446: Reading a Book Contract
Yes, contracts can be complicated, so here are Jess and Sarina to make it a little easier, in episode 446
48m May 02, 2025
48m
445: Novel Writing for Journalists with the NYT's Elizabeth Harris
Episode 445: When telling the truth will only get in your way, but also you have to tell A truth.
43m Apr 25, 2025
43m
444: The Business of Being a Writer
In Episode 444, Jennie Nash sits down with industry professional and author Jane Friedman
50m Apr 18, 2025
50m
443: Booklab: First Pages (a bite of sci-fi/fantasy action-adventure and Conditioned, a memoir)
In Episode 443, We want more--but maybe not the way we're meant to.
41m Apr 11, 2025
41m
442: A.I. Training and Piracy: What You Need to Know
This week's kerfuffle has big ramifications for authors. Read all about it.
27m Apr 04, 2025
27m
441: Creativity, Compromise, and Commercial Viability
Episode 441 with Michael Dante DiMartino
53m Mar 28, 2025
53m
440: How (and Why) to Submit to Literary Mags and Small Presses
Episode 440 with Dennis James Sweeney
41m Mar 21, 2025
41m
439: A Peek Inside a Hybrid Publisher
Episode 439 with Dr. Nick Courtright
45m Mar 14, 2025
45m
438: The Outer World of Publishing
Ep438: Book sales on Super Bowl Sunday, blurbing, book bans, and proposed legislation that could jail romance writers.
41m Mar 07, 2025
41m
437: How to Have a Thick Skin, with Lauren Blakely
What does it really mean for a writer to have a thick skin, and how can we get one?
30m Feb 28, 2025
30m
436: Writing Partnerships with Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson
Ep. 436: Co-writing a book is not for the faint of heart, especially when an ocean divides the partnership.
41m Feb 21, 2025
41m
435: Wrangling the Doubt Monster with Amy Bernstein
Episode 435 is for those cocooned in a set of excuses... or writing small, useful books that offer bite-sized help
37m Feb 14, 2025
37m
434: Consider the Sweep of Your Whole Writing Career
Episode 434 with Tiffany Yates Martin
41m Feb 07, 2025
41m
433: Social Media: What Happens Now?
Episode 433: What are we to do in the current social media landscape? Jess, KJ, Sarina and Jennie discuss.
46m Jan 31, 2025
46m
432: Treat your writing like a business in 2025
Sarina gives you a couple of homework assignments to start the year off right
10m Jan 24, 2025
10m
431: The Making of a Workbook
Author Ned Johnson on writing a workbook: the planning, writing, editing, and marketing of The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child
50m Jan 17, 2025
50m
430: A People Pleaser Learns to Write the Book She Wants to Write
Amy Wilson is "Happy to Help"--but that's not what makes a great book.
49m Jan 10, 2025
49m
429: Using the Blueprint for Revision
Episode 429 with Meghan P. Browne
31m Jan 03, 2025
31m
428: What's your word for 2025? We review 2024 goals and set up 2025 in Episode 428
We sit down and discuss how our year went, and what we're aiming for in 2025
51m Dec 27, 2024
51m
427: From #FamilyStory to Fiction
Episode 426 with Rosa Kwan Easton
47m Dec 20, 2024
47m
425: Booklab: First Pages-- a work of nonfiction (Hippodrome) and a novel (Mermaid Diner) are put to the test
Ep 425 is another Booklab episode. Would you turn the page?
33m Dec 13, 2024
33m
424: Ep 424: How a Blueprint Can Keep Your Book on Course
Nothing makes writing a book easier. But Allison Hammer's found a way to make it better.
26m Dec 06, 2024
26m
#Writer Gift Extravaganza
This #FlashbackFriday episode is fully of ideas for the writer in your life
42m Nov 29, 2024
42m
423: From Substack Serial to Trad Novel with...
You should already KNOW who pulled this one off.
42m Nov 22, 2024
42m
422: #AnxietyInducing. A Candid Discussion on A.I.
