Income Tax Basics for Authors

Today’s installment of “Managing the Business Side of Your Writing Career” takes a look at another business-related topic: income taxes. Most authors hope to become full-time writers, supported entirely by income from sales of their works. However, many authors continue to work a “day job” in addition to writing, at least during the early years of their careers.  Once an author begins receiving income from his or her writing, however, the author needs to be aware of special tax issues this income creates. For those who already work as independent contractors, these issues should be familiar. However, authors whose previous work experience

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An Introduction to Sales Taxes for Authors

Many authors know about the obligation to pay personal taxes (if you don’t, you’ve been under a rock for far too long), but confusion often reigns when it comes to sales tax issues. Today, let’s take a look at when authors might (and might not) have to collect and pay sales tax on book sales. Sales Taxes (and Rules) Vary by State and Jurisdiction Unfortunately, there is no “one-size-fits-all” rule about sales taxes (except that you’ll have to pay penalties if you don’t collect and remit them when due). Each individual who sells products (including books) is responsible for knowing and obeying applicable tax laws.

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A Warning For Authors About Signing Books

Apologies in advance for the click-bait title–I didn’t intend it that way, but I couldn’t find a better one that accurately expressed the content of the post. Most authors look forward to signing books. It’s one of the greatest moments in an author’s career, and for many of us it never gets old, no matter how many books we’re asked to sign. Autographed books make wonderful keepsakes, and many readers treasure them for years (if not for a lifetime). However, autographed books can also provide a dangerous opportunity for scammers and identity thieves . . . wherein lies today’s warning. When signing

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Protecting Your Copyrights Online

In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi refers to Mos Eisley spaceport as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” and adds, “we must be careful.”  Obi-Wan’s wisdom applies to the Internet too.  Regardless of your publishing path, if you write for publication, you should take steps to protect your copyrighted work against Internet-based infringement.  While no single post can cover all of the ways to protect your work online, here are some tips on things all authors can do to protect and enforce their copyrights:  1.  Perform Regular Copyright / Infringement Searches.  Search the Internet regularly (at least once a month)

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Mandatory Marketing Contracts – Vanity by a Different Name

Recently, I’ve seen an increase in publishing contracts which look like “traditional deals” at first glance, but contain a decidedly non-traditional element: a mandatory marketing contract. Under this sort of deal, the publisher offers a royalty-based publishing contract, usually with no advance, but requires the author to sign a marketing contract also. The mandatory marketing contract requires the author to pay for expensive marketing services at the time of signing. Sometimes, the marketing contract is with the publisher itself (or its marketing arm) – and sometimes it’s with an affiliated company. Either one is sketchy. In some cases, these “mandatory marketing agreements”

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Sinc-ing Up With Sisters in Crime

This September, Sisters in Crime is running a blog hop to introduce authors, bloggers, and readers to one another. I was tagged by the lovely Linda Townsdin, whose  Spirit Lake Mystery series chronicles the adventures of Britt Johansson, a kickass photojournalist with a big heart and bad social skills. Thank you, Linda, for the shout-out! Here’s my take on some of the SinC-up questions: Which authors have inspired you? I’ve had to file this one under “too numerous to mention,” but if I have to narrow it down to one I’d have to say James Rollins. Not only are his Sigma Force novels among

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The ABCs of Authors and Blurbs

Today we continue our journey through the publishing process with a look at blurbs. In publishing, the word “blurb” can mean both the short jacket-copy summaries that appear on the back of books and also the short-form author reviews and recommendations used to promote the book. Today, we’re talking about the second of those: other authors’ recommendations. If you’ve picked up a book lately, you probably saw the complimentary comments from other authors (“blurbs”) on the cover. Blurbs also appear on a book’s website pages and online sales listings. Most readers, and authors, know what a blurb is, but many debut

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Who Can an Author Trust? (Trusts in Author Estate Planning, Part 1)

Today we continue the ongoing series on author estate planning with a look at how to pass copyrights by means of a trust. The language we look at here applies only to revocable trusts, meaning trusts established by a living person or persons (the “settlor” – in our case, an author and/or the author and his or her spouse) which can be canceled or modified during the settlor’s lifetime. Irrevocable trusts operate under entirely different rules, and are not generally appropriate for standard estate planning purposes. In most cases, a person (or married couple) establishes a trust in order to

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Negotiation Step 3: Read the Contract

Step 1 to a successful negotiation is attitude: go in seeking a mutually beneficial solution. Step 2 is know thy business, and the publisher’s business too. Which brings us to Step 3: Read the Contract, and Understand Every Word. I’m always surprised when an author approaches me with a publishing problem and then admits to not having read the contract before (s)he signed it. The offered reasons vary, but at the end of the day they’re unimportant. A contract signatory is legally responsible for knowing what the document contains. Do not ever sign a contract – publishing or otherwise –

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I miss my anxiety … but lately, my aim is improving.

For the most part, authors are wriggling balls of anxieties held together by dreams and duct tape. We like to pretend we’re not, but if you catch a writer in an honest moment, (s)he’ll admit it’s true. Before I had an agent, I thought my anxiety would disappear when I found one. Before I had a publishing deal, I thought a contract would cure my nervous woes. I believed a multiple-book deal would leave me smiling forever. I should have asked for a unicorn too – because clearly, I was dreaming. The question for authors – and, truly, for every

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