Uptales

Andrea Bartz

New York, USA

Storytelling & Narrative Craft Coach — Helping Writers Build Voice, Tension, and Emotional Truth

🎯 Snapshot

Andrea Bartz is a New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and editor known for her sharp, character-driven psychological thrillers and her nuanced understanding of storytelling craft.
With five acclaimed books published by major houses including Ballantine, Random House, and Crown, Andrea has become a defining voice in contemporary suspense fiction.
Her expertise spans story structure, voice, pacing, and narrative psychology, helping writers elevate their stories from good to unforgettable.

In addition to her literary work, Andrea held senior editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, Natural Health, Martha Stewart's Whole Living, Self, and other outlets. As a top-level magazine editor, successful freelance writer, and best-selling author who loves mentoring and sharing knowledge, she is in a unique position to help you reach your goals.

She is also the lead plaintiff in the landmark Bartz v. Anthropic case, a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of authors to protect creative rights in the age of AI — a defining moment for the intersection of art, ethics, and technology.

🧭 What She Brings to Uptales

  • Deep expertise in psychological thrillers, character development, and tension-building
  • Editorial mastery from her years as a magazine journalist and editor
  • Guidance in crafting publishable manuscripts and pitching to agents or publishers
  • Support in developing story ideas across media — novels, essays, serials, or podcasts
  • A focus on authenticity, representation, and human emotion in every layer of storytelling

🛠️ Background & Experience

  • Author of five novels, including:
    • The Lost Night (2019) — debut thriller about memory and friendship
    • The Herd (2020) — feminist mystery set in an exclusive women’s co-working space
    • We Were Never Here (2021) — New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club Pick
    • The Spare Room (2023) — an exploration of desire, power, and identity
    • The Last Ferry Out (2025) — latest release set on a mysterious remote island
  • Former journalist with bylines in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan
  • Former magazine editor who held senior roles at Conde Nast, Hearst, and other major publishers
  • Has taught and mentored in creative writing, editing, and story development
  • Activist voice in publishing, serving as lead plaintiff in the Anthropic class-action lawsuit defending authors’ creative rights
  • Based in New York City and the Hudson Valley, New York

🎤 Andrea’s Guiding Philosophy

“Thrillers don’t just scare us — they reveal what happens when trust turns dangerous.
My role is to help you uncover the truth hidden inside your story.”

✅ Work With Andrea On

  • Developing thrillers, mysteries, or narrative-driven fiction
  • Crafting voice, tone, and emotional authenticity in storytelling
  • Strengthening pacing, plot structure, and character motivation
  • Perfecting a query letter agents will love
  • Forging your own book-PR strategy and successfully pitching book-related op-eds to the media
  • Preparing a manuscript or proposal for agent submission or publication
  • Making smart decisions about your career as a novelist

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Past Works

Amazon

The Last Ferry Out

On a trip to the tropical paradise where her fiancée died, a young woman begins to suspect the death was no accident—and the killer’s still on the island—in this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Reese's Book Club pick We Were Never Here. Paradise hides a deadly secret. When Abby steps foot on Isla Colel, she isn’t sure what—if anything—she’ll find. She only knows that she needs to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died to try and make sense of the tragic accident. The island is nothing like Abby expected: Though it was once a bustling tourist hub, a hurricane has left it a shell of its former self, with only a handful of residents remaining. Even the once-daily ferry to the mainland now runs every week or so. There, Abby befriends an alluring group of expats, but her sense of unease surges when one of them says he knows the truth about Eszter’s final days. Before he can tell her more, though, he vanishes from the island. Hours turn to days with no sign of him, and the others are chillingly cavalier about his disappearance. As her quest for the truth unearths dark secrets, shady pasts, and a web of lies, Abby grows more determined than ever to find out what happened to the love of her life. And the deeper she gets in the close-knit expat community, the more she suspects that one of them is Eszter’s killer—and will do anything to keep the truth buried. But will Abby discover who it is before she becomes the island’s next victim?

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PenguinRandomhouse.com

The Lost Night

In 2009, Edie had New York's social world in her thrall, the shining star of a group of recent graduates living in a Brooklyn loft. When Edie's body was found near a suicide note at the end of a long, drunken night, no one could believe it. Grief, shock, and resentment scattered the friends and brought the era to an abrupt end. A decade later, her best friend Lindsay has come a long way from the drug-addled world of Calhoun Lofts. She has devoted friends, and a thriving career as a magazine's head fact-checker. When a chance reunion leads Lindsay to discover an unsettling video from that hazy night, she starts to wonder if Edie was actually murdered--and, worse, if she herself was involved.

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Amazon

We Were Never Here

By Andrea Bartz NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “This book is every suspense lover’s dream and it kept me up way too late turning pages. . . . A novel with crazy twists and turns that will have you ditching your Friday night plans for more chapters.”—Reese Witherspoon A backpacking trip has deadly consequences in this “eerie psychological thriller . . . with alluring locales, Hitchcockian tension, and possibly the best pair of female leads since Thelma and Louise” (BookPage), from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd. A Marie Claire Book Club Pick • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and Marie Claire Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice? Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?

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nytimes.com

The Thriller Writer Who Took on a Tech Giant

Andrea Bartz was disturbed to learn that her books had been used to train A.I. chatbots. So she sued, and helped win the largest copyright settlement in history.

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PenguinRandomhouse.com

The Herd by Andrea Bartz: 9781984826381 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Why did the founder of a glamorous coworking space for women disappear? Her best friends will risk everything to uncover the truth in this “propulsive thriller” (Marie Claire) from the New...

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