International 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.

Rusch writes in many genres, from science fiction to mystery, from western to romance. She has written under a pile of pen names, but most of her work appears as Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Her Kris Nelscott pen name has won or been nominated for most of the awards in the mystery genre, and her Kristine Grayson pen name became a bestseller in romance. Her science fiction novels set in the bestselling Diving Universe have won dozens of awards and are in development for a major TV show. She also writes the Retrieval Artist sf series and several major series that mostly appear as short fiction.

Rusch broke a number of barriers in the sf/f field, including being the first female editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She has owned two different publishing companies, and she is an in-demand speaker about business and craft. She also writes a highly regarded weekly publishing industry blog. 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, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com, thefeyseries.com).

How to Negotiate Anything - Freelancer's Survivor Guide by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Most people hate negotiating. Instead of learning it themselves, they hire someone—an agent, a lawyer, a manager—to negotiate for them. But negotiators often do not have their clients' best interests at heart. In this short book, international bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch shows you how to negotiate anything from buying a car to buying a house, from handling a book contract to handling a negotiator. If you have ever negotiated anything—and who hasn't?—then this book is for you.

CURATOR'S NOTE

I'm a shy person who dislikes confrontation, yet I've negotiated my own contracts since college. Why? Because no one cares about my business as much as I do. I've learned how to leverage my shyness into a method that will work for anyone who says they can't negotiate. This little book has outsold almost every nonfiction book I've written, and people use it a lot, not just for publishing matters, but for other parts of their life such as buying cars. If you believe you can't negotiate anything, try this little book and see if it changes your mind. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "The bible for the self-employed."

    – John Ottinger III, teacher and editor of Grasping for the Wind, on The Freelancer’s Survival Guide

  • "[Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog,] The Business Rusch…is full of sound advice and analysis about what's going on."

    – Jeff Baker, The Oregonian

  • "Kristine Kathryn Rusch's new book Discoverability is by far the best resource I have read to date to help indie authors succeed after the book is written."

    – Chris Syme, Principal of CKSyme Media Group
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Introduction

Negotiation: Modern business wouldn't exist without it. We negotiate all the time without realizing it. We negotiate our salaries when we take a job. We negotiate our hours every day, even if it's only to get an extra hour at lunch to take our kid to ball practice.

Some people are gifted negotiators. Some aren't.

Yet everyone can learn the basics of negotiation—and everyone can become good at it, maybe even brilliant. And the key is not, as some will tell you, to be fearless. The key is to know what you want.

This Freelancer's Survival Guide short book will teach you everything you need to know about negotiation. It will help you in small situations—like that hour off—and in big ones such as negotiating a contract.

The sections of this short book were originally written for The Freelancer's Survival Guide, which originated on my blog, kristinekathrynrusch.com. The Guide has morphed into a series of short books. The full Guide will be published in the fall of 2010 in both electronic and paperback editions.

The short books exist for people who don't want all 130,000 words of the Guide. Those people don't need help with all aspects of their freelance business, only with a few aspects. If all you need is to learn how to negotiate, then this short book is for you.

The segments in this short book were written on a weekly basis, and I've tried to maintain that conversational flavor. Enjoy the book. I hope it helps you in all of your important negotiations.

—Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lincoln City, Oregon
August 28, 2010