Kristine Kathryn Rusch » Freelancer’s Survival Guide
The Business Rusch: Deal Breakers
The Business Rusch: Deal Breakers Kristine Kathryn Rusch For the bulk of my thirty-year career in publishing, the industry has remained the same. In fact, the industry hadn’t changed much since the end of the Second World War. Oh, there were changes—the rise of mass market paperbacks, the decline of the slick magazines, the introduction of computerized ordering—but those things happened slowly and usually one at a time. In the past two years, the changes have come so quickly that it seems like we’re on the Starship Enterprise, heading into a new galaxy at warp speed. You know that little wink of light when the starship goes into warp? That little dot was publishing in 2009. We’ve been at warp speed for two-plus years now, and unfortunately, our navigation systems don’t work … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Rusch, featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing
The Business Rusch: Plan For The Future (Surviving The Transition Part 4)
The Business Rusch: Plan For The Future (Surviving The Transition Part Four) Kristine Kathryn Rusch For the past month, I have geared my blog toward established writers. Starting with the post, “Writing Like It’s 1999,” I have discussed the rapid change that the publishing industry is going through, change that most working professional writers haven’t really noticed yet. Working professional writers, those who make a living at this profession and have done so for decades, often have book contracts that control their publishing destinies for years. As of right now, I have book contracts with traditional publishers that extend into late 2012. In traditional publishing terms (pre-1999 terms), that’s a relatively short time period. I have had publishing contracts that have extended over three books and four years. The reason I’m not as tied … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Rusch, featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing
The Business Rusch: Publishers (Surviving the Transition Part 2)
The Business Rusch: Publishers (Surviving The Transition Part Two) Kristine Kathryn Rusch For the past two weeks, I’ve geared this blog toward established writers, writers who have been in the business for ten or twenty years or more, and have made a living from their writing during this time. My first post in this mini-series, “Writing Like It’s 1999,” got a lot of attention, with more hits than any other post I’ve ever written. That post showed established writers who’ve been busy with contracts, deadlines, and other details of their writing careers that the publishing business has changed dramatically in the past few years. Last week’s post, “Surviving The Transition,” got fewer readers, which is too bad. Because so many writers read the scary post and either dismissed it or decided it didn’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Rusch, featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing
Recommended Reading List March 2011
I read a lot of anthologies in March, most of which I will not recommend. I’ve been searching for a certain type of writer, because one of my favorites has repeatedly failed me, and I’d like to replace him with a similar book. I’ve been reading the anthologies cover to cover, forcing myself into some stories I wouldn’t normally read (usually by very popular authors), trying to see if I haven’t given them enough of a chance. Sometimes I haven’t, and I revise what I think of them to the positive. Often, though, I realize they’re just not to my taste. The other thing I’ve realized is that a lot of published short stories have no point. Oh, they have an adventure and something happens, but it’s not very interesting. … Read entire article »
Filed under: featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing, Recommended Reading
The Business Rusch: Sea Changes
The Business Rusch: Sea Changes Kristine Kathryn Rusch A lot of readers have commented on my blog posts of the past two weeks. For those of you who missed this while on spring break or family holiday, I wrote about some discrepancies I found in royalty statements. I checked with other writers and publishing professionals and discovered that these discrepancies weren’t unusual. I wrote about that the first week. The second week, I updated everyone on the progress made on the royalty statement front. My blog design tracks the most-read posts. If you look at the first page of my website, you’ll see that last week’s post is number one, with the previous week’s as number two. Thousands of people have read these two posts. Most have not contacted me directly, although … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Rusch, featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing
The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements
The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements Kristine Kathryn Rusch Imagine this: Pretend you run a very large business. The business has a lot of built-in problems, things not easily fixed. You’re aware of the problems and are trying to solve them. A decade ago, you actually had hope you could solve them. It will simply take time, you thought, but back then, your business was a leisurely business. Back then, you had no idea that the word “leisure” would leave your vocabulary and never return. In that decade, your business has changed dramatically. Your corporate masters sold out to large conglomerates, so now you can no longer point to your small but steady profit as normal for your industry. The conglomerate doesn’t care. All the conglomerate cares about is quarterly profits, which should rise … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Rusch, featured, free nonfiction, Freelancer's Survival Guide, On Writing
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