As part of the 2012 Missouri Writers Guild conference faculty, I did a Q&A for their conference blog that discusses many topics, including:
- How I got started with social media
- The difference between marketing objectives, strategies, tactics, and tools
- How perfect your manuscript must be before submitting to an agent or editor
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, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. 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. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
Is this the post to comment on? I hope it is. And thanks Jane for shining your light on social media and tools for writers.
Sorry, Deborah. If you have to comment on the interview itself over at the MWG conference blog. See you over there!
Thanks. I think I already did that. Will check now.
The thing I appreciate about your approach is applicable to all writers using social media. Look at the social media landscape and think about what’s not being said, then talk about that. That’s the definition of a thought leader and why you have the following you do. My own Twitter stream is filled with fun, wordplayers who delight me every day; to me, it’s akin to a curation task to find good people (around the world who think and challenge me to think harder. The platform building is important, but not the greatest reward of social media.
Confession re drinking: on occasion I’ve been know to have a glass of wine and tweet. Now I have an excuse; it makes me loose and lively per Jane Friedman.
LOL! Yes, please use my reasoning as excuse any time. 😉
[…] How Perfect Does Your Manuscript Have to Be? (janefriedman.com) […]
How perfect does your manuscript have to be?
I would say that it has to be as “perfect” as you can make it before you submit it to an agent or editor. Since none of us is perfect, take your best shot but check and re-check your manuscript first!