Free Time with Jenny Blake

221: Publishing and Personal Writing Pointers with Jennie Nash

Sep 5, 2023

52:17

“I see in books,” says today’s guest. “Every book is, at its heart, an argument for something—for a belief, a way of life, a vision of the future, a way to solve a problem, a way to make a friend, a way to lose your soul. The point is what the entire story drives to. It’s the thing your reader will come away from your book feeling.”

That’s just one gem from today’s guest, Jennie Nash, book coach and author of a blueprint series on how to approach your writing. Jennie and I discuss the tumult happening in hybrid and traditional publishing outfits; risks inherent in the publishing process; red flags to watch out for in selecting partners; determining the right genre for your work (i.e. nonfiction, fiction, memoir), how to “make room for the reader,” and what it means to write for the marketplace.

More About Jennie: Jennie Nash is the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company on a mission to lead the emerging book coaching industry. Author Accelerator has certified more than 160 book coaches in both fiction and nonfiction. Jennie’s own book coaching clients have landed top New York agents and six-figure book deals with Big 5 houses such as Penguin, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette, and won dozens of national indie book awards. Jennie is the author of 12 books in 3 genres, including Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea and the forthcoming Blueprint for a Memoir: How to Write a Memoir for the Marketplace.

🌟 3 Key Takeaways

Before choosing a publishing partner (traditional or hybrid): Speak with at least three authors who have worked with that organization before! Not just ones the publisher suggests.
Three genres explore different possibilities: Fiction explores what if? as you imagine a world and the characters within it; nonfiction will be factual, information-based, teaching and topic oriented; memoir is where you tell your own story about your own life, even with larger themes at play; memoir+ brings additional elements.
Make room for the reader: When you’re writing personal essays or memoir, you can get so caught up in your own story that you’re not thinking about who will read this, why they care, what they are looking to experience, and how you can connect with and inspire them.

📝 Permission: Drop the idea that you will be picked by the publishing industry. You are the creator, so take the work into your own hands. You pick you.