indie publishing – Page 10 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Business Musings: Bookstores (2017 in Review)

January 17, 2018January 4, 2018Kristine Kathryn Rusch24 Comments

It is no longer possible for an independent bookseller in the United States to remain in business based on in-store book sales alone. Okay, maybe a handful are doing it in high traffic areas with low rents, but not many at all. The old way is no longer the new way, and unless the bookseller understands that, the bookstore goes out of business.

But readers do want their paper books. And readers love browsing bookshelves. Sometimes readers “window,” meaning they look at books on the shelves, then order them online. Readers recognize that they will discover books that are new to them in person more often than they’ll discover them while shopping online. So book people venture into any place with books.

Business Musings: The Small Traditional Publishers (2017 in Review) 2

January 10, 2018January 1, 2018Kristine Kathryn Rusch19 Comments

Once I separated out the Big Five from all of the other traditional publishers in the U.S., I came to a happy realization. There are a lot of good publishers doing the kind of work we readers want publishers to do—curating books with a voice and an attitude, so that we know what to expect from the company, marketing those books to the best of their ability, and making the books available in all formats.

Business Musings: The Year in Review (Overview)

December 27, 2017December 27, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch24 Comments

In 2014, I wrote a year end wrap-up, looking at all aspects of publishing. I had done that for me more than for any other reason. You see, in 2014, I wrote six books of the Anniversary Day saga and the project ate my brain. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. I had stopped […]

Business Musings: Quitting

December 13, 2017December 5, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch28 Comments

Do what’s best for you

Business Musings: Sustainability

December 6, 2017December 5, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch50 Comments

If you want to sustain your writing and publishing businesses, you have to stop thinking like a manufacturer.

Business Musings: Burnout and the Indie Writer

November 29, 2017November 28, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch33 Comments

Burnout. I’ve been hearing that word a lot in the writer community. It took a while for the word to penetrate. I’ve had my own things to deal with this year, and I really haven’t been looking outward as much as I usually do. But a friend who traveled to a number of conventions this […]

Business Musings: The Fourth 2017 Process Blog

October 18, 2017October 9, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch8 Comments

I’m almost terrified to write this post. Shortly after I wrote the last one, my year imploded—and it had been a tough year anyway. Until today, I had actually forgotten that I had written the third process blog. All of the things I developed lasted about two weeks, before I tumbled off the edge […]

Business Musings: Rethinking A Title

September 13, 2017September 14, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch13 Comments

I blame Marvel. As I finished my Kris Nelscott/Smokey Dalton novel, Stone Cribs, I realized that the victim in the book, Valentina Wilson, was one amazing woman. And she needed a story arc all her own. I knew how she was going to end up, and who she would be years after the events […]

Business Musings: Rip Van Winkle Syndrome

September 6, 2017August 30, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch13 Comments

I remember how overwhelming it was for me to make the transition to mostly indie. I’m not entirely indie. My short fiction is still hybrid, as is all of my work in translation. But I can’t see any situation where I would ever go back to a traditional publisher for my novels. The contracts are awful, the lack of support profound, and the benefits nearly nonexistent.

The traditionally published writers who are being cut loose or who are being offered terrible deals are just beginning to realize this. And they’re at a complete loss as to what to do.

I feel for them. I really do.

Business Musings: How To Expand Your Target Audience 1: Choices (Branding/Discoverability)

July 19, 2017July 17, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch6 Comments

Most writers—most businesses, in fact—believe that they must actively grow their audience. And that belief is a mistake.

In your writing business, as in all business, there is no one-size-fits-all model. That goes to everything from building a business to building a brand. Even if you’re in the same field as someone else, your business is different. What you do with that business is based entirely on your goals for that business.

Um, what? you might ask.

Yep, expanding an audience fits into your business goals, not just into branding. Change happens all the time in business, but growth happens only when a business actively pursues that growth….