Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs and received a starred review from Library Journal.
Jane’s impact on publishing education spans multiple formats and audiences.
- She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, US Book Show, AALA’s People of Publishing Conference, the Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop, the ECPA Leadership Summit, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
- She has helped shape the next generation of publishing professionals through curriculum development at Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program and faculty positions at the University of Virginia and University of Cincinnati.
- She has advised and served multiple organizations, including Writer’s Digest, the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Chicago Manual of Style, The Authors Guild, and the Editorial Freelancers Association. She has served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Whiting Awards, and the Creative Work Fund, bringing her expertise to the development of literary culture and arts funding.
- She has served on the board of several nonprofit organizations, including WriterHouse, The Facing Project, and Short Reads.
Jane writes and publishes two long-running newsletters. Electric Speed, published since 2009, shares creative tools and resources with more than 30,000 subscribers. The Bottom Line, winner of multiple awards, serves as an industry beacon for more than 8,000 publishing professionals. Since 2009, Jane has also continuously maintained this website, which offers a cornerstone education in writing and publishing and receives more than 100,000 visits per month.
