Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. cover art

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

By: Estelle Erasmus
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 Want to get published or land a book deal? Join TEDx speaker and author Estelle Erasmus for smart writing tips, publishing insights, and behind-the-scenes advice for fiction writers, memoirists, and authors at every stage. Winner of the 2025 Podcast of the Year (Education) from the American Writing Awards, Freelance Writing Direct is your go-to podcast for writing tips, publishing advice, and insider strategies to help you get published—whether in essays, memoir, fiction, books, or journalism. Hosted by Estelle Erasmus—award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, NYU writing professor, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers)—this show blends writing craft, career strategy, and behind-the-scenes publishing insight. Each week, Estelle shares short, practical episodes full of: Writing tips for essays, memoir, and books Pitch strategies that get editors' attention Publishing advice from agents and bestselling authors Solo episodes, coaching episodes and candid conversations with industry insiders Whether you're just starting your freelance writing journey or aiming for your next book deal, you'll find actionable tools, story prompts, and the momentum you need to grow your writing career. Listeners often ask: *How do I get published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, or WIRED? *What writing tips will make my voice stand out? *How do I find an agent or land a book deal? *What do editors actually want? *How do I shape my personal story for publication? You're in the right place. It's time to elevate your writing—with Freelance Writing Direct. 🎙️ About Estelle Erasmus Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She's a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, an adjunct writing professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Estelle's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, AARP, Next Avenue, and The Independent, among 150+ other outlets. She is also the host of Freelance Writing Direct, named the 2025 Podcast of the Year in the Education category by the American Writing Awards. Learn more: estelleserasmus.com Newsletter: estelleserasmus.substack.com Social: @EstelleSErasmus on Instagram, X, Threads, and LinkedIn2022 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • #163 Writing the Unresolved Story: Trying and Telling the Unvarnished Truth Featuring Chloé Caldwell

    #163 Writing the Unresolved Story: Trying and Telling the Unvarnished Truth Featuring Chloé Caldwell
    Oct 30 2025
    What happens when your life unravels up in the middle of writing your book — your marriage ends, fertility treatments stop, your identity shifts, and you have to rewrite the story you thought you were living? In this episode, Estelle Erasmus interviews acclaimed author Chloe Caldwell about her new book, TRYING, a radically honest, formally innovative memoir about fertility, longing, divorce, sexuality, and choosing yourself. Chloe opens up about writing through infertility, divorce, queerness, and identity, and how her real life reshaped the story she thought she was telling. In this episode: Writing a memoir while still living through it [3:34] The shame and silence surrounding infertility [8:37] Trusting intuition and reclaiming personal truth [20:33] Finding humor and craft in heartbreak [25:38] Ending a story that's still unfolding [39:25] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T442Ly6yp0E Chloé Caldwell is the author of the novella Women, the memoir The Red Zone, and the essay collections I'll Tell You in Person and Legs Get Led Astray. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Vogue, Bon Appétit, the Cut, MSNBC, Autostraddle, Longreads, and Nylon and in anthologies including Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York and Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class and Sluts. She offers writing support at scrappyliterary.com. Caldwell lives in Hudson, New York. Connect with Chloe Instagram https://www.instagram.com/scrappyliterary Upcoming class: Writing Chaos In Real Time Upcoming Class: Writing Divorce Scrappy Literary for a personalized call and writing support Check out Estelle's mention of Chloe in her TEDx Talk How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Get More from Estelle: Sign up for her 6 week Zoom NYU Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html New Substack post: Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-every-memoir-needs-the-echo-effect 📬 Newsletter + FREE Pitching Guide Find out more about this episode and get Estelle's free pitching guide when you sign up for her newsletter: https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast About Estelle: Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers), and host of Freelance Writing Direct—2025 Podcast of the Year (Education), American Writing Awards. A Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP: The Magazine. She's served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Explore More: 📘 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the book | Audiobook 📰 Subscribe on Substack: https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Latest posts: "Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". When Writers Are the Ones Blocking the Page: 6 Ways to Move Forward (and An Offer); "How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen" 🎧 More episodes: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast Read Estelle's latest article How to Use the Internet to Become Your Own Private Investigator (Next Avenue/PBS) Follow Estelle: Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    43 mins
  • #162 Lessons from the People of Publishing Conference

