editing business by being more focused and strategic with the three Ps: positioning, packaging, and pricing.
The growth of self-publishing—and lack of formal accreditation process—has increased the number of people putting out their shingle, and it can take time to distinguish yourself from the many types of help available. This live class will help.
Your turn: TV/film adaptations
In the last issue, I asked you to tell me about your favorite TV or film adaptation of a book. Here’s a selection of what you said.
- I enjoyed the film adaptation on Netflix of All the Light We Cannot See better than the book. Mark Ruffalo was great and the little girl so precious. —Barbi McSwain
- The Conformist: brilliant film directed by Bernando Bertolucci (1970), based on the book by Alberto Moravia. About a tormented man who manipulates his life to fit in, to conform in order to avoid offending those in charge of a fascist state, only to realize at the end he has wasted his life, forcing himself to never be true to who he really is. —Colleen Patrick
- Longmire, based on Craig Johnson’s Wyoming sheriff. It has turned into one of the most watched cable shows ever on rerun. —Rick Steeby
- I have to go with The Exorcist. What might be the greatest horror novel ever written (controversial opinion, I know) was adapted into the greatest horror film ever made (that might be a less controversial opinion). —Scott Lyerly
- Brooklyn, the movie, did a perfect job of compressing, paring to the essence, Brooklyn the novel by Colm Toibin. Because I enjoyed the movie so much, I wanted to repeat the experience, so I bought the book, but it didn’t speak to me in the same way. I didn’t finish it. —Debby Mayer
- It has to be Lonesome Dove. An epic novel turned into an epic mini-series, with exceptional casting (can you picture anyone else but Robert Duvall as Gus?), great locations, and wonderful writing. —Jason Maynard
- For me, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien is the best film adaptation of a novel. I tried a few times to read The Fellowship of the Rings but I failed each time. I simply couldn’t wrap my mind around the fantasy characteristics of Hobbits, Wizards, and all the other creatures of Middle Earth. Once I saw the first movie, everything clicked and I devoured the rest of the book series. —Martha Grant
- My latest favorite TV adaptation of a book is Pachinko. I actually think the TV series is better than the book, using a non-linear timeline that works really well, and expanding certain storylines/developing characters. I binge watched both seasons while critically ill. It was perfect to take my mind off my own struggles and watch those going through far worse for the most part. —Sandra Jensen
- My favorite adaptation is Catching Fire. I think it’s a perfect translation that loses none of the spirit and sacrifices as little as possible while streamlining the story. The slight alterations that update for the medium are actually improvements, such as Snow displaying a holo-recording in ominous silence rather than saying, “I know about the kiss.” —Dana Sweeney
- Definitely The Magicians (book series by Lev Grossman). I really enjoyed the books, but the TV series expands the narrative and takes unexpected storytelling risks that admittedly sometimes fall flat, but when they succeed they created some of the most emotionally affecting episodes of TV that I’ve ever watched. —Jessica Filippi
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Next question: Do you have a translated work you recommend—a work translated into English? Hit reply to this message, or head over to Discord to share.
Do you have a question you would like Jane to ask all readers? Offer up your suggestion, and she might feature it.
Free resources featuring Jane
Upcoming online classes
Meet Jane at an event
- How to Pitch Your Book (London Writers’ Salon online), April 15, 2025
- Publishing Week at The Story Center (Mid-Continent Public Library, Kansas City, MO), April 26, 2025
- ECPA Leadership Summit (Nashville), April 29–30, 2025
- It’s About More Than Book Sales (BAIPA online), May 3, 2025
- Marketing Before and After the Book Deal (Reisterstown, MD), May 10, 2025
- AI and Publishing: The Technology Is Here to Stay. So Now What? (Reisterstown, MD), May 17, 2025
- NonfictioNOW Conference (Notre Dame, IN), June 11–13, 2025
- Midwest Writers Workshop (Muncie, IN), July 10–12, 2025
- Craft & Publishing Voyage (cruise ship!), Aug. 27–Sept. 3, 2025
- New Frontiers in Writing (Amarillo, TX), Sept. 26, 2025
“At electric speed, all forms are pushed to the limits of their potential.”
—Marshall McLuhan
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