Episodes
-
Today, I'm so excited to talk to my friend, Rosa Kwon Easton, about her debut novel, White Mulberry.
Rosa holds a very special place in my heart and my history because she was at the first ever workshop where I taught my Blueprint framework, which is a method of inquiry for getting a book out of your head and onto the page before you start to write. At that time, Rosa thought that she was writing a true story about three generations in her family. She was calling it a memoir. And now ten years later, that story is being published as a novel. In this discussion, we talk about that long development process and the profound switch from writing a true story to writing fiction and how Rosa navigated the whole thing.Find Rosa at: rosakwoneaston.com, @rosakwoneaston on Instagram, or at one of her upcoming events.
Find out more about Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book method here.
Announcing the #AmWriting Blueprint Winter Challenge—bigger and better and more interactive than any we’ve done before.
The Blueprint method will be effective for you if:
* You have a new idea for a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book you want to pin to the page.
* You are stuck somewhere in the middle of a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book and can’t figure out how to get unstuck.
* You are planning to revise a novel, a memoir, or a nonfiction book and feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
In the challenge you’ll get 10 podcast episodes on the Blueprint steps, five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of Jennie’s Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end.
#AmWriting paid subscribers have the chance to sign up for all this NOW—and to help you out, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now!
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Do The Blueprint With Us This Winter!
Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.
Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.
We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and I’ll be coaching her through it in weekly episodes.
If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either me or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)
It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us! Plus, we have a sale on annual memberships until December 31, 2024 only—save 25% if you decide you’re in now.
Our Author Accelerator Certified Coach hosts for the Winter Blueprint challenge are:
Sabrina Estudillo Butler
As the founder of Unpolished Words, I’m a book coach and editor for ambitious BIPOC writers. I help them figure out where to start and what to do next so they can plan and write the book they can’t stop thinking about. My mission is to add more color to the bookshelves by helping Black + Brown writers get clear on their ideas and confident in their writing skills so they can share their experiences, expertise, and stories with the world.
My vision: Books by us are as widely known, accessible, and revered as the “classics.”
I am a nerdy, intuitive, creative soul with a notebook obsession that is kind of getting out of hand. (Okay, it was out of hand when I had two full boxes of journals during our last move.) I’m also a professional nap-taker, a recovering hot cheetos puffs addict, and I’ve watched Parks and Rec so many times I can listen to it like a podcast and know exactly what’s going on. And after a 7-year career as a licensed architect (it was a vibe, just not the one for me), I returned to my first love: books. I got certified in Nonfiction and Fiction Book Coaching through Author Accelerator, and I’ve been living the dream ever since.
I intentionally work with mostly BIPOC because I know there are so many of us who have s**t to say, and there aren’t a whole lot of people helping us get it said. So, I made my writers’ (and my own) expression my job. Three years later, it’s still the best job in the world. More at www.unpolishedwords.com.
Sara Gentry is a math Ph.D. turned Author Accelerator certified book coach. As a lifelong problem solver, she knows the power of finding the right solution. Now she uses her analytical brain to provide writers with strategic next steps and straightforward feedback so they can finish writing books they love. Sara works with fiction, nonfiction, and memoir writers in one-to-one coaching and novel writers in her yearlong group coaching program, Novel Resolution. She gives back to the writing community by hosting the free annual events KidLit Summer Camp and Novel Kickoff. You can connect with her through her website solutionsforwriters.com or on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter(X) with the handle writewithsara.
Stuart Wakefield
With 26 years of experience in theatre, broadcast media, and coaching, I've cultivated a deep understanding of storytelling and its powerful narrative structures. My journey began with a childhood fascination for comic books, TV, and movies, which blossomed into a lifelong dedication to the art of storytelling.
My academic and professional pursuits, including an MA in Professional Writing, underscore my commitment to mastering the craft. My own writing achievements, such as my debut novel "Body of Water" being long-listed for the Polari First Book Prize and "Behind the Seams" reaching the semifinals of the 2021 BookLife Fiction Prize Contest, reflect my understanding of what it takes to create compelling narratives. The upcoming airing of my first TV show on the UK's Channel 4 marks another milestone in my diverse storytelling career.
This eclectic background sparked my interest in coaching. Known for feedback that resonates and enlightens, I've been the go-to person for manuscript reviews throughout my education and career. As an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach, I bring a unique blend of personal experience, professional expertise, and genuine passion for storytelling. My goal is to guide aspiring writers in crafting narratives that are not only vibrant and compelling but also deeply meaningful. Of my client's published books, Daughter of the Seven Hills, by Margaret McNellis, is out now.
More at www.thebookcoach.co
Stuart’s podcast with Jennie can be found at Master Fiction Writing
Amy L. Bernstein runs Wordfirst Book Coaching Services, which supports aspiring and experienced nonfiction authors as they develop long-form projects from the raw-idea stage to polished, market-ready book proposals, and points in between. Amy’s client base includes an eclectic group of authors, including a microbiologist, a middle-school educator, and a TV journalist. She also works selectively on memoir projects that blend the personal and professional.
