On February 9, The Passive Voice published a piece titled “The Beginning of the End for Patreon.” [link] As he so often does, the Passive Guy linked to another blog post, and then did his own riff on that post. The other blog post is worth reading. It’s by Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader, and discusses Patreon’s viability. As the Passive Guy investigated the […]
Business Musings: Other Evil Clauses (Contracts/Dealbreakers)
Writers tend to go through their business life like Pokémon Go players, looking for something that isn’t there, hoping to score a magic number of points, and not seeing what is there.
It’s impossible to show you all the bad contract terms. I’ve delineated several that you need to watch out for. I’m going to go through some important ones quickly in this blog post…
Business Musings: Thugs, Lawyers, and Writers (Contracts/Dealbreakers)
Writerly weirdness causes conflict with our careers and our businesses, in part because we are (as a group) imaginative, rule-bound, pessimistic, ethical, and the center of our own small universes.
We bring all of those things into the realm of contracts.
Be honest with yourself: What do you imagine will happen to you if you don’t follow your book contract to the letter?
Business Musings: Long-Term Thinking: The Option Clause (Contracts/Dealbreakers)
For all the dreams of having work last forever, writers are their own worst enemies in making those dreams come true. And the mistakes happen in the little decisions.
Let’s take the option clause…
Business Musings: Prince, Estates, and The Future (Contracts/Dealbreakers/Estates)
Last week, the death of Prince hit me hard. I was in the middle of teaching the Romance Workshop, here on the Oregon Coast, and working my tail off. A satellite radio station that I always listen to had breaking news—something they never do (which is why I listen to them)—that I could barely hear. I heard “prince” and “died” and “young” so I’m wondering […]
Business Musings: Frontlist? Backlist? Books!
Readers are the original binge consumers. Readers find a writer whose work they like and read everything the writer has done.
Nowadays, everything by that writer can remain in print—if the writer is indie or hybrid.
But not if the writer is traditionally published.
Business Musings: Choices
I’ve been watching the reactions to John Scalzi’s 3.4 million dollar book deal with great interest. If you’re not familiar with this particular news story, it might be because you have a life, and because you were doing something with your family on Memorial Day weekend instead of watching the publishing trades. But this one even made The New York Times in the media section. […]
Business Musings: Sure, I Trust You
Here’s the one sentence response that I expected to last week’s post and didn’t receive: I know some writers have had troubles, but my agent [editor/publisher] would never do something like that. Am I optimistic enough to believe that writers—traditional and indie—are finally getting the message that they’re business people? And, as business people, they should operate under the trust-but-verify model? Or have I simply […]
Business Musings: Things Indie Writers Learned in 2014
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, those indie writers who’ve been at this since the beginning […]
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