“It takes guts to be gentle and kind.” (The Smiths)

The Quick Professional Take

Jane Friedman is a former publishing & media exec who now serves as a full-time assistant professor of e-media at the University of Cincinnati. She has spoken on writing, publishing, and the future of media at more than 200 events since 2001, including South by Southwest, BookExpo America, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

Her expertise has been featured by sources such as NPR’s Morning Edition, Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat, PBS, The Huffington Post, and Mr. Media. She has consulted with a range of nonprofits, businesses, and creative professionals, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Creative Work Fund, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

Jane has more than a decade of hands-on experience in using new media and technology to engage and grow both online and offline communities. An active blogger for more than a decade, Jane’s current blog was named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2011-2012. Her presence on Twitter (140,000+ followers) is often cited as a model for those seeking to use social media effectively.

Jane is the author of The Future of Publishing: Enigma Variations (April 1, 2011), as well as the Beginning Writer’s Answer Book (Writer’s Digest, 2006). Her articles and creative work have appeared in Writer’s Market, Writer’s Digest, 3 A.M. Magazine, The Formalist, The Evansville Review, UE Magazine, plus dozens of other publications and websites. (See selected credits below.)

The More Personal Take

I am a late-sleeping, bourbon-drinking editor, at least mostly sane. I live life forward, even though you can only understand it backward.

I don’t have hobbies, unless drinking is a hobby. I write, I read, I edit, I teach, I speak.

I travel when I have the time.

When I meet someone new, I immediately ask questions to uncover what they’re passionate about, and how their life reflects it.

I’m open to just about any adventure, and even a whole lot of situations (or conversations) that most people would consider boring.

I’m fascinated by the concepts of happiness, memory, loss, death, regret, settling, staying put, personal choice, homes, family, corporations, rituals, beginnings and endings.

The 3 things most important to me: love, freedom, and service.

I am an unashamed Zen-inspired intellectual who tests INxP on the Myers-Briggs and Type 4 on the Enneagram. I care about joy and beauty, in a broad sense. I’m occasionally even fun to be around.

I’ve worked in a professional capacity across all forms of media—newspapers, magazines, books, literary journals, zines, websites, and blogs. I spent 12 years at F+W Media in Cincinnati, Ohio. I started out as an associate editor, working on step-by-step craft books (see my first project here), and finished off as the publisher of Writer’s Digest, which generates millions in revenue each year through its services to writers. At Writer’s Digest, I was responsible for the management and growth of multiple book lines, annual directories, newsstand and subscriber-driven magazines, online education and services, e-commerce, print and online advertising, as well as national writing events and competitions. I still serve as a contributing editor.

At the University of Cincinnati, I am lucky enough to teach others based on the depth of my professional media experience—especially my online media expertise—plus knowledge of writing and editing fundamentals across media. I offer a progressive take on how tomorrow’s media will be driven by a mix of amateurs, experts, and professionals.

Outside of the university, I continue to educate writers on how the publishing industry is changing and evolving through transformational technologies (see my e-book on the topic, The Future of Publishing). I’ve served on panels for organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, and consulted on new media issues with a range of nonprofits, businesses, and creative professionals.

I have been called Miss Jane, Wonder Jane, Sweet Jane, Plain Jane, The Other Jane, Not-That Jane, and Smiling Jane.

I’ve also been called a pusher, a dream crusher, a hopeless idealist (or just plain naive, depending), a bad influence, an adventurer, a fierce independent, and the one who knows how to turn this thing around.

From the Beginning

I grew up in Oakland City, Ind., a small farm town where every year they still crown Little Miss Sweet Corn. My Indiana-born mother was trained as an artist; my Russian Jewish father was a typesetter at Empire Typography in New York City and a professional calligrapher.

I left home at age 15 to attend the Indiana Academy, a residential high school on Ball State University campus. I went to college at the University of Evansville (Ind.), earning a BFA in Creative Writing. While there, I served as editor in chief of the college newspaper as well as the Evansville Review, an award-winning literary journal. I also spent a year studying in England at Harlaxton College and Cambridge University—where I also worked on the newspaper.

