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    Surviving the Transition: How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing
    Surviving the Transition: How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing
    Surviving the Transition: How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing
    Ebook67 pages59 minutes

    Surviving the Transition: How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing

    By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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    About this ebook

    Most writers run their careers the same way they did in the 1990s. But publishing has changed so much since then that any writer who works on the old model will no longer make a living. In this short book, international bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch shows you how to think about the new world of publishing, who to trust, and who not to trust. She also gives you a blueprint for survival—what to learn, what to ignore, and how to find help. If you are a successful professional writer—or hope to become one—then this book is for you.

    “Not many people understand the publishing business as well as the author business—Kris Rusch is one of them.”
    —Kevin J. Anderson,
    New York Times bestselling author
    (about The Freelancer’s Survival Guide)

    “Kristine Kathryn Rusch still knows twice what I do about writing and publishing. Good thing she’s put all her wisdom down in a book so I can start stealing some of it.”
    —Steve Hockensmith,
    New York Times bestselling author
    (about The Freelancer’s Survival Guide)

    “Surviving The Transition: How Writers Can Thrive In The New World of Publishing,” copyright © 2012 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. First published in 2011 in slightly different version on her web site.

    Award-winning, bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch has published books under many names and in many genres. She has owned several businesses, and has worked for herself for more than thirty years.

    If you found this short book helpful, you might want to read these books as well:

    The Freelancer’s Survival Guide
    Getting Started
    Goals and Dreams
    How To Make Money
    Networking in Person And Online
    Time Management
    The Secrets of Success
    Turning Setbacks into Opportunity
    When to Quit Your Day Job

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWMG Publishing
    Release dateJan 30, 2012
    ISBN9781465786692
    Surviving the Transition: How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing
    Author

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch

    USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

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      Book preview

      Surviving the Transition - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      In this short book, international bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch shows you how to think about the new world of publishing, who to trust, and who not to trust. She also gives you a blueprint for survival—what to learn, what to ignore, and how to find help.

      If you are a successful professional writer—or hope to become one—then this book is for you.

      Surviving the Transition

      How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing

      Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Copyright Information

      Copyright © 2012 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Published by WMG Publishing

      Layout and design © copyright 2012 WMG Publishing

      Cover illustration © copyright Halil I. Inci/Dreamstime

      Smashwords Edition

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved.

      This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

      More Business Books by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      The Freelancer’s Survival Guide (full book)

      Freelancer’s Survival Guide Short Books

      When to Quit Your Day Job

      Getting Started

      Turning Setbacks into Opportunity

      Goals and Dreams

      How to Negotiate Anything

      The Secrets of Success

      How to Make Money

      Networking in Person and Online

      Time Management

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Writing Like It’s 1999

      Surviving the Transition

      About the Author

      Copyright Information

      Surviving the Transition

      How Writers Can Thrive in the New World of Publishing

      Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Introduction

      I first wrote the following short book as a series of blog posts at the end of April 2011. Publishing was—and still is—changing so fast that only the most aware can keep up. Established writers, working under deadline, literally live in their own fantasy worlds. When it comes time to market a new book or fulfill an option book, when it comes time to negotiate a new contract with a publisher, these writers will emerge from their fantasy world into a place they don’t understand.

      The problem is that it will look just like the place they left when they began their most recent project. These writers won’t often know that they’re in a new world until it’s too late.

      I wrote this short book as a wake-up call. Writing Like It’s 1999 is still the most-read post on my blog. Maybe the wake-up call is working.

      I hope so.

      I want my colleagues to do well. I want them to have the best careers they can possibly have in this new century, and that means understanding where the business is now.

      Most writers will find what I have to say in this short book difficult to hear. Many writers have already refused to believe me. I’ve watched several close their eyes and pretend what I’m saying isn’t true. Unfortunately, those folks will cease making money at their writing in the next five years. These writers will fall by the wayside—and I see that as a tragedy.

      But the ones who recognize that the change is happening are the ones who are going to survive in this new world of publishing. They might make choices I disagree with, but they’ll make those choices out of knowledge rather than ignorance. As a fellow writer—and more importantly, as a reader—that’s all I can ask.

      I hope this short volume helps you in your career, whatever path you might take.

      —Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Lincoln City, Oregon

      January 7, 2012

      Writing Like It’s 1999

      When change hits in the arts, it hits hard. Recently, I was reading an article in the April 2011 Vanity Fair Magazine about the movie All The President’s Men. The last two paragraphs of the article discuss how, in 1975, Sidney Sheinberg at MCA came up with a new way to release movies. Once upon a time, folks, movies released slowly, one or two theaters at a time, and worked their way across the country. It meant that the studio had to make fewer copies of the film, and that movies could become sleepers—films that actually built word of mouth over time.

      Sheinberg decided to amortize costs by sending hundreds of prints of the film to theaters all over the country, and to run a nationwide advertising campaign at the same time. The movie he chose to do this with? Jaws.

      That little idea changed the way movies got marketed—and did so damn near overnight. All the President’s Men got released just after Jaws, while this system was still in flux.

      "Jaws was a good, populist movie," Robert Redford, star of All the President's Men, said. "But it became the flagship for a campaign that overtook American movies. It became a slick package, advertising-directed, about selling popcorn and product placement. I thought the timing of All the President’s Men very fortunate, because it was a very honest

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