Amy’s affinity (and affection) for nonfiction stems from a combined three decades of experience as a print and public radio journalist as well as senior communications roles with detail-oriented nonprofit organizations and state and federal government agencies, where Amy handled everything from drafting Congressional testimony to writing speeches for top government officials.
Amy is also the author of several novels and plays, as well as a forthcoming nonfiction book, Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration, which is designed to inspire and encourage writers and all creative people struggling with self-doubt.
Amy’s new book for writers is Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration
More at wordfirstbookcoach.com or On Substack:
Candace Coakley is a book coach, developmental editor, and mindfulness mentor passionate about helping others embrace the creative process and share their wisdom through writing. With twenty-five years of writing and teaching experience, she founded Candace Coakley Editorial Solutions to help writers clarify their ideas and bring their stories to life. As an Author Accelerator-certified book coach in fiction, nonfiction, and memoir, Candace uses Blueprint for a Book to help writers get to the heart of their stories. She loves helping writers craft authentic, empowered manuscripts and achieve their writing and publishing goals. Her range of services includes all steps of the process, from idea generation to publication and beyond. Her clients have published through various traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing routes.
Her lifelong meditation practice is the secret to her sanity and a skill she loves to share with others. She is a graduate of the Mindfulness Mentor Training and has studied with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She is certified in Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). She is not afraid of helping writers explore dark places and is certified in trauma-sensitive mindfulness. She is also a Reiki practitioner and uses the power of energy healing in all areas of her life. In her spare time, she creates art in her basement art studio.
Candace taught nonprofit communications and event management at Boston University and Emerson College and holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Boston College and an M.A. in Business Organization from Emerson College. She specializes in coaching memoir, and leads workshops and retreats on integrating mindfulness into writing. A graduate of Grub Street’s Memoir Incubator, she has written a memoir about prosecuting and convicting a serial rapist through DNA evidence, and her work-in-progress concerns the power of hope in healing from trauma. She lives north of Boston with her family and rescue dog, Hope. For more info, please visit www.candacecoakley.com or subscribe to her substack newsletter for creative inspiration.
All coaches can be reached by email:
Sara Gentry – [email protected]
Candace Coakley – [email protected]
Sabrina Butler – [email protected]
Stuart Wakefield – [email protected]
Amy Bernstein – [email protected].
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Missing episodes?
-
Hey listeners: This week, everyone gets a taste of what paid supporters get more regularly—a special Booklab: First Pages episode. Each month (and sometimes more often), we’ll choose two “first pages” to review. A first page, for our purposes, is the first 350 words of your book—fiction, non-fiction or memoir. We will read the page aloud on the podcast and discuss with a single thought in mind: Would we keep reading?
First pages are incredibly important in every genre. If you can’t grab a reader on that first page, you might lose your chance of grabbing them at all. On the podcast, we’ll read the page aloud and then each cast our “vote”—would we keep going? Then—and this is the most important bit— we’ll discuss why or why not. Were we dying to know what would happen next, or turned off by an info dump? Ready to learn what you have to teach us or ready to see what’s on YouTube? Totally on board with a character or uncertain why we were there in the first place?
In this episode, we discuss our first non-fiction first page submission, and then tackle a novel with an intriguing title and a great first line: Holding a pair of tweezers in one hand and a can of Scotchgard in the other, Stella Singh sprays the top of a golden brioche bun until it shimmers like a Las Vegas showgirl.
The opportunity to have your first page reviewed is available to our Sticker and Sparkly Star Sticker supporters only. (That’s anyone with a monthly or annual subscription via Substack). Always, there’s one central question: Would we turn the page? We tell you why or why not, and help these generous, brave writers to make their first pages irresistible—and their examples will help you make your first page sing.
This episode is for everyone! But Booklabs (like the one we released earlier this week, discussing a novel with another great first line: Every expensive hotel has its own scent and a memoir of parenting an adult child with addiction) are usually for paid supporters only.
So if you haven’t—yet—decided to support the podcast we know you love, now’s the perfect time. In January, we’ll be launching a fresh new Blueprint for a Book with five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of my Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end—plus, KJ doing her own Blueprint right along with the rest of the crew. The Winter 2025 Blueprint challenge will be for paid supporters only.
Paid supporters also get Booklab episodes, the ability to submit first pages for consideration for a future episode of Booklabs and weekly AMA’s with your hosts (starting up again in January).
In honor of all that, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now!
Want to submit a first page? Paid subscribers click HERE for details.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Regular listeners will recognize the Blueprint for a Book—a method of inquiry Jennie Nash developed to lay a strong foundation for books in any genre that’s not about the craft of writing or building an author platform or any of the steps that come later in the writing life. It’s about understanding what you are doing and why you are doing it so that you can have clarity and confidence.
Writer Allison Hammer is a Blueprint stan—she’s used it for years, again and again, often more than once on any given book (KJ seconds that one). We talk about why she adores the method, how she tweaks it (and why Jennie made it so strict in the first place.
You can, like Allison, work through the Blueprint steps on your own—but with the Blueprint for a Book Winter Challenge coming up, you don’t have to!
