Top all-time · #7995
Jane Friedman
Personal blog · janefriedman.comwritingbusiness
Jane Friedman's personal blog at janefriedman.com covers writing and business. Since 2014, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 19 times, most often “AI-generated books create a dumpster fire on Amazon and Goodreads”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Jane Friedman's blog for publishing-industry analysis: book sales and P&L economics, Goodreads fake books, and AI training on pirated books such as Books3.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education.
Most-linked posts?
- AI-generated books create a dumpster fire on Amazon and Goodreads4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-08-07
What Hacker News says?
Short answer: Nobody fucking knows because the accounting is more non-GAAP than your typical investment fraud house. A few spots for folks interested in some amount of numbers: https://slate.com/culture/2024/04/book-sales-publishing-indu... https://archive.is/nGY6D https://janefriedman.com/book-pl/
Comment linking /book-pl/
on “You wouldn't steal a font”Submitted AI-generated books create a dumpster fire on Amazon and Goodreads as a story · 52 points
HN discussionA big audience means publishing houses don’t have to spend money on marketing Only blockbuster authors get serious marketing support. For everyone else, big publishers want authors to shoulder marketing and publicity costs and responsibilities. Many lower tier authors are shocked to find they get zero marketing support: I’d hate for readers to think this happens to every author who signs with a traditional publisher…
Comment linking /marketing-support-big-5/
on “No one buys books”Submitted Publishing Has Changed Since 2015 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionRegarding breaking into the biz ... 1) I found an agent by searching on aaronline.org and sending book-proposal queries to agents who seemed like they were a good fit. 2) Although the costs of self-publishing have gone down, the problem with self publishing, for my type of nonfiction anyway, is when it comes to distribution. Getting the book into brick-and-mortar stores, getting the book reviewed by reputable outlet…
Comment linking /author-platform-definition/
on “Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?”Submitted Self-Publishing Assistance Is Becoming Threatened as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAs a heads up, Goodreads was also subject to fake books by authors back in August of 2023, though these were removed. https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated...
Comment linking /i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/
on “Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'”Submitted My NaNoWriMo Was a Train Wreck as a story · 2 points
HN discussion> There was a recent thread here, I believe, about an author who couldn't get AI-written books out of her name because they simply won't correct their data. Worse, those books were being sold on Amazon! https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated...
Comment linking /i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/
on “Goodreads Is Terrible for Books. Why Can’t We All Quit It?”Submitted How Printing Innovations Created an Enduring Class Divide in Books as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHow shocking! A monopoly right granted by the government to exclude others from use of an idea (patents) and creative works (intellectual property) was intended to help the little guy, but ended up helping the big boys extract rents instead, while exploiting the little guy because they sold their rights to survive and get access to a platform? https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated... It’s almo…
Comment linking /i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/
on “The Battle over Books3 Could Change AI Forever”Submitted Substack Is Both Great and Terrible for Authors as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Age-Old Cynicism Surrounding the Dream of Book Writing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Exophonic Writing: Crafting Fiction in a Foreign Language as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Workshopper Beware: Navigating the Risky Waters of Writing Classes and Retreats as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The (Copyright) Trouble with NFTs as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Myth About Print Books Coming Back as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Authors Walk Away from Big 5 Publishers as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Reasons to Be Optimistic During the Disruption of Publishing as a story · 1 points
HN discussion