If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably think I make a business decision every time I sit down to write. You might assume that I have audience-tested my ideas and have planned my next works in excruciating market-approved details. And if you think any of that, you would be wrong. When I […]
Continue ReadingProbably the most popular blog post I’ve written in the Business Rusch series appeared in May, 2011. Geared toward traditionally published writers and new writers coming in, “Writing Like It’s 1999” explains how the many truths of publishing from the last century are no longer truths, but myths. The post gets reprinted often. It’s part […]
Continue ReadingFor the fourth year in a row, I have posted a blog on Thanksgiving. But this year is the first time I’ve decided to write a post about the holiday itself. Many of you who read this are not from the United States, which is why I have ignored the holiday (and most others like […]
Continue ReadingI should never read the comments on other people’s writing information blogs. The comments discourage me, generally for one of two reasons. If the blog is about traditional publishing, and the authors are traditionally published only with no desire to change, I get discouraged at the amount of misinformation. If the blog is about indie […]
Continue ReadingThis past week, my husband writer Dean Wesley Smith tilted at a windmill and decided to define terms in this new world of publishing. He described self-published writers as writers who published books by themselves without starting a press to do it. (In other words, if you saw the book on Amazon, you’d see: The Story […]
Continue ReadingFrom the beginning, I have warned readers of this blog away from services that promise to publish your e-books for a percentage of the royalties. I haven’t done so in a while, and I really need to again. Here’s why: These businesses will harm you and your career. Best case, they’re run by well-intentioned idiots […]
Continue ReadingDean Wesley Smith and I have spent a good part of this summer teaching, as well as talking to other professional writers. One thing we discuss is the history of the business because it helps us understand how we got to where we are. In the beginning, publishing was a handshake operation. Writers and publishers […]
Continue ReadingThe Business Rusch: The Writer’s Guide To Evaluating A Traditional Publishing Company Kristine Kathryn Rusch About once a week, I get an e-mail from someone asking me to recommend a traditional publisher for them. I can’t, not because I don’t believe in traditional publishing, but because I have no idea what that person wants in […]
Continue ReadingThe Business Rusch: Writers and Traditional Publishing Companies Kristine Kathryn Rusch Once upon a time, not so very long ago, writers had limited choices if they wanted to publish books. Sure, the writer could spend thousands of dollars self-publishing, and wind up with thousands of books in a garage and no place to sell them. […]
Continue ReadingThe Business Rusch: The Old Stone Path Kristine Kathryn Rusch Once upon a time in a land not so far away, publishing made sense. Okay, it didn’t exactly make sense, but there was a set way to do things. For writers, it was pretty easy. We wrote something, and mailed it to an editor who […]
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