Smashwords – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Business Musings: Writer Finances Versus The Paycheck World

February 22, 2017February 19, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch35 Comments

If the indie writers who made a lot of money in 2012-2014 had followed this advice, they’d still be writing and publishing. Sure, their incomes would still be down, along with their sales, but their careers would continue.

What happened to these writers?

Well, they will say that their sales went down to unsustainable levels. Those writers will say there’s no point in continuing now that they can’t make the same kind of money they made in 2013. Those writers will say that writing, as a profession, is impossible.

And it is, if you don’t understand money management.

Business Musings: 2016 Disappointments

January 18, 2017January 19, 2017Kristine Kathryn Rusch9 Comments

As I write this in early January, fourth quarter numbers for all big businesses are just starting to trickle in. The whining about 2016 has commenced, some of it justified, some of it not.

The numbers aren’t just in for the major publishers; the numbers are in for indie writers as well. And the writers who crunch numbers are having varied reactions, often depending on years of business expertise.

I have a hunch that when all of the numbers arrive toward the end of this month or so, we’ll find out that 2016 was truly a mixed bag….

Business Musings: Good Things

September 21, 2016September 21, 2016Kristine Kathryn Rusch18 Comments

While I was digging deep into the ugliness that traditional publishing contracts have devolved into, the indie publishing world has grown and changed and become even more positive. More than a light at the end of the tunnel, the indie world has become a haven to those of us willing to work hard and to […]

Business Musings: Price Wars and Victims

August 5, 2015August 7, 2015Kristine Kathryn Rusch82 Comments

The traditional publishers are screaming about Amazon. I’ve learned over the years that when someone screams about something, they’re doing so because they feel some kind of pressure, some kind of pinch.

How could traditional publishers be feeling a pinch from Amazon? After all, in the United States, Amazon is selling more books than any other retailer. Why would that hurt traditional publishers? Is it hurting traditional publishers?

Business Musings: Things Indie Writers Learned in 2014

December 23, 2014December 24, 2014Kristine Kathryn Rusch78 Comments

I’d love to say nothing, but that’s not true—if we’re discussing indie writers who have remained in the business for several years. There will always be new indie writers who know very little, and there will always be those with “experience” who turn a year or two worth of sales into a know-it-all platform. However, […]

The Business Rusch: Experiments

April 24, 2013April 27, 2013Kristine Kathryn Rusch42 Comments

This morning, on my Twitter feed, a kind gentleman tweeted me with the news that he had just bought the first volume of Fiction River on Smashwords. Then he thanked me for “having good sense to make it easy not to steal.” I know what he meant, even though the tweet was oddly phrased: WMG […]

The Business Rusch: Four Years

April 3, 2013Kristine Kathryn Rusch51 Comments

On April 2, 2009, I began what I called an experiment. I decided to write an entire book, section by section, online every week. It took me 18 months of weekly posts to finish the book, which is called The Freelancer’s Survival Guide. By that point, I had thousands of weekly followers who came here […]

The Business Rusch: No Reader Left Behind

October 31, 2012Kristine Kathryn Rusch62 Comments

From 1991 to 2009, my entire career was about the failure to get my books to the readers who wanted them. Every week, I’d get a letter or an e-mail from a fan: Dear Ms. Rusch, Did you know that the fourth book of your Fey series is impossible to find? Do you have an […]

The Business Rusch: The End of The World as We Know It

June 6, 2012June 6, 2012Kristine Kathryn Rusch128 Comments

If you read mainstream publishing news, like I do, occasionally your head will explode. Or you’ll run around in a panic, turning into one of those long-haired barefoot New Yorker cartoon characters, carrying a sign saying that the world is about to end. For many in traditional publishing, the world is ending. Their clout is […]

The Business Rusch: Not A Real Survey

May 30, 2012June 1, 2012Kristine Kathryn Rusch83 Comments

In the traditional news cycle, politicians, major organizations, and anyone with a PR brain dump stories into the week before Memorial Day (and sometimes the week after) in the hopes that no one will notice. Generally speaking, no one does notice because most of America is focused on the three-day weekend and the unofficial start […]