June was a weird month. As I blogged about earlier in the week, I got so sick I couldn’t read. When I came back to reading, I read a few novels that were good, but not compelling. Certainly not worth recommending. One I had been reading as I got sick and thought maybe the problem was me. No. The problem wasn’t me. The book was […]
Business Musings: Copyright Savvy
Gloria and Emilio Estefan have an estimated net worth of 700 million dollars. Jimmy Buffett has an estimated net worth of 550 million dollars. What do those artists have in common? They kept control of the copyrights to their songs. They maintained control of those copyrights starting in the 1970s, when other musicians signed away those rights because they were told that to keep those […]
Business Musings: The People in Your Office
So, it happened again. A big name fantasy writer made his fans angry because the next book in his series hasn’t appeared in years. And, in a passing remark, he compared the comments fans make on his overdue book to those comments people make to their unemployed adult child about getting a job or to their single grandkid about getting married. Patrick Rothfuss made the […]
Business Musings: Brand Image (Branding/Discoverability)
The publishing industry has been shifting since 2009. Indie publishing has become a force since 2011 or so. At first, we writers made our work available, but the things that worked six years ago don’t work now. The problem is that the marketing gurus for writers are just other writers with an okay idea. As I’ve said all along, we writers must accept that we’re […]
Business Musings: How To Build A Brand: The Early Stages (Branding/Discoverability)
When I do marketing posts, they tend to freak my loyal readers out. Sometimes, the posts freak me out too. What writers want from marketing blogs are simple suggestions that boil down to this: Do x, y, and z, and you’ll get these fantastic results! Only it doesn’t work that way. Or rather, it doesn’t work that way for everyone. I’m writing this on Sunday, […]
Slacker Woman’s News Post
Okay, I’m not completely a slacker. But I’ve been slow in updating you on all that’s been going on. That’s partly because I’ve been writing a Diving Universe novel that kicked my butt all winter. I finished draft one yesterday. Yes, I said Diving Universe. I started out writing a novella to explain something to myself, and ended up with at least 100,000 words. (That’s […]
Overdue News
Here’s the overdue news from December…
Business Musings: What Traditional Publishing Learned in 2014
I want to say nothing, but that’s not true. Traditional publishers learned a lot these past few years, and in 2014, started putting their knowledge into action. Over the next few weeks, I’ll do the traditional media thing, and provide you with my own sort of year in review. All of it will focus on publishing and writing, both indie and traditional, and all of […]
The Business Rusch: The Old Ways Part 2 (or Discoverability Part 4 Continued)
Last week, I wrote a blog about the way traditional publishers market bestselling books. Most writers, indie published and traditionally published, mimic what traditional publishers do for their bestsellers. Unfortunately, traditional publishers put very little thought into their promotions. As long-time traditionally published bestseller (who happened to be a salesman before he became a writer) stated in his response to last week’s blog: Publishing is […]
The Business Rusch: The Helpful Reader (Discoverability Part Two)
I publish this blog late on Wednesday night my time so that readers have the blog on Thursday. In the United States, this Thursday is our annual day set aside for giving thanks. Before I start this blog, let me give thanks for all of you. You’ve come to this blog on a regular basis for years now, and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. […]
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