Slop is an apt word of the year, but I'm still inspired by the (human) writers out there. My year in review:

As we wind down the year, here are some of my favorites from 2025:

Check out my workshop on all things first pages! First pages that worked, dos and don'ts, openings to avoid, and more.

OpenAI has to hand over emails about pirated books, why does AI write like that, best of 2025 lists, the writing craft lessons of Survivor, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!

I won't tell anyone I won the lottery, but there will be signs.

Will you ever buy mostly e-books? Do you already? Are you ride or die with paper? Time for my 19th annual poll!

For Giving Tuesday, I hope you'll consider Heifer Int'l and @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social!

Don't force the reader to repeat what they already know.

I'm available for developmental edits on full and partial manuscripts for a limited time! Full details here: open.substack.com/pub/danieljo...

For next week's Office Hours for newsletter subscribers, we'll do a first pages workshop! And for Thanksgiving break, a roundup of posts that touch on "Information vs. Storytelling!"

Sourcebooks' print sales reach heavy hitter status, romantasy is the talk of the town (including some TMI), the latest A.I. publishing scams, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!

I updated and expanded my post on phrases to find and delete from your novel. Terminate at will!

Wait how do they know it was an accident

JCO KO's Musk, fashion embraces the book world, A.I. songs are racing up the charts, how to accurately write about time travel, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!

The New York Times is ridiculousing so hard this week.

In case you missed it, here's last Thursday's office hours! Topics include: querying agents during the holidays, subplots, A.I. in lieu of paid editing, publishing scams, and much more! You can straight jump to any topic of interest:

If you're going to set a children's book in the past, there should be a good reason for it (and struggling to imagine childhood with smartphones is not a good enough reason)

10% of Facebook's revenue comes from scams, the debate over posting publicly about your submissions, how bookstores decide what to stock, and more of the best writing and book links from the past week!

Authors, I think you might enjoy this long interview with a independent bookstore buyer about how bookstores decide what books to stock and display: countercraft.substack.com/p/interview-...

Characters in a novel don't need to be powerful. They don't even need to be clever. They do need to try.

The origins of Frankenstein, the class action lawsuit against OpenAI moves forward, Philip Pullman wraps up Lyra Silvertongue's story, and more of the best writing and BOOks links from the past week!

The problem is not that there are too many bad billionaires, the problem is that there are billionaires.

Dodgers win the base ball we go to sleep

The problems with the phrase "The last thing X wanted" run quite, quite deep.

Working out in your 20's: Oh no, I missed two weeks, I'm going to need a workout to recover. Working out in your 40's: Oh no, I missed a workout, I'm going to need two weeks to recover.

do u like stories about young ladies making very bad decisions in a gothic environment while under the nefarious influence of lesbian vampire novels? well boy do i have a treat for u

Tron: Ares (2025）

Distributor/wholesaler Baker & Taylor on the brink, National Book Award nominees, I'd hate to be a punctuation mark around the Nobel committee, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!

Sometimes I stop and think about the fact that millions of people have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and no two people have ever had the same mental image of the wardrobe. It's crazy that we're able to agree about anything when it comes to books.

Congrats to my friend Kristina Mancaruso and her sister Kelly on the publication of RUMOURED, out today! (And available with free shipping from Bookshop.org!) bookshop.org/p/books/rumo...

Instead of supporting the Amazon borg, buy your books at your local bookstore or Bookshop.org, which has free shipping today and tomorrow!

I may be losing this battle, but I still think the "nuts and bolts" (word count, comps, etc.) belong after the plot description in a query letter. Here's why:

The Anthropic settlement class is now searchable, an evergreen take on sales tracks in publishing, Reading Rainbow rebooted, a book with a side of garlic, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!

How many of these CTE tragedies need to happen before everyone finally realizes it's unethical to have anything to do with American football and the game needs to go...

I'll be hosting my monthly office on Thursday, exclusively for newsletter subscribers. Drop by to ask me anything!

As "no response means no" takes hold at publishing houses, it's long past time to stop leaving authors' careers in limbo and reform industry submission procedures. Here's a modest proposal at a Publishing Submission Bill of Rights.

Trump allies are angling for an American version of TikTok, a judge approves the Anthropic settlement, AI slop Charlie Kirk assassination books spark conspiracy theories (what in the 2025), and more of the best writing and books links from the past week:

Imagine if your Instagram messages were searchable instead of being replaced by a worthless AI chatbot.

Why would you want to outsource your life’s work to a digital parlor trick that can’t possibly capture your secret sauce?

I wrote about what counts and what doesn't count as "political violence" in this country

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.

Google launched a cool feature where you can prioritize certain sources in search results. You can add my blog to your preferred sources and see my posts first when you're searching writing and publishing advice, if you're so inclined! www.google.com/preferences/...

"Not so fast," judge says on the Anthropic settlement.

If you missed office hours last week, you can now watch it! Exclusively for newsletter subscribers:

I had a dream last night that Zohran Mamdani was filmed getting into an extended late night argument and threw a guy down a stairwell, and in a city like NYC I honestly wasn’t sure whether it would help him or hurt him.

The authors guild published an explainer on the Anthropic settlement. A database of the books in the suit is expected to be available in October:

"The settlement is largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright cases. Anthropic will pay $3,000 per work to 500,000 authors."

Sometimes writing and pursuing publication feels like dropping a pebble in the ocean. But does that miss the point of why we're doing it?