Business Musings: More Negotiation Advice From The Hardass

One of the major reasons I write a lot about contracts and negotiation is because in the entertainment field, which is where we writers work, contracts are a nightmare. They’re often written by people who are not lawyers (agent contracts with writers) or negotiated by people who are not lawyers (publishing contracts negotiated by an agent for a writer) or are based on “accepted practices” […]

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Business Musings: Bestselling Feet And Other Thoughts

The real thrust of Underwood’s article is pretty simple: the proliferation of “bestsellers” has made the term meaningless. What makes Underwood’s post chuckle-worthy is how he proved it. He published an ebook called “Putting My Foot Down,” which was just a photograph of his foot….

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The Business Rusch: When The Old Ways Work (Discoverability Part 13)

Yeah, yeah, I was pretty disparaging of the old ways to promote books back fifteen weeks ago, when I was just digging into this series. And there’s a good reason to disparage the way Things Have Always Been Done. But here’s the catch: The old ways work. Occasionally. Sometimes. When done right. They usually aren’t done right. In fact, most places—including traditional publishers—use all the […]

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The Business Rusch: The Fierce Urgency of Now (Discoverability Part 3)

 We’re all familiar with the “fierce urgency of now.” We have experienced it all of our lives. It’s that feeling that we have to have something or have to do something right now or we’ll lose the chance. When it comes to buying something, “the fierce urgency of now” used to drive our purchasing life. Back in the days of brick-and-mortar stores only, back in […]

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The Business Rusch: Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain

The Business Rusch: Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain Kristine Kathryn Rusch   The curtains are rustling. In some gilded office, a little dog with a lot of attitude has taken a green curtain in his teeth and has pulled it aside, revealing a rather plain and disappointing figure pulling a bunch of lever and shouting into a microphone. Welcome to the […]

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The Business Rusch: Smackdown!!!!!

  The Business Rusch: Smackdown!!!!! Kristine Kathryn Rusch   What passes for American journalism these days loves a good smackdown, and a week ago Monday, the Journalists Who Cover Publishing got one.  On that day, some nervous publishing executives, afraid they wouldn’t get a hot deal, leaked to the press that Amanda Hocking, “darling of the indie world,” as one blog called her, was in […]

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The Business Rusch: How E-Books Will Save Big Publishing (Changing Times Part Four)

The Business Rusch: How E-Books Will Save Big Publishing (Changing Times Continued) Kristine Kathryn Rusch In my very first post in this long series of linked topics, I advised anyone who cared about publishing to keep up with the day-to-day industry news.  I wrote that blog post in my spare time over four days and I noted: “In four days, some parts of the [publishing] […]

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