We’re going to be sharing more details about the Blueprint Winter Challenge in the coming days, but here’s a little on what it looks like: we have 10 podcast episodes on the Blueprint steps, five Author Accelerator certified book coaches who will be answering your questions in live sessions and in our chat for 10 weeks (+ your hosts will be joining in on that, too), write-along sessions, a workbook to guide you, free digital downloads of my Blueprint book, and the chance to win a full Blueprint review from Jennie or KJ at the end.
#AmWriting paid subscribers will have the chance to sign up for all this later this month—and to help you out, we’re offering a December sale on membership. The offer will end 12/31/24—so give 2025 you a gift and sign up now!
Links from the episode:
Episode 409: From Women’s Fiction to Romance in 30 Days with Ali Brady
Find Alison at: www.alisonhammer.com, @thishammer on Instagram, or check out her cowritten works as Ali Brady on IG @alibradybooks
Find out more about Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book method here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Jess here, hosting my entire extended family for the holiday weekend and sending love to you and yours. Enjoy this #WriterGift flashback!
It’s the gifts episode! Here are the links you’re looking for:
KJ:
Redbubble ❄️ Stamp blocks ❄️ Stamp blanks and stencils ❄️ Frixion Pens ❄️ Leuchterm planner
Jess:
Sarina’s Socks ❄️ Half Broke by Ginger Gaffney (for KJ, but Jess loved it, too!) ❄️ Fillion planner cover by Little Mountain Bindery ❄️ Jess’s favorite sticky tabs ❄️ Pens by Schneider ❄️ Sarina’s stamp with the kinda-sorta True North Series three pine tree logo ❄️ The “Begin” mug Jess wants a case of.
Sarina:
Hedgehog Pencil Holder ❄️ Post-its that fit over planner months ❄️ Corkicle (it doesn’t come with the sticker, sorry…)
#AmReading
Jess: Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
KJ: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow
Sarina: The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod
Zowie! Thanks for listening. If you want to check out our last gift episodes (and guides), click the years: 2019 2018 2017.
If you’ve got other ideas we should know about, share them in the #AmWriting Facebook group.
And if you’d like to subscribe to the shownotes email or support the podcast, click the button.
To give a subscription as a gift, click THIS button!
Big news, #AmWriters: our guided Blueprint for a Book Challenge was such a hit this past summer that we're going to run it again in January! Plus, we're adding even more interactive elements so you can connect with other writers.
It’s a great way to start or refine a book idea, get some professional guidance from our Author Accelerator coaches, and stay motivated to do the hard work of thinking before you write.
Whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction or memoir - this challenge could be just the thing you need. We will be launching in early January, so stay tuned to these podcasts for all the details, check the show notes, and make sure that you are a supporter of the #AmWriting Podcast, so that when it comes to January, you'll be ready to go.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
It is of course the inimitable, the unconquerable, the inexhaustible Jo Piazza, all of whose adjectives require me to use spell check. I am a long time fan of Jo, and she’s been on the pod before—see also Episode 393, I Want to Sell Books, But I’m Also Writing What I Want to Write. She is the author of, most recently, The Sicilian Inheritance and coming soon, Everyone Is Lying to You, which started out as a serial in her weekly email/Substack, Over the Influence. She’s also the host of a great podcast, Under the Influence.
As far as I know she’s the first person to pull off this feat. She probably isn’t, but we’re going to roll with it as a working theory. This is a great convo, and you will undoubtedly leave inspired, as I was, to write your own serial. (I probably won’t but I WAS inspired.)
Join Jo’s Substack and vote on the cover HERE.
#AmReading
Jo:
The Displacements, Bruce Holsinger (author of The Gifted School)
Nightwatching, Tracy Sierra
Here One Moment, Liane Moriarty
KJ:
I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself, Glynnis MacNicol
The Wedding People, Alison Espach
Jo’s email/Substack Over the Influence
Big news, #AmWriters: our guided Blueprint for a Book Challenge was such a hit this past summer that we're going to run it again in January! Plus, we're adding even more interactive elements so you can connect with other writers.
It’s a great way to start or refine a book idea, get some professional guidance from our Author Accelerator coaches, and stay motivated to do the hard work of thinking before you write.
Whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction or memoir - this challenge could be just the thing you need. We will be launching in early January, so stay tuned to these podcasts for all the details, check the show notes, and make sure that you are a supporter of the #AmWriting Podcast, so that when it comes to January, you'll be ready to go.
#AmWriting is made possible by our “stickers” - readers who financially support the Podcast. As a thank you, Stickers get access to bonus content - like our Blueprint for a Book Challenge. To receive these posts and support the Podcast, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
The Anxiety is Real
You can’t swing a Blackwing pencil without hearing another creator worrying about generative A.I. And we get it—the ubiquity of generative A.I. tools has soared over the last two years. In this episode we aim to take a deep breath and discuss the topic from a candid but calm position: why authors are worried, why we should be worried and what to do about it (besides anxious posts on social media.)
Things to freak out about: a Two Part List
In service to our measured discussion, we lay a bit of background. Sarina tells us why The Authors Guild is suing OpenAI, and why you should join the Authors Guild.
Then we mine two different veins of anxiety:
* Column I: Billion dollar AI tools stole our intellectual property to train their models, and…
* Column II: AI might take my job.
