A note from Jane
One dream I often hear expressed by writers is that they’d love to open a bookshop. It sounds lovely, doesn’t it, to spend all day surrounded by books and talking about books?
But do you like dealing with inventory management? Who will you order from and how often? How will you decide which books to stock? What should your stock levels be for bestsellers versus everything else? What if you don’t like reading what people in your neighborhood like buying? What point-of-sale software will you use? What will your returns policy be? What kind of people will you hire? How will you compete against Amazon?
This line of questioning is known as the Coffee Beans procedure, something I recently learned from Adam Mastroianni. It calls for unpacking all of the day-to-day work involved in an occupation or endeavor, rather than relying on an idealized vision.
As Mastroianni notes, “When you fully unpack any job, you’ll discover something astounding: only a crazy person should do it.”
By “crazy” he means “you are far outside the norm in at least one way.” And yes, he eventually mentions novelists. 🤓
Jane
ISSUE SPONSOR
Let Ingram iD Help Optimize Your Marketing
Ingram iD is making it easier than ever to market your titles with our NEW AI functionality. Generate impactful book promotions for Facebook, Google, and Instagram in minutes. No more struggling with copywriting or image creation—our AI will handle it all for you. Learn more at Ingram iD.
Sponsorships support Electric Speed. Learn more.
|
Jane’s Electric Speed List
I am not paid to mention any of these resources; there are no affiliate links.
For people who like to write via dictation
Earlier this year, I recommended MacWhisper as the most accurate speech-to-text software I’ve yet used for transcribing audio files. It also has dictation mode (still in beta) for writers who like to dictate.
In her newsletter AI Sidequest, Mignon Fogarty recently recommended a similar tool, Wispr Flow, that she finds better than any dictation software she’s used. I find Wispr Flow far more user friendly than MacWhisper and also better suited to dictation. The drawback: you’ll be on a monthly paid plan, whereas MacWhisper carries a one-time fee (and has a free version).
RIP Andrea Gibson, American poet and activist
I’ve been holding onto one of her poems for a while now, to share or discuss in some issue of Electric Speed. I guess that time is now. She died on July 14.
“In any moment on any given day I can measure my wellness by this question: Is my attention on loving or is my attention on who isn’t loving me?” —Andrea Gibson
Reader recommendation: Clipchamp for reading your work aloud [and more]
Reader Peter Werrenrath writes, “Like millions of your other followers, I’m stumbling through my first novel. A common piece of advice is to read your manuscript out loud. Sounds great (actually, it doesn’t), but one of the drawbacks is it’s time-consuming, especially with a 60,000+ word tome. I found a tool I think might be useful to other authors with this issue. Microsoft recently came out with an app called Clipchamp. It’s designed to be an easy video creation tool [but] one of the things you can do with Clipchamp is copy and paste text into it, and it generates speech. I have tried it out with several chapters from my murder-mystery-thriller, and am amazed at what I discover. Something doesn’t sound right, a better word or phrase pops into my head, a passage goes on too long. I find it extremely helpful, and it has energized me to keep writing. You can’t put your whole manuscript in it (wouldn’t want to anyway), the limit is 7,650 words, but you can do it in chunks. I’m sure there are other similar tools out there, but I find Clipchamp easy to use and it’s free.”
Free publishing class with me at the Cincinnati Public Library on Saturday, July 26
It’s rare that I offer a comprehensive publishing class like this in person, for free, to the public. It’s geared for writers who haven’t yet considered how to publish or want to better understand the options available to them (traditional, self, hybrid, and more). I’m grateful to the Cincinnati Public Library for hosting me. If turnout is strong, more offerings may follow. Learn more and register.
How to Self-Publish Your Book: Primer for First Timers with Jane Friedman / August 13, 1–2:30 p.m. EDT
Self-publishing doesn’t have to be expensive to be high quality. It’s now possible for any author, at low- or no-cost, to publish and distribute their work—to every important online retailer and library—at the click of a button. But you have to know how to sift through the increasing number of services and distributors (and hybrid options) and identify which ones are essential for your project.
Jane will cover everything you need to know about the self-publishing landscape, in plain English. You’ll come away with a clear picture of how the major retailers, distributors and service companies work, and learn the best practices of professional, self-publishing authors.
Your turn: summer reads ⛱️
In the last issue, I asked if there’s a book you’ve been saving for the beach or to listen to on a roadtrip. Here’s a selection of what you said.
- Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. She is headlining the Writers at Woody Point festival in my home province of Newfoundland in August, so I’ve been saving this one to be fresh in my mind for the conference. —Brian Rendell
- I’m re-reading Agatha Christie classics like Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, and The ABC Murders for the pure pleasure of it. It’s been long enough since I last read any of them that I remember nothing that spoils the plot (and the pleasure!), and they’re the perfect light reading that’s just mentally stimulating enough with garnishes of clever and societally scathing humour. —Jane Mackay
- I just finished A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey, a book recommended by a friend and promoted as a beach read. It is an amazing book that I’d recommend to anyone who likes small town, historical-contemporary timelines, and a bit of romance too. —AK White
- My husband is not a big reader, but he’s been pushing Lonesome Dove on me for years. I finally agreed to read it if he would read a book of my choosing on our upcoming trip. I’ve already started Lonesome Dove—it’s over 850 pages long! My choice for him to read is Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River, one of my favorite books of all time. —Maureen O’Connor Saringer
- My list this summer includes Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera. —Claudine Wolk
- Roseanna M. White has a book coming out on July 15, The Collector of Burned Books, that I’ve planned my month around. I love her WW1 & WW2 fiction series. —Anne
Next question: A reader, Melanie, asks: “What inexpensive carry-on item is essential for international travel?” 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
- Today’s Key Book Publishing Paths (Cincinnati public library, free to the public), July 26, 2025
- Craft & Publishing Voyage (cruise ship!), Aug. 27–Sept. 3, 2025
- PNWA Conference (Seattle, WA), Sept. 11–14, 2025
- New Frontiers in Writing (Amarillo, TX), Sept. 26, 2025
- Red Pencil Conference (Seattle metro area), Nov. 8, 2025
“At electric speed, all forms are pushed to the limits of their potential.”
—Marshall McLuhan
109 Dorsey St., Cincinnati, OH 45202
Unsubscribe · Update your preferences