After graduation, I joined F+W Media as an associate editor at North Light Books. While at North Light, I also completed my MA in English at Xavier University, which involved a two-year stint as graduate director of the university writing center. My master’s studies focused on composition/rhetoric and postmodern literature.

In 2001, I joined Writer’s Digest magazine as managing editor; in 2003, I transitioned to Writer’s Digest Books as its lead editor and later managed several other imprints, such as HOW Books (design/humor), TOW Books (humor), and Betterway Books (sports).

In 2008, the corporate parent of Writer’s Digest (F+W Media) decided to restructure the company into special-interest communities, a progressive and forward-thinking move that was covered by trade industry magazine Publishers Weekly. I was made publisher and strategic leader of all content and community for the brand.

In 2010, in order to focus more on my passion for teaching and speaking, I left F+W for the University of Cincinnati, where I’m now a full-time professor (E-Media Division, College-Conservatory of Music).

I’m active on Twitter, and you can also keep up with me on Facebook. Just let me know how you found me when you request to be my friend. If you’d like to meet me or take one of my classes, click here for opportunities.

Media Mentions

• Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2011-2012

• NPR’s Morning Edition featured my analysis in a report about the liquidation of Borders (July 19, 2011)

• A personal interview on KUAR (Arkansas public radio) aired before I keynoted the 2011 Arkansas Writers Conference. Interview starts at 17:10.

• I made the Publishers Weekly list of “Who’s Got Pull in the Publishing Twitterverse” (May 2010)

• Mr. Media Interview (2009). A 45-minute chat with Mr. Media on how the publishing landscape is changing.

• Live interview on Gamechanging (2010) — a radio interview where I discuss adapting to current market trends and the future of publishing/media.

• Profile at Digital Book World, where I serve on the advisory board.

• Self-Publishing, Author Services Open Floodgates for Writers (2010). This is a PBS story on the growth of self-publishing. I’m quoted as an industry expert.

• Read an interview in Words with JAM (June 2010)

Awards

• 2008 Dorothy Hamilton Award, Midwest Writers Workshop
• 2004 Instructor of the Quarter, Beckfield College
• 1999, 2000 Xavier University Poetry Award
• 1997 University of Evansville Vision Award

Selected print publication credits

• Writer’s Market 2012: Jane Friedman Q&A
• “Book Proposals in the Digital Age.” Writer’s Digest, October 2011
• “Revising Your Path to Publication.” Writer’s Digest, July/August 2011. Online version.
• Ask the Agent (column). Writer’s Digest, January 2011–December 2011.
• Write Your Novel in 30 Days (Writer’s Digest, 2010). Executive editor of special-issue magazine.
• “The Evolution of the Literary Agent.” Writer’s Digest, October 2010. Online version.
• “Your Novel: An Essential Tick List.” Writer’s Market UK 2008 (David & Charles)
• “International Dimension: A Fulfilled Prophecy.” UE Magazine 99.3 (2004): 4-5.
• Interview with Lisel Mueller, Poet’s Market (2004)
• Interview with Jeffrey Eugenides, Writer’s Digest (April 2003)
• Interview with Alice Sebold, Writer’s Digest (January 2002)
• Interview with Richard Russo, Writer’s Digest (February 2003)
• “Moralities and Indelibilities.” The Evansville Review 13.1 (2003): 122-125.
• “Passionate Persistence: English Majors at Work.” UE Magazine 98.1 (2002): 6-9.
• Interview with Elizabeth Spires. The Evansville Review 7.1 (1997): 45-53.
• “Insider’s Report: Ploughshares.” 1997 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market
• “Books.” The Formalist 13.1 (2002): 52.
• “Lying in Bed.” The Formalist 10.1 (1999): 40.
• “Letter From an Erstwhile Boyfriend.” The Formalist 9.2 (1998): 87.
• “Front Oval.” The Formalist 9.1 (1998): 55.

Shh! Jane’s Embarrassing College Poetry

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“This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers.” (Terry Tempest Williams)