Here’s an excellent article from former agent Nathan Bransford on the various scams and nonsense authors are dealing with right now.
https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2026/08/know-your-rights-as-an-author
Showing posts with label business of writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business of writing. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2026
Monday, May 11, 2026
Reinventing Yourself
QUESTION: In a recent interview, a famous author said that she has reinvented herself (changed what she wrote) three times. Why did she do this?
Almost everyone who writes long enough for the NY conglomerate publishers has to reinvent themselves or leave publishing.
Markets die. For example, when the historical romance market faded drastically some years back, many of its writers started writing contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense.
Publishers die or drop lines, and some authors are trapped in contracts that won't allow them to move their successful series to another publisher or write anything in direct competition to their series so they have to make a major change in direction with a new and very different series.
Selling numbers can fall to a point that no publisher wants her books so the author has to start over with a new name.
Authors change. One successful paranormal romance author lost her young child, and she left paranormal romance and started writing inspirational novels.
Some authors get bored.
Other authors are trend whores (their term) who change with the shifting popularity of types of books.
The danger with the constant shift in types of books is that you lose fans every time you make a shift, and you have to work extra hard at marketing yourself to a new group of people.
The most successful way to reinvent yourself is to build a brand with a certain type of books, write at least six, then start a second series or type of book that shares many of the same readers. Then you publish at least one book of each type every year.
Monday, August 11, 2025
Dealing with the Naysayers
I've been at this business for over thirty years, and I am an ebook pioneer so I've seen it all. The first thing you need to know is that whatever you write, whatever publisher you choose or not, whatever media you write for someone will make fun of you.
From your fellow writers and publishing professionals, you will face sneers and contempt. If you are e-published or self-published, if you write for Kensington rather than Pocket, or paperback rather than hardcover, or if you write romance or erotica or mystery or science fiction or any other sort of fiction, you are looked down upon by someone, and that person has no trouble telling you so.
From the real world of family, friends, readers, and strangers, people will sneer at you for all the above reasons as well as a few more. Most people think LeBron James works hard for his craft and has a natural born skill, but writers just put words on paper and anyone can do it.
Over half the people who learn you are a writer tell you that they are going to write a book someday, and they think it will be published instantly. People believe that most celebrities actually write their own books, and therefore, if that idiot can write a book, anyone can.
The most important thing to know is that THEY don't define you. YOU define you.
I've discovered that my enthusiasm can win over those blank stares. The trick is to believe in what you are doing and who you are. If you give those people with sneers or blank stares the power to define who you are, then you've lost, and you are nothing.
Instead, believe in yourself and what you are doing. Writing is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and if you succeed, then you are a success. Glow with it, and no one can belittle you.
Monday, July 7, 2025
The Best and Worst Career Advice
What are the best and worst choices you can make as you start your career? Here are my suggestions for both.
Best: Good writing teachers. Many of them are found online. A hands-on teacher can teach specific craft skills and can hone your craft far faster than plugging along by yourself. If they were available back in ancient times before the internet, I could have cut over 10 years from my writing journey.
Second Best: Learning about the business side of writing so you can move forward safely in this sea of piranhas. I recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Business Musings."
https://kriswrites.com/category/business-musings/
I've not been a member for years, but RWA, SFWA, and MWA used to offer lots of great info on the business aspects of a career. Ask around to see if they still do.
Worst: Self-publishing before your craft is competent. If that first and second book are dreck, no one will buy the next book. The rush of self-publishing also blinds some writers to the need to keep learning craft so they don't bother to keep learning and continue to publish dreck.
Second Worst: Being so eager to publish that you hurt or end your career by picking the wrong agent or publisher, then signing a contract that will destroy your future. Also, don’t throw all your creative eggs into one media aggregator like Amazon Kindle who can casually destroy your career with a software algorithm glitch. Business knowledge is power, folks.
Monday, September 23, 2024
They Say Our Books Are Garbage
There have always been controversies on the Internet about why some kinds of books aren’t included in the “best of” or some other list where a group doesn’t include books by women or popular genre novels.
Sure, this isn’t fair, but it’s a sad fact of life that popular fiction and women writers never seem to get the respect they deserve.
My question about these controversies is why should we give a rat's ass what they think?
"They" are like the father who will never give his approval because he doesn't have it in him to give it. "They" have their own agendas. "They" need someone to look down on, and women writers and popular genres are easy targets. We also make such a lovely squawk when "they" bully us, and they love that.
