Jane Friedman is a publishing expert who helps authors understand the business of writing. She’s the publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors and named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2019.
She’s also a professor with The Great Courses (How to Publish Your Book) and the author of The Business of Being a Writer, which received a starred review from Library Journal.
Founder of The Hot Sheet
Jane Friedman is the founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, a one-of-a-kind newsletter that keeps writers abreast of all the latest publishing industry and market news. She has written two books and a host of articles on the business of writing, editing and publishing.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications, and her blog has a circulation of more than 200,000 visits per month. She is also a frequent keynote speaker at international writing and publishing conferences, including Writer’s Digest’s annual conference, Stockholm Writers Festival, San Miguel Writers Conference, The Muse & the Marketplace, Frankfurt Book Fair, BookExpo America, LitFlow Berlin, and Digital Book World.
The Hot Sheet is a subscription service that delivers publishing news and trends directly to your inbox every other Wednesday. It is designed to enlighten and educate (no drama, no hype) and empower writers with the knowledge they need to stay on top of their game.
Besides The Hot Sheet, Jane is a popular writing teacher with The Great Courses and has written an award-winning blog for authors. She also co-authored The Authors Guild Guide to E-Publishing.
She has a passion for digital media strategy and has been involved in publishing, digital marketing and writing for over 15 years. She is a columnist for Publishers Weekly and is known for her thought-provoking talks on the future of writing and authorship.
To learn more about The Hot Sheet, visit their website or follow them on Twitter. You can also subscribe to their free e-mail newsletter, Electric Speed.
Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), and her previous titles include The Authors Guild Guide to E-Publishing, The Hot Sheet, and The Book of the Year for Self-Published Writers. She is a member of the Virginia Writers Club and the Association of Independent Publishers.
She is a frequent guest on podcasts about writing and the publishing industry. Her writing has been included in anthologies such as Every Father’s Daughter and Drinking Diaries. She is an advocate for a more creative and entrepreneurial culture, and her passion for the craft has led to her participation in events that have helped writers achieve success.
Author of The Business of Being a Writer
Jane Friedman is a publishing expert, writer, and editor. Her passion is helping writers achieve their writing dreams, and her expertise is both honest and unbiased. She has written books, spoken at conferences, and created an online school of writing and publishing.
She knows how difficult it can be to make a living as a writer, especially for those who do not have an academic degree. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, helps authors understand the various pathways available to them, and how to best manage their career as an author.
One of the biggest challenges that authors face is securing media attention. This is becoming more difficult with the decline of print outlets and increasing competition for readers’ attention.
This is one reason that Friedman stresses the importance of having a blog or website to promote your work. She also encourages writers to subscribe to Publishers Weekly newsletters to stay up-to-date with industry news and trends.
She believes that learning about the publishing industry can help you decide where your book fits in the market and how to attract an agent or editor. She explains how to identify your niche, and she examines the basic materials you need to acquire an agent, including a query letter and synopsis.
The next section of her book covers marketing and building an audience for your work. She explains how to create an effective marketing plan, what marketing strategies are appropriate for your genre, and how to develop your brand.
Her advice is encouraging without being sugarcoated, and she lays out an approach that allows writers to build success over time, rather than overnight. Her encouragement to writers to take the long view is an excellent way to keep them motivated and on track with their goals.
Her book is a must-read for writers, and it will be a valuable reference for anyone seeking to improve their business skills in the writing world. It is a thorough and eminently readable guide that should be on every author’s desk.
Co-Founder of Open Road Integrated Media
Previously the president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Jane Friedman left her post in 2009 to co-found Open Road Integrated Media. The new eBook outfit is a multimedia-focused e-book publisher that will focus on digital republishing of backlist titles by big-name authors, including William Styron, Iris Murdoch and Pat Conroy, as well as publishing new works.
Open Road offers authors and publishers a revenue-sharing model for converting print books to electronic format, with the company recouping the original $400 digitization fee through each e-book sale. It then splits the revenue 50/50 with authors and provides them with online marketing services. It also makes short documentary films about its authors.
In a New York Times article about her new venture, Friedman said she hoped to find enough authors willing to convert their print editions to e-books that the company would be able to work on 750 to 1,000 titles in its first year. She procured $3 million in start-up financing from venture capitalist James A. Kohlberg and hopes to raise more later in the year.
When Friedman and Sharp formed Open Road, they were looking for a way to revive the classics of American fiction that have been languishing in paperback for decades. They figured that if they could get smart marketing behind the electronic versions, they might be able to bring them back to life.
The result is a catalog of thousands of titles from hundreds of authors. It has sold over 12 million downloads and is expanding into translations. The company has 87 publisher partners, among them Grove Atlantic and Kensington Books.
While the frontlist has not been performing as briskly for many publishers as it once did, Open Road's core 'Ignition' program is proving its worth by helping publishers drive backlist sales with aggressive marketing strategies. Today, the company is announcing a new use of its core 'Ignition' marketing strategy – 'Activation' – that allows publishers to mix and match various D2C components in their marketing strategies.
Open Road focuses on a wide range of authors and has established an enviable backlist of digitally produced books that includes titles by Pearl Buck, Mary McCarthy, Iris Murdoch and Pat Conroy. Its digital team is staffed by young employees, most of whom are ambitious "worker bees" as Friedman calls them, who work side-by-side in an open workspace to create and market their backlist titles.
Former President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide
During her tenure at HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Jane Friedman helped the publishing company advance its business into the digital world and take it into China and India. She was also a tireless advocate for authors like Michael Crichton, Jeffrey Archer and Paulo Coelho.
Her career at HarperCollins lasted more than a decade, and she was one of the most successful book-publishing executives in history. She led the company to record revenues and countless publishing honors.
She presided over the publication of some of the greatest works of modern literature, such as Barbara Kingsolver’s memoirs and Michael Crichton’s thrillers, and she launched the publisher’s successful audio-book business. But her biggest accomplishment was turning HarperCollins into a global powerhouse.
In addition to her success at HarperCollins, Jane served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of News Corp.’s Writers Digest magazine from 2001 to 2010. She has also worked in the digital media industry and is the founder of The Hot Sheet, a paid newsletter for authors.
Before her time at Writers Digest, she taught creative writing at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. She has an MFA in English and a BFA in art, and her work is part of the collections at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art.
Her artwork is a blend of oil and encaustic, which she often incorporates in three-dimensional forms. She has exhibited her work at the Stonington Gallery and International Gallery of Contemporary Art, as well as in solo exhibitions throughout Alaska.
She is currently a professor of e-media at the University of Virginia, where she lectures on the role of technology in the publishing industry. She is also a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a regular contributor to The Great Courses.
The news of her resignation was announced late Wednesday, and she has been replaced by Brian Murray. He is a soft-spoken, straight-forward executive who is widely liked inside the company.
He will oversee the global growth initiatives of HarperCollins, including the development of digital strategy and investment, as well as its global operations. He has also been charged with establishing the company’s first office in Beijing.