In Episode 422 we discuss the pervasiveness of Artificial Intelligence
43m Nov 15, 2024
43m
421: #Resilience Over the Long Haul
Episode 421 with A.S. King
56m Nov 08, 2024
56m
420: The Longest, Most Public MFA Ever
Tim Grahl wanted to learn to write fiction. How he did it will amaze you.
48m Nov 01, 2024
48m
419: Ep. 419 What's a "Comp?"
Finding the right comps for your book proposal is a slog and an art. Let Jess tell you all about it.
35m Oct 25, 2024
35m
418: "I knew you COULD revise it. I wasn't sure you WOULD."
In October 2021, KJ did a developmental for guest Erin Quinn-Kong. This month, Hate Follow is out from William Morrow & Company.
47m Oct 18, 2024
47m
417: When Your Book Becomes a TV Show
KJ spills ALL the tea about The Chicken Sisters' transition to TV
48m Oct 11, 2024
48m
416: The Art of Helping Writers Do Their Best Work
Ep 416 with special guest AJ Harper
53m Oct 04, 2024
53m
415: Lyndsay Rush's Poetry is A Bit Much
In episode 415 Mary Oliver's Drunk Cousin brings poetry to our cynical time
29m Sep 27, 2024
29m
Booklab: First Pages--Sailing out of a marriage and mysterious pie
A juicy memoir and a mysteriously titled novel are up for discussion.
44m Sep 24, 2024
44m
414: Episode 414: Your Questions, Answered
In which Jess answers questions from listeners and warns of a speaking scam
35m Sep 20, 2024
35m
413: How to Start a Novel from Scratch
Episode 413: Five things to do to prep for a season of drafting (NaNoWriMo or not)
26m Sep 13, 2024
26m
412: Booklab First Pages: Redacted Kitty-Cat and Welcome to Heaven
Ep 412. You can tell more from a first page than you'd think.
28m Sep 06, 2024
28m
411: Raising Your Voice, Claiming Your Story
Episode 411 is really about overcoming the fear to do the thing.
34m Aug 30, 2024
34m
410: Congrats, You're Publishing During the Election Cycle - Episode 410
Don't fear the fall 2024 publication date, especially if you're Dena Moes, Nurse Practitioner
30m Aug 23, 2024
30m
409: Ep 409: Tag Along on a Speaking Trip with Jess!
Jess heads to northwest Indiana to speak at a school, so she takes listeners along to learn what happens out on the road.
33m Aug 16, 2024
33m
#FlashbackFriday: Very Serious About Fun Reads with Emily Henry
If you thought Beach Read was her first rodeo, you thought wrong
36m Aug 09, 2024
36m
408: How an Inside-Outline Can Save Your Revision (and maybe your book)
Episode 408: maybe I'm finally getting this right
37m Aug 02, 2024
37m
407: From Women’s Fiction to Romance in 30 Days
Jennie sits down with writing duo Ali Brady in episode 407
45m Jul 19, 2024
45m
Flashback: Being Genre Flexible with Catherine Newman
In honor of the launch of her new novel, Sandwich, we re-up our interview with the adaptable, capable, and indomitable Catherine Newman.
56m Jul 12, 2024
56m
406: Escaping the Lure of Attention and Approval with Kathleen Smith
We're mammals. We crave this stuff. But we're also writers who need to trust ourselves. Episode 406
48m Jul 05, 2024
48m
405: Why you don't have to do it like that one writer in the NYT
Also: it's the middle of the year, do you know where your goals are? Episode 405
54m Jun 28, 2024
54m
Stop! Don't Write that Book (Yet)
KJ and Jennie introduce the 2024 Summer Blueprint Sprint.
22m Jun 26, 2024
22m
404: An #AmWriting Success Story!
Episode 404 with Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead
34m Jun 21, 2024
34m
403: Tiny Worlds: How a nature illustrator and author built a fanbase for her work.
“The writing is a by-product of the art”
41m Jun 07, 2024
41m
402: How Bad Can a Good First Draft Be?
I kept hearing "shitty first draft". It didn't mean what I thought it meant.
18m May 31, 2024
18m
401: Nothing Sells Books. But Books Still Sell.
This is great and terrible news all at once and involves many things I wish were not true.
43m May 24, 2024
43m