A note from Jane
For years I’ve hung onto the following quote from a Paul Graham essay:
“If you do anything well enough, you’ll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mind—though almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself.” Indeed, I hope all writers today know that novels were once considered terrible, deemed a “mess of trash” by Thomas Jefferson.
Recently I read a profile of architect Norman Foster by Ian Parker, where I found the forget-about-prestige principle illustrated again. Foster’s career, according to his biographer, “dissolved the barrier between the kind of architecture that architecture magazines look at and all the rest.”
Not only that, but Foster’s embrace of this less prestigious work helped his firm flourish: “The company prospered, in part, by accepting commissions for spec office space—for buildings that would house unidentified future occupants, in deals put together by real-estate developers. … Forty years ago, such work was widely judged to be beneath the dignity of the élite firms that design opera houses and win prizes.”
As Graham says, prestige is the opinion of other people. If you hold other people’s opinions too dear, you may never do the work that you love.
Also: I recommend reading this entirely different take on the Norman Foster profile, and its implication for writers, by literary agent David Moldawer.
Jane
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Especially for readers of Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks (but also everyone)
Burkeman’s book title, Four Thousand Weeks, refers to the number of weeks in an average human lifespan if you reach 80. If you’ve read his book, then you might be intrigued by this tool, Life in Weeks, that lets you visualize your life in week-long spans. I discovered this through Recomendo, where Claudia Dawson noted, “I feel a mix of emotions that is both sobering and inspirational for the second half of my life.” Highly recommend.
Reader recommends: Fourthwall for merch
Reader Lori Straus writes, “I’m trying out Fourthwall. It’s still fairly bare bones, but their design and support teams are responsive. They sell on-demand swag, so you can create quotes on t-shirts and such. They look after all taxes (so far as I know), and they earn from commissions. Anything you physically ship yourself is free, but they charge (fairly low) commissions on credit card transactions, any swag your readers order from them, and your memberships. (They also have a Patreon-esque membership structure.) I heard about them through BookFunnel.”
Easily change your iPhone icons & descriptions
If you are sometimes frustrated by the design and language choices of app makers when designing/naming their apps, you can take back a small amount of control. The following instructions are for iPhone users:
- Go to your Shortcuts app.
- Tap the plus sign to create a new shortcut.
- Select the action Open App.
- Tap on App and choose the app that you want to rename or redesign the icon for.
- Tap on Open App at the top, then rename as desired and/or choose a different icon. Done!
The old icon/design will still be on your phone, but you can hide or bury it. Move the newly created icon wherever you wish.
Want screenshots of this process? See The Verge.
Pre-order a signed copy of The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition
I’m delighted to announce that Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati has partnered with me to sell signed copies of my book if you pre-order by April 11. Order here. Signed copies will be shipped to you in the mail after April 18.
Alternatively, you can attend my book launch event on April 8 at the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati. I’ll sign your copy in person! Register here (free).
Managing the Present in Memoir with Lisa Cooper Ellison / April 16, 1–2:30 p.m. EDT
Navigating time in a memoir is one of the most complex yet crucial aspects of storytelling. Knowing when to slow down, leap ahead, or expand a moment can make the difference between a memoir that captivates readers and one that loses its momentum. But writers don’t always know when—or how—to magnify specific moments or skip ahead, especially when everything feels essential.
In this 90-minute online class, you’ll learn the nuances of story time management.
Your turn: book club finds
In the last issue, I asked you to tell me about a book you’d have never read on your own if it hadn’t been a book club selection. Here’s a selection of what you said.
- In the first book club I belonged to, we read Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Fay Greene. It was the first time I read nonfiction for entertainment and reading that book set the course for my career as an editor, ghostwriter, and book coach for nonfiction authors. —Barbara Boyd
- I would never have read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky if it hadn’t been for my book club—I would have gotten turned off by the spiders. But it’s fantastic! It pits a civilization of giant spiders against the last remnants of humanity … and you’re rooting for the spiders. Absolutely incredible world building. —Julie Gorlick
- Book I never would've read on my own: The Overstory by Richard Powers. (But I LOVED Playground and have recommended it to my book group!) —Carol Newman Cronin
- Dream State by Eric Puchner. An Oprah selection. An excellent read. I didn’t want it to end. —Valerie Harms
- The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr. Utterly delightful! —Annie White
- Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek M.D. and T.J. Mitchell. As much as I love police procedurals, I probably wouldn't have known about this book. Luckily, it was featured in our local library’s book club a few years back. Yes, the subject matter is disturbing, but if Ducky on NCIS is your hero, this book is for you. This is the story of a forensic pathologist who starts her training in New York City two weeks before the September 11th terrorist attacks. —Alisa Board
- If it hadn’t been for a book club, I would never have read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I loathed it. But it made for an interesting discussion. —Alex Hallatt
- When one of my book clubs proposed exactly the sort of thing I figured I didn’t need to be reading, I considered quitting the club to avoid it. So glad I stuck it out, so glad I read: Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad. —Susan Joslyn
- The first one that comes to mind is Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. It’s such an inventive piece of literature and was recently adapted into an excellent miniseries and I’m so glad I got to enjoy both! —Alison Ver Halen
- The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. Laura is an honorably discharged nurse in WWI when the Halifax Explosion destroys the life she was trying to settle back into. After dreaming that her brother, a soldier on the front lines is still alive, she makes her way back across the ocean to find him. Magical realism meets historical fiction … [It] isn’t my genre, but I am so glad I was introduced to this book. —Jess Feder
Next question: What’s your favorite TV or film adaptation of a book? 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
- My book launch event: Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, April 8, 2025
- How to Pitch Your Book with Jane Friedman (online), April 15, 2025
- Traditional Publishing 101 (Kansas City, MO), April 26, 2025
- ECPA Leadership Summit (Nashville), April 29–30, 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
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—Marshall McLuhan
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