Free Time with Jenny Blake 221: Publishing and Personal Writing Pointers with Jennie Nash
“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.
🔗 Resources Mentioned
- Jennie on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Coach Training: Author Accelerator
- Templates: Free Time Author Toolkit
- Articles: NYT—Buyouts and Layoffs Mean a Changing of the Guard at Penguin Random House, Leaders Press—Scribe Media Shuts Down
- Substack: Round-up of serialized fiction classics, Jenny’s (secret for now) new Substack :)
- MasterClass: Dan Brown on Thriller Writing, Malcolm Gladwell
📚 Books Mentioned
- Jennie’s series: Blueprint for a Book, Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book, and Blueprint for a Memoir
- In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carolyn Maria Machado
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
- Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpot + NYT Review
- In Love by Amy Bloom
- Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business
- Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
- Life After College
🎧 Related Episodes
- JB’s Spotify Playlist: Behind-the-Book
- Free Time: 205: Why Paul Millerd Turned Down a $200K Two-Book Traditional Publishing Deal, 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue, and 209: From Lost and Founder to Chill Work with Rand Fishkin
- Pivot: 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2)
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✍️ Check out my new Substack Rolling in D 🤦🏻♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries
📝 Check out full show notes and share with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/221
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