It's a Jess AMA day!

Last AMA day of 2024 and this one's public, my gift to all our listeners!

Happy New Year’s Eve! I’m recovering from hosting a full house of guests and so looking forward to getting back to work. My January is full of speaking events and writing deadlines, but before the craziness starts, let’s do an AMA (ask me anything) to close out the year!

Ask me anything: speaking, writing, editing, planning, what I talk about with my agent, why I picked my agent, why she picked me after ten years of rejections, suddenly having a new editor, proposals, you know the deal. Ask about the exciting stuff, like the three day auction leading to a mid six-figure book deal I experienced in 2013 (three-part post about it linked) or the the mundane, like invoicing, contracts, editing, managing administrative details. I’m here for it all. I’m opening this one to everyone, not just listeners and supporters, so hopefully we will get some fun questions. If questions come up that are better suited to KJ or Jennie or Sarina, I will hit them up by text and hope they find time in their day to answer. Share this post with friends who might have questions, too. This will be fun.

Here’s how this works:

Questions should be submitted as comments on this post by 11:59 pm EDT on Thursday, December 12. I’ll pop back in to answer them in the comments as I can, and I’ll answer them all by 5 pm EDT on Saturday, December 14, at which point I’ll mark the AMA as closed and close the post to comments (although the questions and answers will stay here to be read at any point.)

Here are a few reminders about these events:

• Ask anything! All questions are welcome. If you’re wondering, someone else probably is too.

• Feel free to comment on other writer’s posts, and to always be kind when you do so. Writing books is hard work and you never know where someone is on the path. We strive to lift everyone up and would ask you to do the same. Connecting with others here is a great way to build community — so jump in!

• Please remember that we can’t read anyone’s work.

• Please don’t promote your own editorial services or other work here. That’s not what this space is for.

• The AMAs are not “live.” The hosts will check in and respond while the AMA is live but they’re not on call—please recognize that responses may be speedy, or may take time.

Ask away!