We delve into both these concerns, discussing ongoing litigation, the potential for licensing content to AI companies, and more. We also discuss how AI tools are affecting other parts of the publishing industry (such as audio book narration) and the pervasiveness of generative AI in our everyday lives.
#AmReading
KJ: The Paradise Problem, Christina Lauren
Jess: The Widow on Dwyer Court, Lisa Kusel
Sarina: Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan
The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Today we’re talking about the need for a writer to be resilient over the long haul of a career and my guest is A.S. King
A.S. King has been called “One of the best Y.A. writers working today” by The New York Times Book Review and is one of YA fiction's most decorated. She is the only two-time winner of the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award (2020 for Dig and 2024 for The Collectors) and has won the LA Times Book Prize for Ask the Passengers. In 2022, King received the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime achievement to YA literature and 2023, she accepted the ALAN Award for "artistry, courage and outstanding contributions to YA literature."
Amy – which is her real name – has taught for years in MFA programs and is working on her PhD in creative literature
I wanted to talk to Amy because I heard from a mutual friend – Caroline Leavitt – that Amy’s publisher had made a change to her promotional team just weeks before the launch of her newest book, Pick the Lock, which one reviewer described as "a punk opera, a primal scream, and a portrait of a family buried in lies."
Many of our listeners are trying to get their foot in the door with their first book, or to get a career off the ground with their second or third and here is someone who has written 15 books, who is at the top of her game, and who still has things like this happen – which is to say things that go wrong, things that don’t go her way.
I thought a conversation about what it feels like at this stage in a career would be illuminating – and was I sure right. Let’s get to it.Find A.S. King at AS-King.com
Heads up!
Join me—KJ—for Novelmber, which is very hard to pronounce but is my word for reclaiming my writing space in November. Think NaNoWriMo, our version—daily challenges and stretch goals, formatted by you, for you.
There will be write-alongs, posts, a massive Google spreadsheet for sharing goals and updating progress, thoughts on how hard this is, and more than you want to know about why I need this regroup so badly. All writers, every genre, welcome.
This is sign-up only—I don’t plan to spam the whole #AmWriting community with my wails of writerly distress daily for an entire month—but it’s also for everyone who wants in. I hope you’ll join me—I don’t want to go this alone.
Don’t worry, signing up is simple! Here’s how:
Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, toggle “Novelmber” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green).
THAT’S IT!
Once you set that up, you’ll get all future Novelmber emails. Any audio or video will show up in those, along with write-along schedules.
You’ll also want to add yourself to the Google Sheet where we’ll all record our overall goal, day’s goals, daily progress and what we’re feeling. I’ve started it off.Join me, help me, let’s make Novelmber WORK!
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
I couldn’t resist the subtitle, kids, sorry. It’s not that shocking—but Tim’s journey was definitely only for the bold.
I’ve known Tim Grahl—or known of him—for more than a decade. I watched him help writers like Dan Pink launch their non-fiction books onto the best seller list, and devoured and followed his excellent advice about launching my own books (which you can find here at booklaunch.com). Then I watched—or rather, listened—as he pivoted into the world of fiction, enlisting editor Shaun Coyne to join him on a podcast and help him use Coyne’s Storygrid method to work on what eventually, after many revisions and a whole lot of failing in public, became Tim’s first novel, The Threshing. At the same time, he and Shaun were building Storygrid into what’s not just a business, but a huge community of writers and editors. He’s just published his second novel, The Shithead, a very different book from the first… I call it The Firm meets The Alchemist; Tim prefers Fleishman Is In Trouble meets Faust. Both work.
We talk Tim’s sideways journey into fiction, and then we talk craft—in particular, how to learn what you don’t know, the myth of the lone writer in a cabin and the importance of feedback and then we dig into a passionate discussion of theme.
You can check out The Shithead here.
Links from the pod
Booklaunch.com
Storygrid
Shaun Coyne’s book, Storygrid
The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Accidental Tourist, Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
(KJ also mentions Redhead by the Side of the Road)
The Husband’s Secret, What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Heads up! This is probably the only time you’ll see this.
Join me—KJ—for Novelmber, which is very hard to pronounce but is my word for reclaiming my writing space in November. Think NaNoWriMo, our version—daily challenges and stretch goals, formatted by you, for you.
There will be write-alongs, posts, a massive Google spreadsheet for sharing goals and updating progress, thoughts on how hard this is, and more than you want to know about why I need this regroup so badly. All writers, every genre, welcome.
This is sign-up only—I don’t plan to spam the whole #AmWriting community with my wails of writerly distress daily for an entire month—but it’s also for everyone who wants in. I hope you’ll join me—I don’t want to go this alone.
Don’t worry, signing up is simple! Here’s how:
Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, toggle “Novelmber” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green).
THAT’S IT!
Once you set that up, you’ll get all future Novelmber emails. Any audio or video will show up in those, along with write-along schedules.
You’ll also want to add yourself to the Google Sheet where we’ll all record our overall goal, day’s goals, daily progress and what we’re feeling. I’ve started it off.