"They" also will not ever read or buy our books so why are we wasting our time seeking their approval?
I can more than take care of myself when someone I meet denigrates popular genre. I will raise my eyebrow in my best Spock impression and proceed to pound them into dust with my academic credentials and my extensive knowledge of genre theory. I will wow them with my enthusiasm for the genres I love.
But I don't usually bother when "they" start spouting their usual nonsense because it isn't worth the trouble.
Monday, September 16, 2024
So You Want to be a Published Author
When I tell people I am a published novelist, a vast majority tell me they will write a novel when they have the time.
Most firmly believe that anyone can write a novel since celebrity idiots write bestsellers. (They are ghostwritten by someone else.) All they need to do is sit down and write to the finish which should take a few weeks at most. They believe that grammar, punctuation, and spelling will be taken care of by some editor so they won't need to learn those skills. The novel will then be sold almost instantly to a big publisher for a huge amount of money, become a bestseller and a major motion picture.
Sadly, these people don't have a clue and are shocked when I explain how many years it takes to learn your craft to be publishable, how many hundreds or thousands of hours you will be sitting on your rear in front of the computer while everyone else is out having a life and fun, and the classes you will probably need to hone that craft.
Once you have a well-crafted novel, you will spend a few years, if you are lucky—most aren’t, trying to get an agent or editor to actually read some of your work. You will discover that you are not only competing with other new writers for a slot in a publishing schedule, but with writers who have been published multiple times.
If you finally make that sale, you will most likely be given a pittance as an advance, the book will be thrown into the market with no advertising, no book signings, and absolutely no glamor, and you will be lucky to sell any other book because your book will most likely sink like a stone into oblivion and you won't see another penny from it. That is the fate of most first books.
Only a very few are able to escape that dismal ending to their dreams by making money and creating a true career as a writer, and the money is rarely enough to make a living so they need a supportive spouse with a lucrative job or a trust fund so they can afford to write full time.
To be successfully self-published, you must hone your craft to the point that the traditionally published must achieve, then you must also develop the skills and soul of a used car salesman to shamelessly slog your books, and you must learn business skills since you are now your own business.
When I tell these would-be authors the truth of the matter, as I have learned being in and around the publishing business for over thirty years, they decide that they should buy a few more lottery tickets because they have a better chance at making big money doing that, and it's a lot less work.
Monday, November 7, 2022
Even More Will and Estate Information
Since there’s no such thing as too much information on the business side of publishing, here are more links on author wills and estates.
WILLS AND ESTATES (General info plus Nevada State Laws) :
https://lasvegasestatelaw.com/estate-planning-authors/
AN AGENT’S VIEW OF ESTATE PLANNING AND WILLS:
https://bookendsliterary.com/literary-estates-will-and-trusts-for-authors/
SFWA LEGAL KIT FOR PLANNING AUTHOR ESTATES:
ESTATE PLANNING, COPYRIGHT AND INVENTORIES:
http://kriswrites.com/2013/01/09/the-business-rusch-fearless-inventories/
AUTHOR ESTATES AND WILLS:
ON AUTHOR WILLS AND PRINCE:
NEIL GAIMAN ON WILLS WITH AN AUTHOR WILL TEMPLATE :
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html
PREPARING FOR A MAJOR AUTHOR EMERGENCY, LEGAL ELEMENTS:
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2016/05/in-case-of-emergency.html
Monday, October 31, 2022
Wills for Writers
When my mom died, one of her final caring gifts to the family was a huge folder filled with absolutely everything we would need to go forward with her cremation, memorial service, and the probating and closing of her estate.
She had even written a rough draft of her obituary and the hymns and Bible verses she wanted at her service so we knew we were giving her the send off she wanted.
Most of us with families already have our wills in order, but, as a writer, do you have a plan for your books after you die?
Have you included instructions about your writing in your will? Or have you filled out an addenda to your will containing details about your writing?
Some things you may want to consider are
What do you want to happen to your books and "name" after you die.
Do you want others to write books using your name?
Do you want someone to finish whatever books you didn't finish?
Do you want books you wrote years ago to be pulled out and sold?
Do you want your notes and drafts sold or given to a university or a collector?
Do you want someone to maintain your promotions (website, etc.) while your books are in print?
