You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 8: Platform makes it easier to earn a living Mention “author platform” to a group of writers, and most likely you’ll hear frustration and annoyance that platform is necessary these days to land a book deal. However, the truth is you don’t need a platform to land a book deal, not if you’re a debut novelist or children’s writer....
6 days ago • 6 min read
You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 7: Negotiation (or: Learn to Ask for More) Most writers don’t consider trying to negotiate a better deal/contract when they receive an offer from a publisher, agent, or outlet of any kind. They just accept the terms or pay in the boilerplate. This is partly a quirk of an industry where writers are supposed to be grateful their...
13 days ago • 4 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane I recently heard a fascinating interview with Marty Makary, M.D., author of Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health. Dr. Makary pointed to various health issues and problems—nut allergies, appendicitis, ovarian cancer, antibiotics, hormone therapy—where traditional medicine has gotten things wrong,...
19 days ago • 6 min read
You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 6: Tracking your expenses and earnings (start early) One of my biggest business regrets is that I did little or nothing to organize or formalize my business as a writer until the day I desperately needed formality. I was on the verge of buying a home, and as a full-time freelancer, I needed to show financial documentation that...
20 days ago • 4 min read
You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 5: Writing for “exposure” instead of money In 2013, Ta-Nehisi Coates told the story of how he became a regular columnist for The Atlantic—long before he published “The Case for Reparations” or his bestselling memoir, Between the World and Me. He wrote: In 2008, I was not some young fresh-faced college kid. I was 32. I had...
27 days ago • 5 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane Every fall The New Yorker publishes a fashion issue, one of my least favorite topics to read about. But I push myself to read the articles anyway, because if the storytelling is good (and I do trust the judgment of their editors), then anything can be fascinating. In this year’s issue, I read a profile of a French perfumer, Francis...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 4: Is earning a living from your writing a matter of luck? This year I’ve been seeing more writers than usual leaving their success up to publishers, agents, or good old-fashioned luck. I saw one author in particular claim that individual marketing efforts have little effect on sales—that only publishers can push the needle for...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive. Week 3: Who do you prefer to earn money from? It may seem a silly question, and few writers have a real choice when they start out. Still, it’s a question worth meditating on, because some writers are already very skilled at earning money in a particular way but fail miserably (again and again) when trying another way. So I say:...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane Recently I hosted a free class with Tiffany Yates Martin on the writing demons, or negative self-talk and other ways we undermine our own success. While we chatted prior to class, she observed that whatever demons I have, I rarely divulge them. I like that she didn’t assume I have no demons at all. Everyone has them. So I told her the...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read