About

Photo by Ross Van Pelt

“It takes guts to be gentle and kind.” —The Smiths

About Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World. Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Today Show, Wired, Fox News, and BBC.

Friedman’s impact on publishing education spans multiple formats and audiences.

  • Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. It received a starred review from Library Journal.
  • She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, the AALA’s People of Publishing Conference, the Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop, Frankfurt Book Fair, the ECPA Leadership Summit, and numerous MFA programs.
  • She has helped shape the next generation of publishing professionals through curriculum development at Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program and faculty positions at the University of Virginia and University of Cincinnati.
  • She has served on the board of several nonprofit organizations, including WriterHouse and The Facing Project. She is currently a board member at Short Reads.

As a trusted industry resource, Friedman has advised and served multiple organizations, including Writer’s Digest, the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the Editorial Freelancers Association. She has served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Whiting Awards, and the Creative Work Fund, bringing her expertise to the development of literary culture and arts funding.

Her long-running newsletters exemplify her commitment to helping writers navigate the publishing landscape: Electric Speed, published since 2009, reaches more than 30,000 subscribers, while The Bottom Line serves as an industry beacon for more than 6,000 publishing professionals. In collaboration with The Authors Guild, she authored The Authors Guild Guide to Self-Publishing, further cementing her role as a trusted voice in publishing.

Cover of The Business of Being a Writer 2nd edition by Jane Friedman

What I Care About

I have a special interest in how the digital age is transforming writing careers, publishing, and storytelling. Rather than taking a dark view of how the Internet era has affected writers’ livelihoods, I’m more interested in how revolutionary change can inspire new business models, and how authorship will ultimately evolve. I believe history is on the writers’ side: they’ve been sustaining their careers in ever more innovative ways since the era of Gutenberg. Furthermore, I don’t think that business and art must be at odds—I believe they can inform and push each other to flourish.

I sit at the intersection of several communities, which gives me a 360-degree view of the changes now shaping writing and publishing. People working inside the industry see me as an expert in digital and self-publishing, while independent authors see me as a traditional publishing figure. The university and MFA community see me as very commercially minded, while the business people see me as literary and academic. I would have it no other way; I prefer to serve as a bridge.

How I make my living: an ethics statement

I earn my living as an entrepreneur and freelancer; my goal is to be truly independent of any obligation to an employer, business, or organization. I am not paid by any company or organization to recommend or promote their services, either on this blog, through social media, or any other public forum. Any sponsorships or advertising relationships, when they exist, are stated upfront and transparently. If I write about a company I have consulted for, I disclose that when I write about them. My income is driven largely by my own writing and teaching, and I consider my interests to be aligned with writers’ interests.

VQR Spring 2013
UVA

The Résumé Detail

I began my career at F+W Media in Cincinnati, where I ultimately oversaw the transition of a predominantly print-driven business to one centered on digital media. I was responsible for the business strategy and financial performance of a brand that generated $10 million in revenue each year, overseeing a team of twenty, which covered editorial, advertising, online education, and e-commerce operations. During my tenure, I launched and managed the social media presence of Writer’s Digest; in my role as publisher, I also launched and artistically directed the Writer’s Digest Conference and Writer’s Digest webinar series, which still continue today.

My leadership and business results at F+W ultimately landed me a job as a tenure-track professor of e-media at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, which grants BFA degrees to students seeking full-time careers in the media. While at UC, I was recruited to work at the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia, to spearhead and manage digital publishing initiatives. I launched the first digital subscription to the journal (comprising 25% of subscriptions by the time I left), and led a major content migration and strategic relaunch for VQR Online. My audience development for the brand led to a 100% increase in website visits during issue release months.

Since 2001, I’ve spoken at hundreds of events around the world, and have been invited to speak at gatherings such as South by Southwest, BookExpo America, Digital Book World, Frankfurt Book Fair, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

As someone with more than two decades of hands-on experience in using new media and technology to grow readership and revenue, my expertise has been featured by sources such as NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, the National Press Club, The Authors Guild, Nieman Journalism Lab, Publishers Weekly, and PBS.

My work has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Writer’s Digest, AWP Notebook, Virginia Quarterly Review, Publishing Perspectives, IBPA Independent Magazine, The Huffington Post, and many other print and online venues.

My essays have been published in anthologies by the University of Chicago Press, Seal Press, Milkweed Editions, and McPherson & Co.—as well as Writer’s Digest Books, Writer’s Market, Writer’s Market UK, and Australian Writer’s Marketplace.

The More Personal Take

I was born and raised in rural Indiana; I now live in Cincinnati, Ohio. While I grew up feeling embarrassed about the place I am from, I believe it has turned into a superpower. The only reason I do my job half as well as I do is that I am a Midwesterner at heart.

I have been mistaken for the “other” Jane Friedman for more than a decade. In fact, I even receive her dentist’s emails. If you think I look quite young for my age (or if you assume I haven’t updated my headshots in 30 years), then you have me confused with her. I personally benefit from this confusion, so I hope she has as much good humor about it as I do.

While I greatly enjoy my work, I am not precious about writers, writing, books, or publishing. I offer everything at this site and elsewhere with sincerity, but not seriousness. Frankly, writers (and publishing) would do better with far less self-importance.

If you’re looking for a shortcut to understanding how I operate in the world, then just listen to a few Alan Watts lectures.

Recent Media Mentions

Awards

Publishers Weekly columns

Misc Contributions

Some of my favorite older interviews

Shh! Jane’s Embarrassing College Poetry

“This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers.” —Terry Tempest Williams

My secret newsletter.