Do you want a special executor just for your writing? Most established authors name their literary agent or literary lawyer as special executor to their writing estate because writing is so specialized that people not in the business haven't a clue.
Here's a really excellent blog on the subject by Neil Gaiman which includes a PDF form that writers can use to explain their wishes on their works.
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html
If you already have a will, I’d use this form as an addenda to your will since it revokes previous wills. As Gaiman said, talk to your lawyer.
And while you are doing all this, remember what my mom did for us and build a large folder that includes copies of all your publishing contracts, website contracts, passwords, and all the other things you need to manage your professional career. And keep your files in order, too, to save your family from having to sort through the useless junk to find the important things.
Monday, July 19, 2021
When to Copyright Your Novel
QUESTION: When should I copyright my novel?
According to US copyright law, your book was copyrighted the moment you put something on the page.
If, however, you want to file an official copyright with the US Copyright Office, the answer is different for your publishing choices.
If you want to be published by a traditional publisher, aka the conglomerates mainly in NYC, you shouldn’t do an official copyright because it makes you look like an amateur. And, if they buy it, it will most likely will be copyrighted again because it will have been changed drastically in rewrites. In most cases, the publisher will do the copyright for you. Check your contract on this question and make dang sure the copyright is in YOUR name.
Some small publishers expect their authors to file their own copyright. Do this as soon as you have the published version of your novel. It can be done before the book reaches the shelves.
If you are self-publishing, copyright it as soon as you have the final version of your book. An official copyright is a good thing because you won’t be able to sue someone for plagiarism or downright theft in an American court without that official copyright notice.
Here’s a link to the Copyright Registration form.
https://www.copyright.gov/registration/
Monday, January 25, 2021
Types of Editors
Most new writers hear the word “editor” and think of the acquiring editor of a traditional publisher who will call you with the news that the publisher wants to buy your book, send you the legal documents to sign, then lead you through the process of rewrites until the book is ready for prime time.
Editors, however, are diverse in skills and roles in both traditional and self-publishing. If you want someone outside of the traditional publisher to help you create a publishable book for either traditional publishing or self-publishing, you need to look for different types of editors.
First, you need a developmental editor who will look at big picture things like plot, structure, characters, facts, etc. of the entire novel. Here’s where those pages of rewrite suggestions appear.
Once you and the developmental editor think your work is sound, you will need a line editor or proofreader who will do a close edit for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Some fact checking may be added to that mix. At this point, the book may be ready to send to a traditional publisher.
For a more in-depth look at this part of the process, read Sandra Wendel’s article on the subject. https://www.janefriedman.com/the-differences-between-line-editing-copy-editing-and-proofreading/
For self-pubs who will publish to places like Amazon Kindle, a format editor may be worth the cost so your manuscript doesn’t have unexpected format issues as it’s translated.
NOTE: Good writing teachers will help you perfect the small elements, critique partners will help with the bigger picture as you work, and beta readers are your manuscript’s final look, but it’s the professional editor who can help you polish your work to a pro standard so don’t skimp on paying the pros.
Monday, September 28, 2020
Your Best and Worse Career Choices
What are the best and worst choices you can make as you start your career? Here are my suggestions for both.
Best: Good writing teachers. Many of them are found online. A hands-on teacher can teach specific craft skills and can hone your craft far faster than plugging along by yourself. If they were available back in ancient times before the Internet, I could have cut over 10 years from my writing journey.
Second Best: Learning about the business side of writing so you can move forward safely in this sea of piranhas. I recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Business Musings."
https://kriswrites.com/category/business-musings/
I've not been a member for years, but RWA, SFWA, and MWA used to offer lots of great info on the business aspects of a career. Ask around to see if they still do.
Worst: Self-publishing before your craft is competent. If that first and second book are dreck, no one will buy the next book. The rush of self-publishing also blinds some writers to the need to keep learning craft so they don't bother to keep learning and continue to publish dreck.
Second Worst: Being so eager to publish that you hurt or end your career by picking the wrong agent or publisher, then signing a contract that will destroy your future. Also, don’t throw all your creative eggs into one media aggregator like Amazon Kindle who can casually destroy your career with a software algorithm glitch. Business knowledge is power, folks.
Monday, September 14, 2020
Pen Names
One of the dreams most writers share is seeing a book with their name on the cover, but more and more writers are choosing a pseudonym (pen name).