Join me for the first write-alongs HERE. (That’s a link to my Zoom Room.) I’ll be sitting there:
Friday, November 1 10:30-12:30 (ALL TIMES EST)
Tuesday, November 5, 2:00-4:00
Friday, November 8, 9:00-11:00
More times coming. Join me, help me, let’s make Novelmber WORK!
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Hi all! Jess here. When I wrote my first book proposal (for The Gift of Failure), I had a foggy idea of what a “comp” was. A book just like the book you want to publish, right? Not exactly. Comps are a really important part of pitching any book - nonfiction or fiction - because it helps an editor understand your vision for the book and consequently, what the publishing house’s vision for the book could be. What does the market for this book look like? Who is on the shelf already? Why is this book similar or different?
Like I said, an art.
Come with me while I explore the parameters for comps and help you write a better “Comparable Titles” section for your next book proposal.
I use the comp section from the proposal for The Gift of Failure to discuss comps in this episode, so here’s what the formatting looks like in that document:
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
About once a season, I have a speaking experience that doesn’t go exactly the way I want it to, but I’ve learned how to keep these experiences (and the negative feedback that can result) from keeping me awake at night while fueling positive change. Well, that once-a-season occurrence happened earlier this fall, and it felt awful. I usually text Tim or KJ and Sarina with, “well, that felt off” and they reassure me that the audience probably did not notice, and sometimes - sometimes - that’s true. Whether the audience noticed or not, I did, and I need to walk off stage feeling like I nailed it, that I reached people, planted seeds for positive change, and made the best use of the audience’s (and my) time, not to mention the client’s investment of time and money.
This episode contains advice on how to prepare for events and catch potential mistakes before they happen, redirect yourself on stage when you feel things getting out of control or heading in the wrong direction, and some productive ways to cope with and respond to negative feedback.
No matter how good you are, no matter how experienced you are, you will have bad days on stage. I hope my experience with failure flattens your learning curve.
Unlike the photo at the top of this post, this picture is of me in mid-death spiral. This was almost ten years ago but I remember the event and the nausea vividly. I walked off stage feeling as if I’d squandered an incredible audience and wasted their time, but I keep this picture to remind me of how far I’ve come and why I have to keep improving.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit amwriting.substack.com
“As I said in my earlier email, you have so much to work with here. First off, your premise is gold. Easy to summarize, clear conflict, big stakes. I’m envious! When you’re ready, agents are going to sit up and take notice—which is all the more reason to have a rock solid thing to give them when they ask (and they will ask—don’t send a single query until you have a full, completed, polished manuscript ready to press “send” on, because I think you will get requests immediately).”
That’s from my October 2021 developmental edit* for guest Erin Quinn-Kong. This month, Hate Follow is out from William Morrow & Company—because Erin knocked the revision out of the park. In this episode, we dig into what it felt like to get those (tough love) notes, how she worked with them, querying and the big moments that came next. You’re going to love it—PLUS, Erin has agreed to let us share the full 6 page edit letter with supporters who purchase a copy of Hate Follow in any format and send us their receipt. (Details on how to do that below.)
As I tell Erin in the pod, I knew from what was on the page (and from her journalism experience) that she COULD do this revision. It wasn’t an easy lift, though. Not every one would have wanted this kind of edit or been willing to work with it. (Honestly, I’m sitting on one RIGHT NOW and not sure I can stomach what it needs to get it there.) But Erin did it—with amazing results. Here’s a little more from the letter:
“I have no doubt that you can do it, either. Even though this is still in draft form, I didn’t want to put it down, especially in the more polished first half. (I knew what I was getting! That’s not a criticism of the less finished section. It’s in the perfect place for this stage of the process.) I wanted to know what would happen, and that is so much of the battle won right there. There’s great conflict and drive in these pages.
And fundamentally your writing is really excellent. In the sections that are more complete, you strike a good balance between inner dialogue and action, you move the story, your chapters end in good places. There’s also a solid cause-and-effect thread pulling the reader along—although, as you’ll see, I think that drops in a few places and needs some shoring up. But those issues aren’t as big as they sound.”
This is a great episode—huge thanks to Erin for being willing to play along. Follow her (but don’t hate her!) at @erinquinnkongwrites on Instagram or subscribe to her email: The (Writing) Group Chat on Substack.
Links from the pod
The Only Game in Town, Lacie Waldon
Episode 402: How Bad Can a Good First Draft Be
*from KJ: I did a developmental edit for Erin while doing the Author Accelerator Book Coaching program, but although I’m certified, I don’t offer coaching services.
How can you read Erin’s developmental edit letter? For starters, you need to be a paid supporter—and we’re offering a super-quick October surprise special. Head to https://amwriting.substack.com/halloween2024 for 20% off your next year.
-
KJ here, team. In this episode, Jennie asks the questions, and I walk us through the whole thing from start to finish—the options, the renewals, the moment we thought we were getting the rights back and the big calls that finally convinced me this was really going to happen—and then of course what it’s like when it DOES.
Above are a few glam shots from the premiere screening, which will never not be one of the biggest nights of my career. I’m not sure how you top it. You can watch The Chicken Sisters—an 8 episode series starring Schuyler Fisk, Genevieve Angelson, Lea Thompson, and Wendie Malick on Hallmark Plus (or Amazon Prime) now. Here’s a little preview on YouTube, too.
