| January 15, 2026
book inc Founder J. Greg Phelan's crowded and harrowing train journey into Manhattan during the holiday peak becomes a lesson in turning life's uncomfortable moments into literary opportunities.
Writers
Writers
J. Greg Phelan
founding member
Biography
J. Greg Phelan co-founded an Internet company which he sold a long time ago, and a nonprofit writing center, Project Write Now, which after ten years is going strong. He lives in Fair Haven, NJ, with his wife, his two college age boys, and his black lab, Luna. When he’s not meditating, running, or playing the piano, he’s working on his novel based on a family scandal in the 1920s.
Twitter: @jgregphelan
Instagram: @jgregphelan
Journal Essays
| June 26, 2025
Nine writers formed a collaborative collective, adopted an octopus mascot for its nine brains, and proved writing doesn't have to be solitary. Join book inc to multiply your creative power.
| May 23, 2024
After gathering insights from other authors, book inc founder J. Greg Phelan realizes he's not the only one who struggles between the joy of perfecting prose and the necessity of structured planning. ...
| February 22, 2024
book inc director J. Greg Phelan shares his latest preoccupation: how to encourage writers to write essays about writing for the book inc Journal. In doing so, he gives us tips and prompts.
Publications
America: Book Reviews
- 09/13/17 | Telling Stories and Paying Witness to Suffering | Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
- 02/06/16 | A Lover of Fiction Sets Out to Find the Truth | Moonglow by Michael Chabon
- 02/15/16 | Less is More | All Days Are Night by Peter Stamm
- 07/03/15 | Pastor From Another Planet | The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
- 06/08/15 | Time in a Bottle | My Struggle Book 4 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
- 03/16/15 | Leaving Queens | We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
- 09/22/15 | War Stories | In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds
- 11/25/13 | The Holy Fool | Someone by Alice McDermott
- 11/18/13 | Man of Letters | Suitable Accommodations by J.F. Powers
The Millions: Essays, book reviews, and interviews
- 02/28/23 | Paul Harding Wants Precision
- 01/29/13 | Composing a Life: On Richard Powers’ Orfeo
- 09/12/12 | Experiencing the Superabundance of Bach
- 09/25/12 | The Shoddy After Life of a Reality Hunger Appropriation
The New York Times: Articles and interviews
- 05/22/05 | He Helped Put the Blue Into Blue Note | Profile of famed jazz recording engineer, Rudy Van Gelder
- 11/06/03 | It’s Got Good Beat but Where’s the Cover? | Explores album art in the age of MP3 with John Mayer, David Byrne, and other experts.
- 09/04/03 | For Student Essayists, An Automated Grader | Investigates software that automates essay grading on standardized tests.
- 01/16/96 | For an AT&T Brat, The Anguish of Letting Go | Personal essay on taking a volunteer severance package in the age of corporate downsizing.
- Regular Contributor to Sound Bytes Interviews 1994-1995 Including Omar Wasow, NY Online; Olaf Olafson, Sony; Bran Ferren, Disney Imagineering.
Other Publications (Offline)
- Book reviews and interviews, Mars Hill Review, including Interview with Paul Elie, Author of The Life You Save May be Your Own
- 1993-1997 | Technology columnist, Asbury Park Press, Home News, and The Record
- 1995-1997 | Freelance articles, Star Ledger | Wrote a variety of technology articles to explain Internet technology to lay audiences.