Why?
Years ago, finding someone by just knowing their name would have required lots of effort or the use of a private detective.
These days, any search engine can give a person's address and even print out a map to their house in just a few minutes. We can find out if they are married, their kids' names, and about anything else we want to know.
Years ago, authors didn't worry about the dangers involved with using their real name, but today, professional writers talk about stalker fans, scary letters from prison inmates, and identity theft they and their friends have experienced.
I have never had any problems, but, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't use my real name.
Other reasons to use a pen name aren't so scary.
If your books' sales stink, your traditional publisher or your agent may insist you change your name so that you have a clean slate with book distributors and bookstores who look at your last book's sales numbers before they buy or don't buy your book.
If your next book has a different audience than usual, a new pen name will allow you to attract the right readers and not disappoint your regular readers. For example, if your books are sweet romances, and you decide to write erotica, you don't want to disappoint your fans or lose readers of erotica who think Jane Smith only writes romance with no blatant sex.
Some authors are so prolific that they write under two or more names because publishers don't want to publish more than X number of titles per author a year.
How can you keep your real name secret?
Just choosing a pen name isn't enough. Your real name will appear on the copyright information page.
To avoid this, you'll need to incorporate your pen name so that name will appear on the copyright notice instead of your real name.
You also need to tell friends and colleagues that you wish to keep your real identity secret. More than one author has been "outed" by careless friends.
MORE INFO ON CHOOSING PEN NAMES AND THE LEGALITIES:
http://www.shesnovel.com/blog/pen-name
http://writetodone.com/use-a-pen-name/
https://www.janefriedman.com/choose-set-pen-name/
Monday, January 27, 2020
Taxes and Writers
For American Writers Only
Did you know that you don't have to make a profit to write off your writing expenses? You don't even have to be published or contracted to publish.
All you have to do is prove that you are a working writer. This can be as simple as having copies of your rejection letters.
I'm not an accountant or tax attorney so here are some experts to give you even more information on writers and taxes.
Writers and taxes, General Information:
Deductions:
Monday, January 6, 2020
Why a Pen Name
One of the dreams most writers share is seeing a book with their name on the cover, but more and more writers are choosing a pseudonym (pen name).
Why?
Years ago, finding someone by just knowing their name would have required lots of effort or the use of a private detective.
These days, any search engine can give a person's address and even print out a map to their house in just a few minutes. We can find out if they are married, their kids' names, and about anything else we want to know.
Years ago, authors didn't worry about the dangers involved with using their real name, but today, professional writers talk about stalker fans, scary letters from prison inmates, and identity theft they and their friends have experienced.
I have never had any problems, but, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't use my real name.
Other reasons to use a pen name aren't so scary.
If your books' sales stink, your traditional publisher or your agent may insist you change your name so that you have a clean slate with book distributors and bookstores who look at your last book's sales numbers before they buy or don't buy your book.
If your next book has a different audience than usual, a new pen name will allow you to attract the right readers and not disappoint your regular readers. For example, if your books are sweet romances, and you decide to write erotica, you don't want to disappoint your fans or lose readers of erotica who think Jane Smith only writes romance with no blatant sex.
Some authors are so prolific that they write under two or more names because publishers don't want to publish more than X number of titles per author a year.
How can you keep your real name secret?
Just choosing a pen name isn't enough. Your real name will appear on the copyright information page.
To avoid this, you'll need to incorporate your pen name so that name will appear on the copyright notice instead of your real name.
You also need to tell friends and colleagues that you wish to keep your real identity secret. More than one author has been "outed" by careless friends.
Monday, January 7, 2019
New Year, Same Problems
Here are some important links about the business of being a writer. If you have books with a small publisher or an e-publisher, be sure to read about bankruptcy clauses in your contracts. Any author who has had to deal with publisher bankruptcy will tell you that it’s a very difficult situation to be in, and knowledge is power.
Professional Links of Interest
COPYRIGHT CONCERNS AND PUBLISHING SCAMS LINKS (Pay particular attention to the bankruptcy clause article):
AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BIG PUBLISHING AND SELF-PUBLISHING:
Part 1:
Part 2:
PROMOTION SITE LINKS:
AMAZON INSIGHTS INTO PROMO (Offers some suggestions even if you aren’t a Kindle author) :
HOW TO SET UP YOUR AMAZON AUTHOR PROFILE:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)