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Hey #AmWriters, Jennie here. I'm excited to welcome editor and publishing strategist, AJ Harper to the show to talk about the art of helping writers do their best work.
AJ helps nonfiction authors write foundational books that enable them to build readership, grow their brand, and make a significant impact on the world. She was part of the writing coaching team for TEDx Cambridge, one of the largest TED events in the world. As a ghost writer and a developmental editor, AJ has worked with business writers of all kinds, guiding them to bestseller lists and to many millions of copies sold. She's worked on 10 books with business writer Mike Michalowicz, including Profit First: Transform Your Business From a Cash Eating Monster to a Money Making Machine.
Her own book on writing came out in 2023. It's called Write A Must Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives, Including Your Own. This book is one of the best books on writing nonfiction I've ever read and it's one of the best books on writing period, which is why I wanted to have AJ come on and talk to us. Our conversation will be incredibly helpful for anyone writing nonfiction, but also for people writing fiction and memoir. AJ is just really smart about story structure, thinking about the reader, and fine tuning your ear for good writing. Her story about how she stepped out from behind the ghostwriting curtain to raise her own voice and claim her own authority is riveting.
Books mentioned in the episode:
Little Women, Louisa M. Alcott
The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White
Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Sarina here! There was a scramble over who got to interview Lyndsay Rush about her poetry, but I raised my hand first.
I’ve always thought of poetry as the fustiest kind of writing, but the moment I opened A Bit Much, I knew that Lyndsay was here to change my mind. Not only is her poetry gorgeous, her path to becoming a published author was unusual in all the best ways.
Tune in to hear how she accidentally became a poet. And how she accidentally accumulated over 140,000 Instagram followers.
We ask her about that magic moment—when she suddenly realized that this Instagram poetry habit of hers was going to be a whole big thing. It’s a publishing story for the ages!
Or just skip to the good stuff and find A Bit Much at Bookshop, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
Lindsay on Instagram. Lindsay on Tiktok. Lindsay on Threads.
Hey everyone, I'm Jennie Nash, and if you're interested in becoming a book, coach, I have a special offer for you. It's a free pass to a mini course called The One Page Book Coaching Business Plan. This course walks you step-by-step through how to envision your future book coaching business and it leads to a one-on-one strategy session with me! Go to bookcoaches.com/ABC and at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to the course. That's bookcoaches.com/ABC. You can use the code FROMJENNIE to get in free. That's FROMJENNIE all caps and make sure you spell my name out: J E N N I E. We're going to be raising our prices in 2025 so now's a great time to get certified if you think it's something you want to do. I look forward to speaking with you.
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Hello #AmWriters! This week, I’m answering a bunch of questions we received via [email protected] and our #AmWriting Facebook group. Here’s to flattened learning curves!
* I just got my first speaking inquiry. How do I know how much to ask for?
* Someone asked me to provide video content for a conference/summit/virtual event. What should I charge?
* What’s all this about affiliate codes and revenue sharing for conferences?
* What reference books would you recommend for writing nonfiction?
* It’s time to ask for blurbs for my book! How do I figure out who should blurb? How do I ask? Can someone quoted in my book blurb my book?
* If I quote myself in my own book is that plagiarism? What if I really need to use that quote, how do I do it?
* I’ve been asked to speak but I’m freaked out by my time slot/some other challenge to audience numbers. How do I get people to stay and listen?
* What are the “marketing materials” you keep talking about for events and where did you get all of it?
* Scam alert! See also “I Got Scammed So You Don’t Have To” by Jen Mann of People I Want to Punch in the Throat.
Hey writers. I'm Jennie Nash, founder and CEO of Author Accelerator. It's back to school time, which means it's a great time to start training to become a book coach. By this time next year, you could be certified and out there helping writers bring their books to life- even if you're not a published author yourself. Take our quiz, The 10 Characteristics Of a Great Book Coach, to find out if you have what it takes to become a great book coach. Visit bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz that's the clunkiest URL ever so let me say it again: bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz We'll also put it in the show notes so you know you're going to the right place.
Hey readers—KJ here. This episode of #AmWriting is brought to you by my latest, Playing the Witch Card. I wrote this at a moment when I needed more magic in my life—but it turned out to be a book about how until we know who we are and what makes us happy, even magic doesn’t help. My main character, Flair, is a total control freak who fears the chaos created by her family deck of Tarot cards and the cookies it inspires her to make until she decides that she can harness their power to control the world and people around her—but that’s not what the cards are for at all. I was inspired by what I see as the real magic of Tarot cards—and tea leaves and palm reading and every form of oracle: they help us to see and understand our own stories. As someone for whom stories are pretty much everything, I love that. You can buy Playing the Witch Card on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and my local indie—and I hope you’ll love it too.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Is it time for me (this is KJ) to start a new novel? Not quite-quite-quite, but that time is coming. There’s a decent chance that the novel I’m working on now will be finished, in the now-we-try-to-sell-it sense, soonish. And that will take some time, and maybe it won’t happen (I know, you think I’m just saying that but no, it’s really quite possible). Even if it does, at some point very soon that will be out of my hands for long enough to start working on something new—and if I’m lucky, that will co-incide with November and National Novel Writing Month, which is my favorite time to write a 55K word draft that probably will contain approximately 1737 words that end up in an actual novel but that seems to be part of my “process”. I think my process is a raging dumpster fire but out of the ashes arise books so fine, this is how I do it.
