Parisian Phoenix Publishing

If you have any serious interest in writing, Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer, now its second edition will prove to be the best investment you can make in your own experience. I don’t care if you’re a hobbyist or a career writer, if you write to gain fame or to make money, if you have an interest in the writing and publishing industry, you need Jane’s book. It’s the easiest and best $26 investment you can make.

400 pages chock full of basic information on every angle of the industry. I killed two highlighters reading this book and prepping for next semester’s “Pathways to Publication for the Aspiring Author” at Northampton Community College (Wednesday afternoons on Zoom if you are interested). The professors who taught this class traditionally used Jane’s essays, and the students have always loved her and followed her advice.

This semester, I thought I’d give them a beginner’s publishing Bible and this is it. What I love about this book is that is covers everything from how to find small markets to how to pitch and publish a novel in the traditional New York publishing scene. Then it offers chapters on contracts, copyright, marketing, social media, even taxes, so you have a resource as questions pop up throughout your journey.

Even though I’ve been publishing books as a small press for five years now, I found a bunch of ideas and techniques in this book that I need to revisit, and in some cases, try for the first time. Jane’s meticulous attention to practical advice has shown me some ways that I can strengthen what I do.

To make life even cooler, the algorithm must have connected us due to my recent mentions of her book and in an act of good literary citizenship, she liked my post. I’m fan-girling hard.