The latest issue of my magazine Scratch is now available! The theme is Faith. If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you can read for free.

The Scratch Interview by Cheryl Strayed by Manjula Martin

In this revealing interview, New York Times bestseller Cheryl Strayed talks about success, artistic faith, and how to bounce a rent check while you’re on the bestseller list. A snippet:

I feel strongly that we’re only hurting ourselves as writers by being so secretive about money. There’s no other job in the world where you get your master’s degree in that field and you’re like, well, you might make zero or you might make $5 million! We don’t have any standards in that way, and we probably never will. There will always be such a wide range of what writers are paid, but at least we could give each other information.

Click here to read the full interview (you won’t be sorry, but you will be asked to register as a free user).

Photo Essay: Library Road Trip by Robert Dawson

A father and son set out to photograph public libraries across America and discover beauty, decay, and endurance in the public commons.

Thumbsuckers: Intellectual Work in the Culture of Austerity by Ellen Willis

On the corporate takeover of artistic work in the 1980s—and how it changed this acclaimed critic’s career.

The Panda Ambulance by Beth Lisick

Odd jobs, power moms, and a small revenge.

If you subscribe, then you’ll also get access to the following stories:

Contracts 101: Subsidiary Rights. This is part of my continuing series on book contracts and what you need to know before signing on the dotted line.
Deconstructing the Book P&L. My in-depth breakdown of how most publishers decide what books to publish, including a downloadable spreadsheet.
From High Times to Publishing Futurist. My interview with magazine industry insider Bo Sacks.
The Scratch Roundtable: Creative Writing Professors. Esteemed authors and professors talk about writing students, creative writing degrees, and what place business has in the classroom.
Freelancer’s Journal: The Content Farmer. Andi Cumbo-Floyd reveals what a typical day is like in the life of a copywriter and social media ghostwriter.
And more! Review the entire table of contents.

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, 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.