First, I’ll need an idea. Jennie Nash and I recorded a whole summer about “Ideating” (Episodes 366-373—The Idea Factory). I’d argue that this is possibly the most important part. Sarina and I have a partially joking saying: Friends don’t let friends write books without hooks. But an idea is a multi-part creation. It’s not just a hook, it’s not just a premise. A premise is vampires that feed only on people descended from the original crew and passengers on the Mayflower, and maybe that’s a hook as well. It’s not an idea until we know why it matters, and who it matters to within the book and why it might therefore matter to readers.
Honestly, I’ll probably get that second bit wrong to start with, but you have to start somewhere. Right now, though, I don’t even have the first bit. Maybe you don’t either. Maybe you have an idea noodling around inside you, or more likely fifty. Maybe you can mash some of them together. Maybe they’re all amorphous or flimsy or when closely examined take place in a world or mood that you don’t want to live in for the next couple of years.
But you have to pick one and see where it goes. I started this thinking I could help with that, and now I’m not so sure. I mean, I have a plan. I know what I am going to do, or what I think I’m going to do, but it’s hardly a step-by-step formula for success. It’s going to go something like this:
* Wander the bookstore. Most people buy their books online from descriptions now, but genre still matters. Look at the piles of romantasy (romance/fantasy), the growing tables of horror and horr-antsy (I made that up but it should be a thing). The buy-one-get-one-half-off tables of romance and thrillers, and speaking of thrillers, that’s a pretty broad category that ranges from “your heart is in your throat the whole time” to “huh, I wonder what’s going on here”. Series mystery, which I think is the only thing left that’s really “mystery” and not “thriller”. Pick up a book from “fiction” that’s described right in the cover copy as a “second chance romance” and try to figure out why it’s in one place and not the other. (One Last Shot by Betty Cayouette, which I found by googling what I remembered from the cover copy: book second chance model photographer theo italy. Nicely done, Google.) Sigh, give up, and try not to contemplate whether the world really needs any more books. It does not. But I need to write one, so it’s getting one. #sorrynotsorry
* Play the airport game, which we talked about in Episode 367 HERE). Basically it goes like this: go to an airport (or ask a friend who’s going somewhere). Find the Hudson or whatever your airport general shops are called that has the SMALLEST selection of books. Like, one rack face out. Take a picture and then walk yourself through it and ask, “which of these books is most like something I could have written?” Examine those books closely, asking two primary questions: 1) why is this in the airport bookstore (why do people love it/buy it) and 2) why is it like something I could have written? Then spend your flight, or two hours in a coffee shop, coming up with an idea and a brief pitch for something that resembles each one of those books. You have no more than 30 minutes for each book/pitch, and it must have a title, a logline, rough flap copy, inner and outer plots and a story arc with a beginning, middle and end.
* Do a wild title brainstorm. Sometimes a book just has a great title. Beach Read, Summer Romance, A Star is Bored, Blonde Identity. The last time I made a list of “great titles” I hit one—Romantic Comedy—that someone else has recently used to great success and came very very close on two others. Should you write a book just because you have a great title idea? No of course not, but some great titles could apply to a LOT of book ideas. People are buying the vibe, not the plot, when they buy Brooklynaire.
* Mayyyybe look over your old idea notebooks, if you have them. I have some mixed feelings about this, since I don’t want to let my current idea generating muscle off the hook. But these might also jog something loose. I have my 2022 book out now for this purpose.
* Pick a couple ideas—say three—and noodle them out further. Now we’re pretty much into the whole Idea Factory protocol from the summer of 2022—and that DID end up with me writing one of the books we talked about. So apparently it “worked”.
That’s my plan. Y’all know I like to set “sticker” goals—a nice thing about this is its flexibility.
Hey writers. I'm Jennie Nash, founder and CEO of Author Accelerator. It's back to school time, which means it's a great time to start training to become a book coach. By this time next year, you could be certified and out there helping writers bring their books to life- even if you're not a published author yourself. Take our quiz, The 10 Characteristics Of a Great Book Coach, to find out if you have what it takes to become a great book coach. Visit bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz that's the clunkiest URL ever so let me say it again: bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz We'll also put it in the show notes so you know you're going to the right place.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
It’s the second Booklab: First Pages episode! At some point, these episodes will go out only to our fellow Stickers—supporters of the podcast. Want to join that crew, where you’ll be able to send in your own first page for the pod, join write-alongs and get AMAs from our hosts and guest book coaches?
I’m a sticker! Or I want to be. Also I get that y’all need support to get this out here and I love that it’s here so yeah.
On today’s episode, we discuss the first pages of Title Redacted, a novel and Welcome to Heaven, an upper middle grade novel. Would we turn the page? Opinions are mixed, but good advice for improving—these first pages and yours—abounds. THANK YOU to the writers willing to submit their work for our discussion.
