The Business Rusch: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

The Business Rusch: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics Kristine Kathryn Rusch The quote in my title comes from Mark Twain’s autobiography.  Twain said: “Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” The problem with […]

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The Business Rusch: The Fear Chronicles

The Business Rusch: The Fear Chronicles Kristine Kathryn Rusch Last week, as the stock market took yet another tumble, I saw a big-name trader get interviewed on the evening news. The trader said—not flippantly, but tiredly—“You know how it goes in the markets. Traders either respond with greed or terror.” Economic analysts have been talking about fear a lot in the past three years. Ever […]

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The Business Rusch: Professional Writers

The Business Rusch: Professional Writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch I warned you guys in some of my other posts that I have what I call aw-f*ck-it moments. (Forgive the vulgarity; I know some of you don’t like that. But that’s what I call it, and that’s what it is. The little asterisk is there because my husband told me to add it so that I won’t […]

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The Business Rusch: Fighting Uphill

The Business Rusch: Fighting Uphill Kristine Kathryn Rusch The struggle begins when we’re young. Think of it this way: How many parents, upon hearing that their child wants to be a doctor, lawyer, firefighter, teacher, or nurse, says, No, you can’t. It’s too hard or You’ll never make money at that or You’re not good enough to succeed in that profession. Parents guide their kids, sure, […]

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The Business Rusch: Common Sense And The Writer

The Business Rusch: Common Sense and the Writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch A friend of mine runs a flat fee menu service that helps writers publish novels, short stories, and nonfiction books as e-books. Her service will also help writers publish print-on-demand books as well. By a flat-fee menu service, I mean this: If you prep an e-pub file and post to the e-book distributers yourself, […]

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The Business Rusch: Short Stories

The Business Rusch: Short Stories Kristine Kathryn Rusch For the past several weeks, I’ve been talking about things to watch out for in traditional publishing from the writer’s point of view.  The contracts and relationships in traditional publishing have changed dramatically, and many established authors, busy with their deadlines, haven’t noticed.  I hope they read those blogs and realize what is going on before they […]

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The Business Rusch: Bookstore Observations

The Business Rusch: Bookstore Observations Kristine Kathryn Rusch I live in a town that has no completely new bookstore. We have two marvelous bookstores that feature new and used.  One specializes in mysteries, and the other gets as much of everything as it can. But it only has a tiny storefront, and so “everything” is geared toward Times bestsellers and books on Oregon. So it’s […]

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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 […]

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The Business Rusch: Promotion

  The Business Rusch: Promotion Kristine Kathryn Rusch Finally, a week that’s a little slower than some others on the news front.  Yes, there are some great blogs out there and some interesting news stories, but nothing earth-shattering.  Or should I say, nothing that can’t wait until next week. Since December, many of you have asked for a blog on promotion in this new world.  […]

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The Business Rusch: Readers, Publishing, & The Future (Changing Times Part 21)

The Business Rusch: Readers, Publishing & The Future (Changing Times Part Twenty-One) Kristine Kathryn Rusch It’s an hour before I normally post this blog, and I’m just getting started.  I’d like to say that’s because this is the saga of my entire week (and it is), but the real problem is that I decided to make a few notes on the book I’m finishing before […]

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