Business Musings: Lessons From The WGA Writers Strike

To Get a Free AI Audio Version of this blog, click here. For most of you, the main issue in this year’s Writers Guild of America writers strike is whether or not your favorite TV programs will be affected. Already, some of the streaming shows, such as Stranger Things and Cobra Kai have shut down due to strike issues. The broadcast shows haven’t started next […]

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Business Musings: Thinking Big

Writers are curious creatures. We’re a mix of insecurity and ego. The ego is there whether we admit it or not. Why else would we write stories and put them out into the world? Deep down, we believe that other people want to read these stories. For some of us (all of us?), we believe that our stories will be read by millions of people […]

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Business Musings: Contracts: Traditional Publishing (The Year In Review 4)

Here’s a weird thing about businesses: When a business is rolling in cash, the people who run it loosen their grip on the details. Instead of solving a problem, they throw money at it. Often they don’t recognize the problem for the danger that it might be, until it comes back to bite them, years down the road. However, when the business notices that its […]

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Business Musings: Money (Hollywood Part 4)

About the time I started planning this series, I got an email from a writer friend. The writer friend is one of those people who think they know business, but have never really bothered to learn much about it. Or maybe they’re the kind of person who reads the how-to, remembers the details, but misses the overall point. The result is the same—complete cluelessness. I […]

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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 […]

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Business Musings: The Kickstarted Game Changer (Part Three) (Licensing/Copyright/Contracts)

So, I’ve just spent the past two blog posts talking Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter as a game changer in the publishing industry. I know that my posts inspired a few of you to take our free class titled “Kickstarter Best Practices for Writers.” I also know that many of you looked at my posts and mentally bookmarked them for the future, thinking this Kickstarter—and this changed […]

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Business Musings: Power (Contracts/Negotiation)

Much of Apple TV’s high profile The Morning Show focuses on contract negotiation. The show, based on Brian Stelter’s book Top of The Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, focuses on a network morning “news” program on the day its popular male anchor gets fired for sexual misconduct. No! Apple insists, this is not about Matt Lauer, and that’s mostly true, although Matt […]

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Business Musings: Paradigm Shift (Rethinking The Writing Business Part 16)

I knew, when we planned this year’s Business Master Class, that bringing in a representative from the Global Licensing Group would be essential for the business-minded writers who were attending. I did not realize how essential. One of the reasons it was so essential was Deidre Manna-Bratten herself. She came in as prepared as a non-writer could be to explain licensing to a bunch of […]

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Business Musings: But I Can’t Afford…(Rethinking The Writing Business Part 15)

As I’ve worked my way through this series, I’ve panicked many of you. I’ve panicked myself. Switching your focus from being a writer of a few books to running a business based on licensing is a lot of work, not just mentally, but with time management and yes, with money management. If you haven’t read the early parts of this series, start here  and then […]

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Business Musings: Money 2 Licensing Out (Rethinking The Writing Business Part 11)

So, those of you who regularly read this blog are thinking, now are we going to talk about how much we can earn? Yeah, kinda sorta. I want those of you who haven’t yet read this series to read two posts: the decision tree and the first post on money. (Actually, I’d love to have you read the entire series, but that’ll take some time. […]

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