This week’s guest is Jane Rubin (In The Hands of Women, Level Best Books, May 2023). Jane’s novel, an historical fiction set in 1908 NYC and centering around both the suffragette movement and early reproductive rights issues, was inspired not only by Jane’s great grandmother but also her lived experience as an ovarian cancer survivor. Her health concerns drove her decision to forego an agent search and push for an expedited pub date with a small press, which has led to two published novels and a contract for two more. We discuss the importance of defining your book’s target market and how going after larger venues with honorariums can help finance a book tour.

With an exten­sive health­care back­ground and a pas­sion for med­ical and women’s immi­grant his­to­ry, Jane Rubin began writ­ing in 2009 after a genetically based can­cer diag­no­sis. Her novels have culminated in a four-book deal with Lev­el Best Books (Thread­bare, In the Hands of Women-2023, and Over There-2025), fol­low­ing the fic­tion­al life of her great-grandmother’s family. Her characters confront the restrictive reproductive rights of the time, the limited roles for women, and the perilous road to financial success.

Her great-grandmother, Tillie, arrived in New York City in 1866 at sixteen and married a man twelve years her senior, later dying of ’a woman’s disease.’ Ms. Rubin was determined to give Tillie a fictional life, imagining her rags-to-riches life and fight with terminal disease. Threadbare was awarded First Place by the International Impact Book Awards and a Five Star designation by Readers’ Favorite. Ms. Rubin's third book, Over There, transports her characters into the thick of WW1. Over There was shortlisted by the Historical Novel Society, 2024 First Chapters Competition.

To learn more about Jane, click here.