Note: I wrote this at the end of July. By the end of the first week in August, the doomsayers got confused by the stellar jobs report here in the U.S. A lot of the analysis is a confused “this doesn’t fit into our models,” rather than a discussion of how to find new models. I’m mostly leaving the post as it was when I […]
Business Musings: Let’s Talk Real Business, Shall We?
Two weeks ago, I posted about agenting changes, and linked to a Hollywood Reporter piece about the new writer/agent relationship. Many of you had sent me that piece, because it is shocking in its happy talk about what is, essentially, a predatory scheme. I promised you all three posts inspired by this piece. The agenting piece is the expected one, along with last week’s post […]
Business Musings: Shopping As Experience (Jumping The Digital Divide Part 3)
All of the changes since March of 2020 brought a lot more people into online shopping, which includes buying books. Our market has grown and, with the slow decline of Amazon as the default marketplace, will continue to grow. I’ve dealt with these changes in the previous two posts on the changes the pandemic hath wrought. In this piece, I’ll look at some of the […]
Business Musings: The Digital Retail Space, featuring Omnichannel (Jumping the Digital Divide Part 2)
We are moving through this pandemic more divided than ever. I’m not talking about politically. I’m talking about economically and with the virus itself. First, the virus. Access to the vaccine is deeply uneven across the globe. Early on, poorer countries were unable to buy vaccine. Now, the U.S. and E.U. countries (as well as some others) are donating vaccines, but not in large enough […]
Business Musings: Economic Shakiness
To understand what I am about to write, you need to understand that I am the adult child of two alcoholics. I’ve had tons of therapy to deal with my hugely destructive upbringing, so I know what triggers me. 2020 triggered me—of course. We all had to deal with things from deaths to illness to lockdown, and each of our journeys is personal. It’s also […]
Business Musings: Fear And The Future (Fear-Based Decision-Making Part 8)
I wasn’t going to write much more on fear-based decision-making after the last post, “Fear And All Writers.” I figured I’d said what I needed to, even if the end of the series was (in my opinion) a bit lacking. Then I saw an opinion piece on Bloomberg, thanks to my Twitter feed. What caught my eye was the tweeted hook (as it should have): […]
Business Musings: A Cautionary Tale (Hollywood Part 1)
I’m starting a tiny new series because of everything that’s been in the news of late. But first, let me give you a caveat. For decades, Dean and I have said “Hollywood” when we really mean the film and/or TV industry. That word wasn’t accurate 30 years ago; it’s less accurate now. The industry has mushroomed. It’s not even one industry anymore. You can do […]
Half-Off All Online Writing Workshops!
Wow, we did not expect to be stuck in place kinda sorta a year into this pandemic. Well, I hoped we’d be out of it by now, but my knowledge of history told me that an uncontrolled pandemic takes about three years to work its way through the population. We’re not on that trajectory thanks to Science!!! Yay, science!!!! So we’re all waiting for our […]
Business Musings: K-Shaped
On Saturday, November 14, I went on my usual morning run. I chose the route that took me past the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, one of the country’s top-rated high schools. When I ran past this school pre-COVID, I would often hear voices raised in song, or a particularly amazing band practice. Sometimes I saw very intense high school students have discussions about […]
Business Musings: The Kickstarted Game Changer (Part Two)
For decades publishing has been a stagnated industry, relying on fifty- and sixty-year-old methods to sell books. Most of the practices within the industry are also at least fifty or sixty years old. Sure, the industry has made some modifications to accommodate innovation, like the ebook, but those are minor tweaks. Those tweaks do not take into account the actual changes in the world. What […]
The Reflection on Mount Vitaki: A Story of the Fey
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