Lindsay - December 24, 2020Our guest this week is publishing consultant and author Jane Friedman. With twenty years of experience in the publishing industry, she has expertise in digital media strategies for authors and publishers. She’s the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors that covers industry news, market analysis, author earnings, and trending topics in the field. She also blogs for writers at JaneFriedman.com and is the author of The Business of Being a Writer.
Here are some of the questions we asked Jane:
- Can you tell us about how you got into the industry and some of the jobs you’ve held?
- You’ve got an excellent reputation in the industry as being a watch person and an educator for authors, and your business books follow that same trajectory. Have you ever considered writing fiction, and if so, what genre?
- We’re recording this at the tail end of 2020. What are some changes that are going on now, whether trad or indie, that we should be paying attention to?
- We did an audiobook episode recently, and over the course of your last few newsletters you mentioned a fair bit about subscription and/or streaming services doing audiobooks (Spotify, etc)? What should we know about that stuff?
- You attend a lot of events, both in-person and virtual. Is it important for authors to go to book fairs, conventions, and other events? If so, are there any you feel would bring the most value to those on a time or money budget? On the flip side, are there any sorts of events, both in-person and virtual, that authors would be advised to skip?
- Do you have thoughts on how CoVid has changed and may continue to change the publishing industry?
- When people talk about publishing, they used to use terms like “The Big Six”, but it seems like that number has been going down. Is trad pub contracting? What sort of consequences do you foresee from that?
- For those interested in the traditional publishing world, you’ve got a course on how to land a book deal in 2021. What’s changed in recent years? Is it harder than ever to get an agent and a big publisher?
- In one of your recent Hot Sheets, you mentioned that Ingram is now advising publishers to focus on direct to consumer marketing tactics instead of business to business as was previously the case. Some of the methods you recommended were taking a look at included reviews, metadata, ads, and search engine optimization. What advice do you have for small and single-author publishers when it comes to search engine optimization and using smart metadata? How about reviews and ads?
- If someone wants to land a traditional publishing deal eventually, do you recommend self-publishing first and building a platform or going all in so you can potentially be a “debut” author?
- One of the things that has frequently been cited as one of the assets for self-publishers has been our greater flexibility in marketing and promo. In a recent newsletter you had a piece about what trad publishers are doing for marketing now. Can you talk a little about that?
- You’ve also got a course on ghost writing. Is that hard to get into? Does it make sense as something to do until you gain traction with your own novels? Where’s the best place to get started these days?
- What portion of royalties for the average publisher and author do you feel are affected by piracy (including audiobook returns), and should authors ever be worried? If so, what recommendations do you have for protecting copyright and income? And if not, what do authors who worry about it need to hear to alleviate some of the stress?
- Most people are familiar with writing articles freelance, and we’ve just discussed ghost writing. Are there other viable means for a fiction author to supplement their income within the literary world?
Make sure to check out Jane’s blog and newsletters for more on the industry. You can also pick up a copy of The Business of Being a Writer at Amazon and other bookstores.
Thank you for listening, and thank you to Joshua Pearson for producing the show.
/
RSS Feed