Did you like First pages? Have ideas for how we can make it better? We’d love to hear it and we’ll talk back, so comment away.
We offered some comps to our first submitter:
Whip Smart, Melissa Febos
I Love a Man in Uniform, Lily Burana
A Certain Appeal, Vanessa King
Want to submit a first page to Booklab? Fill out the form HERE.
Theme music credit: “Circle,” by Phoebe Lahey
It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over, and in the next few weeks, we will be wrapping up our special Blueprint Challenge that we did here at the #AmWriting podcast. As a part of that challenge, anyone who signed up for and completed it will be getting a list of exclusive offers from Author Accelerator book coaches to help them with their blueprints.
But if, as the summer closes, you're at a point where you feel like you could use some help from a book coach, we suggest you check out Author Accelerator’s book coach directory. They’ve certified more than 260 book coaches in fiction, nonfiction and memoir, and one of them may be the perfect person to help you get your book back on track.
Head to https://www.authoraccelerator.com/matchme to find the book coach that’s right for you.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
Hey writers! I’m Jennie Nash — and this is the #amwriting podcast, the place where we talk about writing all the things: short things, long things, fiction, non-fiction, pitches and proposals.
Today, we’re going to dig into a part of the writing process that comes WAY before you write anything — which is giving yourself permission to write in the first place.
So many writers are shut down by teachers, people who love them, critique partners, well-meaning editors and book coaches, perhaps the entire culture– and the impact of that shutting down can last for decades, if not entire lifetimes.
In my Blueprint framework – a method of inquiry for starting a project -- the first question is why write this book? Why do you want to do this? It’s amazing to me the number of times that the deep level why has to do with reclaiming a voice that was shut down.
My colleague and friend Julie Artz was shut down when she was 25 and 20 years later she is finally grappling with what happened – and feeling a creative spaciousness that eluded her until now. She’s been on the show before, but I invited her back to talk about this important topic.
About Julie:
Julie Artz is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman, Writers Helping Writers, AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Connect with her on Instagram @JulieArtz and download her freebie on giving yourself permission. https://pages.julieartz.com/giveyourselfpermission
It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over, and in the next few weeks, we will be wrapping up our special Blueprint Challenge that we did here at the #AmWriting podcast. As a part of that challenge, anyone who signed up for and completed it will be getting a list of exclusive offers from Author Accelerator book coaches to help them with their blueprints.
But if, as the summer closes, you're at a point where you feel like you could use some help from a book coach, we suggest you check out Author Accelerator’s book coach directory. They’ve certified more than 260 book coaches in fiction, nonfiction and memoir, and one of them may be the perfect person to help you get your book back on track.
Head to https://www.authoraccelerator.com/matchme to find the book coach that’s right for you.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe -
It all Started on the ‘Book
Sarina, here! This episode began in a Facebook thread. In a writers’ group, author Dena Moes R.N. expressed some concern about trying to bring a book to market during a very noisy news cycle.
I pushed back a little, given the nature of her book: It's Your Body: The Young Woman's Guide to Empowered Sexual Health. This lovely book is no stranger to politics. In 2024 it’s political to even suggest that a young woman has the right to decide the fate of her own body.
What could be more timely?
Dena and I brought our friendly debate to your door, where we cover:
* What does the election cycle really mean for books and book buyers?
* What are some elements of Dena’s story that play well with readers who are staring down the barrel at a very important election?
* Who should Dena talk to about this book, and why?
You can see some of the content Dena is working on at Instagram and Tiktok
You can find the book at Amazon and Bookshop.
Books we’re reading this week:
Dena is reading I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol and The Inner Practice of Medicine by Dr. Wendy Lau.
Sarina is reading: Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center and One Jump at a Time by Nathan Chen.
Are you a “sticker”?
Regular listeners know that whenever we meet our writing goals around here, we text each other one word: STICKER. (and then we add a cute sticker to our calendar, because we’re fun like that).
We call supporters of the #AmWriting podcast “stickers” too—and while our regular podcasts and shownotes go out to all of our listeners, we have created a few things just for stickers. First, there’s the Summer Blueprint for a Book Sprint—10 weeks dedicated to working with coaches and a community to figure out how to turn your next idea—or your struggling draft—into the book you want to write. You can join it anytime (the how-to is below).
Stickers can also submit the first page of their WIP to the Booklab First Pages podcast, where we might choose it to discuss, review and offer ideas for persuading agents, editors and readers that they want to turn that page and see what happens next. (Find the link to submit a first page HERE.)
I’m a sticker! Give it all to me now.
Subscribe
To join the Blueprint for a Book Summer Sprint, you must be a paid subscriber. Then, opt-in and set up your podcast feed. Don’t worry, it’s simple! Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, do two things:
* Toggle “Blueprint for a Book” from “off” (grey) to “on” (green).
* Click “set up podcast” next to Blueprint for a Book and follow the easy instructions.
Once you set those things up, you’ll get all the future Blueprint emails and podcasts (and if you’re joining the party a bit late, just head to our website and click on Blueprint for a Book in the top menu).
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe - Show more