    #162 Lessons from the People of Publishing Conference
    Oct 23 2025
    Ever wonder what's really happening behind closed doors in the publishing industry? In this solo episode, Estelle Erasmus pulls back the curtain on the People of Publishing Conference, held on September 17, 2025, and hosted by the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA). Featuring top CEOs, editors, and agents, the event revealed key trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping today's book world. Estelle shares her firsthand insights—including what publishing leaders are prioritizing, how AI is reshaping the industry, and what authors can do to stand out in an evolving landscape. Whether you're writing your first book or deep in the query trenches, this episode offers invaluable perspective from inside the industry, plus Estelle's Edge—her signature takeaway for writers. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SUYC2sDe51k In this episode: The big shifts in publishing today [2:25] Why traditional media appearances don't always sell books [5:05] How the Anthropic and Meta lawsuits are protecting authors' rights against AI companies using copyrighted work. [6:30] What foreign publishers are buying right now [7:25] What agents want in memoir proposals and how "Memoir Plus" and light research threads can elevate your story. [13:10] AI in publishing: how it's being used for translation, productivity, and why every author should learn to use it responsibly. [14:57] Estelle's biggest takeaway [16:15] Connect with AALA/People of Publishing Website: https://peopleofpublishing.org/ Podcast Episode Mentioned #35 Flying High with Storyteller Ann Hood https://estelleserasmus.com/35-flying-high-with-storyteller-ann-hood/ Modern Love Essay Referenced Negotiating the End of Us by Leslie Blanchard https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/style/modern-love-negotiating-the-end-of-us.html Get More from Estelle: Register for a free online, lunchtime, Editor-on-Call NYU event on October 29th: Inside Slate an Unfiltered Conversation with Senior Editor, Rebecca Onion. https://events.nyu.edu/event/368190-editor-on-call-inside-slate-an-unfiltered. Sign up for her 6 week Zoom NYU Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html New Substack post: Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-every-memoir-needs-the-echo-effect 🎤 TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond Estelle blends personal storytelling with actionable strategies for standing out—starting with a chaotic moment involving Thomas the Tank Engine. 📺 Watch, comment, and share 📬 Newsletter + FREE Pitching Guide Find out more about this episode and get Estelle's free pitching guide when you sign up for her newsletter: https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast About Estelle: Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers), and host of Freelance Writing Direct—2025 Podcast of the Year (Education), American Writing Awards. A Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP: The Magazine. She's served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Explore More: 📘 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the book | Audiobook 📰 Subscribe on Substack: https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Latest posts: "Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". When Writers Are the Ones Blocking the Page: 6 Ways to Move Forward (and An Offer); "How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen" 🎧 More episodes: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast Read Estelle's latest article How to Use the Internet to Become Your Own Private Investigator (Next Avenue/PBS) Follow Estelle: Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    18 mins
  • #161 From Nonfiction to Paranormal Women's Fiction: Genre-Switching and the Freedom of Self-Publishing with Olga Mecking

    #161 From Nonfiction to Paranormal Women's Fiction: Genre-Switching and the Freedom of Self-Publishing with Olga Mecking
    Oct 16 2025
    Can nonfiction writers reinvent themselves as novelists? NIksen author Olga Mecking proves it's possible—with a new series that blends Dutch folklore, female power, and the freedom of self-publishing. Estelle Erasmus is joined by Olga Mecking, a writer, journalist and occasional translator. Originally from Poland, she now lives with her German husband and three multilingual children in the Netherlands. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian and the BBC, among others. The US edition of her book, NIKSEN. EMBRACING THE DUTCH ART OF DOING NOTHING was published in 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. NIKSEN has also appeared in 14 languages and several countries around the world. When not writing or thinking about writing, Olga can be found reading books, drinking tea, and doing nothing. In this episode: Defining Paranormal Women's Fiction and why midlife heroines matter. [2:20] World-building from reality (the Netherlands) + clear rules of magic. [5:43] Designing a series to avoid continuity traps (time jumps = sanity). [7:42] The self-pub learning curve: covers, formatting, and launch pacing. [10:10] A scene-by-scene method: every scene has an event → reaction → decision that drives the next scene. [16:17] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zX83GnRBR-Y Connect with Olga: Substack: https://substack.com/@olgamecking?utm_source=user-menu Instagram: https://instagram.com/olgamecking Get More from Estelle: Webinar Register for a free online Editor-on-Call NYU event on October 29th: Inside Slate an Unfiltered Conversation with Senior Editor, Rebecca Onion.https://events.nyu.edu/event/368190-editor-on-call-inside-slate-an-unfiltered. New Substack post: Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-every-memoir-needs-the-echo-effect 🎤 TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond Estelle blends personal storytelling with actionable strategies for standing out—starting with a chaotic moment involving Thomas the Tank Engine. 📺 Watch, comment, and share 📬 Newsletter + FREE Pitching Guide Find out more about this episode and get Estelle's free pitching guide when you sign up for her newsletter: https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast About Estelle: Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers), and host of Freelance Writing Direct—2025 Podcast of the Year (Education), American Writing Awards. A Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP: The Magazine. She's served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Explore More: 📘 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the book | Audiobook 📰 Subscribe on Substack: https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Latest posts: "Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". When Writers Are the Ones Blocking the Page: 6 Ways to Move Forward (and An Offer); "How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen" 🎧 More episodes: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast Read Estelle's latest article How to Use the Internet to Become Your Own Private Investigator (Next Avenue/PBS) Follow Estelle: Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    24 mins
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