I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been working with The Authors Guild on the creation and release of their new resource guide on self- and e-publishing, available for free to active members. Even non-members can get a sample chapter for free.
The guide is roughly 40,000 words and covers the following areas:
- Evaluating what publishing help you need
- Understanding the service landscape and most commonly used services
- Finding the right assistance (agents, freelancers, hybrid companies)
- Setting up a small press and other administration
- Producing and selling print and ebook editions
- Learning the ins and outs of ebook files and metadata
- Marketing and promoting your work—in traditional ways as well as digital-first methods
Learn more at The Authors Guild site.
In addition, throughout the summer, I’m teaching a series of online classes with the Authors Guild on the following topics—all free to members. (If you’re not a member, registration is $49 per class.)
- Best practices for author websites and blogs
- Email marketing 101 for writers
- Social media for authors: how to make it worth your time
- Self-publishing 101
- The basics of marketing and promoting your work online
You may be wondering: how does one qualify to be a member of The Authors Guild? Fortunately, in recent years, the guild has rolled out additional membership categories so that all types of writers are welcome to join. These include:
- emerging writer memberships ($100/year), for those who are unpublished
- student writer memberships ($35/year), for college students
Professional memberships ($125/year) are available to self-published authors and freelance writers who have earned at least $500 in the last 18 months from writing. Learn more.
The Authors Guild has recently amped up all of its author education resources, and is extending its writers’ resource library with an excellent range of business information. I may be biased given my partnership with the Guild, but now is a great time to join!
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.
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Hi, Jane,
it’s not so easy to find good email newsletters. At least, I don’t find it easy.
Newsletters can be too long and/or come in too often, or they are really boring, or they are of good quality but don’t meet my needs, or the writer is so self- or sales-focused that I’m not only disappointed but even start feeling ashamed for him/her.
It happens again and again that I regret my subscription-decision and hectically ‘run’ to the bottom of the page to find the unsubscribe-button.
I definitely don’t have to find the unsubscribe-button for your newsletter. 🙂
I am happy that I found your newsletter and subscribed to it and I always enjoy reading it. Even if a letter is not directly relevant to me or my work, it’s usually interesting in some way and often brings up a new point of view or an idea I never had thought of – Your newsletters very much support my learning!
HOWEVER, I have one LITTLE REQUEST:
Would it be possible to increase the size of the font a bit? I do a lot of my reading on my mobile phone (on the bus, or waiting somewhere for something/-one, etc.) and that would be much easier if your newsletters’ font size was a bit larger.
Thank you.
Best regards from Margot
Hi Margot – Could you let met know which newsletter you receive?
I knew there was writers/author guilds and wanted to join years ago and didn’t meet the requirements. I’ve written a business plan and one of the expenses concerned insurance. I had trouble finding more info and have quit writing online until I could get it. Not that I’ve been lazy bout writing. Thanks for this info. I’ve also used other info and will purchase your book which contains the info I’ve been searching for since 2003. Now it’s full steam ahead with my plans. Thanks.