Hey, fellow author! I’m so glad you’re here.

Raise your hand if you feel like publishing is an opaque, mystical black box that runs on whispers and whims and some strange sorcery known only to a select few!

Well…you’re not entirely wrong. But I hear you, and I’m here to help.

What is Get It Write?

You’ve stumbled onto a radically candid newsletter for current and aspiring authors. In it, I’ll…

• Give you my sharpest tips and most specific advice for writing an unputdownable book, finding an agent, and giving yourself the best chance of selling your next manuscript in a fat Big 5 deal

• Demystify this bizarre and occasionally (often) exasperating industry in grand, pedantic detail

• Pull back the curtain on my life as a working author—all the stuff I feel uncomfortable disclosing, from sales numbers to rejections to hard-fought wins to major humiliations

• Share my detail-obsessed convos with authors, book publicists, marketers, booksellers, and other publishing professionals

You can browse some of the existing content by topic here:

Craft // Marketing // Publicity // Author life // Writing community // Examples // Publishing industry intel // Author interviews

This newsletter’s free tier includes major announcements and book news (plus monthly Ask a Bookseller interviews and occasional literary satire). Both free and paid subscribers also have access to a compendium of successful query letters from published authors.

I know, I know: Another author writing about authordom on Substack? I thought the same thing—until I realized tons of publishing advice is written by people who aren’t actually making their living as Big 5 authors. I’m sharing the no-holds-barred, from-the-trenches truth I’ve picked up from seven book deals.

Who am I and why am I doing this?

Questions I ask myself often, to be sure, but here goes! I’m Andrea Bartz, a queer, feminist, New York Times bestselling thriller writer. I’ve been a professional author since 2017, and before that, I was a magazine editor in the “women’s service” space—so I got a lot of practice turning big ideas into actionable, easy-to-follow posts. That’s what I’m doing here!

I love being a part of the author community, and I feel so, so passionate about demystifying the industry and leveling the playing field, especially for authors from marginalized groups.

I’ve seen some truly atrocious publishing advice (much of it on Threads, why is Threads such a cesspool??), and I hate the idea of talented, hardworking writers missing their shot because they didn’t have access to reliable info. So consider this a repository of all the stuff I’ve learned along the way—thanks, in large part, to generous authors and publishing pros who helped me figure it out.

(And whenever people congratulate me on my candor, I remind them that in my magazine days, I wrote about my sex life for millions of readers. Sharing my sales numbers? That’s nothing.)

One last thing…

You can probably expense this newsletter!

You’re an aspiring or current writer, you say? Then your subscription is a business expense and, come tax time, a write-off. If you work in or with the publishing industry, you can likely expense your subscription through your company. Here’s a template for you to use when checking. If your employer is covering you, please consider paying annually.

And if the subscription fee is prohibitive, please use my contact form to request a three-month comped subscription, no questions asked.

There’s no shortage of newsletters out there, and I’m so glad you’re here. While we all get too many emails, I’ll work hard to make mine must-reads. If you—like me—believe in compensating people for their work, I hope you’ll consider a paid subscription.

Thanks, friends! Let’s dance!