Taxes, Tribal Blog, and Writing my Play

I am a member of Tribal Blogs, which is like BlogHer or Blog Frog, but cooler. Today I read a post by guest blogger Jenn Thorson about her experience self-publishing her novel. Really good advice. Here's a snippet and the link to read the rest:

The purpose of this post isn’t to go into the details of every step of the self-publishing process; there are plenty of great how-to’s on that already.

But I did want to mention, there are two areas of prep work that can be sticky if you’re not familiar with them in advance. One is formatting the book for print; the other is creating the e-book version.

In both cases, there are for-fee services available to help you accomplish this nicely. So don’t abandon the dream, if you feel overwhelmed.

Click HERE to read the entire article on Tribal Blogs.

I promised more info about taxes and writing, so here's a link to a blog post called How to Report Book Sales and Royalties. Be sure and scroll down to read the comments section for excellent questions and answers. Wine Press of Words looks like another good blog with tons of advice on publishing, marketing, and social media. 

If you're expecting a royalty statement, your publisher should send you a 1099 Misc before the end of January. You will report that income on Schedule C of your tax return (sorry to wait until the last minute, Laura. I'll give you your statement by Sunday). If you're a publisher, you only include the royalties you paid the author in 2011, not all royalties earned for the year. Typically, there are royalties due from the previous year that don't get paid until later, such as royalties earned in November and December. Your author doesn't pay taxes on those earned royalties, only on the royalties she was actually paid. 

And now for a word on writing...  I just finished revising Act 1 of my newest full length play and I am in love. I think about this play constantly, playing scenes over and over in my mind when I'm supposed to be concentrating on writing IEP goals for a student or planning lessons.  Is it safe to be so enamored with something you've written? Does it mean I've lost all perspective? Who cares! For now I'm just enjoying the thrill of writing something new and exciting. This play feels like the best thing I've ever written.