Wet Noodle Posse

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tax Day - Keeping the Record by Diane Gaston

April 15, the dreaded TAX DAY.

If you are like me, you hate the idea of doing taxes. It's been years since doing taxes was easy and all I had to find were the W2 forms. As life became more complex so did the taxes. A few years ago we decided to use an accountant to do them for us. Expensive, yes, but worth every penny to keep me from having an anxiety attack.

Using an accountant does not prevent my having to keep records, unfortunately. Every year I vow to do better so I don't have to search through five boxes to find everything. This year my first search failed to discover my husband's W2s (panic time....) I did find them, but I didn't find the record of my personal property tax. That required a phone call.

It did occur to me that I could make my life easier next year. Here's how. (and it is so simple)

1. Keep an excel record of my writing income and expenses. I started this a couple of years ago and even though I slacked off in the middle of the year, it saved me so much time.
Here are my writing categories:
Income, Website, Promotion/Advertising, Travel/Meals, Conference Fees, Contests, Dues, Books/Magazines (for research), Books Promotional (my own books purchased to use for promotion), Supplies, Postage
You might have other categories.

2. Keep all your tax records in one place.
I use a clear plastic envelope and this year I vow to put everything I'll need for taxes in it so I don't have to search through several boxes come April 10 next year.

I used to keep organized files of bills and statements in an accordion file, each section nicely labeled. Including one labeled "taxes" but I never actually needed 99% of those records. Now I keep everything in a box and search it only if necessary. I learned my lesson, though. For the few things I need for taxes, file them in one place.

That's it!

Any other tips? I'm open to learn....

You can order The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor from eHarlequin right now and receive it before it hits bookstores. The Unlacing of Miss Leigh is instantly available from eHarlequin and other ebook vendors.

Visit my website and enter my contest for a chance to win Scandalizing the Ton.

Labels: keeping records for taxes, the business side of writing

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

School Visits--A Novice's Experience

When my phone rang this spring, and one of my daughter’s former teachers asked if I’d like to speak at a creative writing award celebration at her middle school, quite frankly I thought “Who me?” Sure I’ve had several short stories published, but I figured the middle school would rather have someone who wrote something marketed to young adults and tweens. I almost declined. These kids probably don’t read the Mossy Creek series. What would I find to say to them that would be inspiring?

Knowing that I needed to make the most of this opportunity, I tamped down the inner doubts and said, “I’d love to.” I also asked if I could bring my critique partners who are published in YA. The kids receiving awards would probably like to hear from them, too, and they might read their books. I wracked my brain for a way to use this event to promote my writing while celebrating the students’ accomplishments, and came up with a raffle of two books. Since the award event took place before mother’s day, I figured I could autograph the books for the children, and they could give them to their mothers. My idea went over well. The kids liked the idea of winning a book for their moms, and they laughed at most of my humorous asides during my talk. Best of all, I did not embarrass my daughter who was receiving one of the awards.

Since speaking at my daughter’s middle school, I’ve learned that some authors get paid for these sorts of events. These, of course, are famous or soon to be famous authors. For me, speaking at the school was worth the time away from my latest manuscript because I learned I could do it.

Other Things I Learned from Speaking at My Daughter’s Middle School:
1. Children who love to write and read love to meet published authors. It confirms that they can achieve their dreams.
2. Children who love to write ask for your autograph, whether or not you’re famous. They are convinced that one day you will be and their piece of paper will become valuable.
3. Critique partners who write YA, with a new books coming out two weeks after the event, are very grateful to be included in visits to middle schools.

Have you ever given a talk at a school? How did the event go for you? What did you learn from doing it?

Labels: school visits, the business side of writing

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Promotion between the sale and book release

I've always been a proponent of beginning some type of author self-promotion even before you sell that first book to build name recognition. That way you don't have to start from total unknown when you sell. But when you do sell, it becomes even more important to increase your name recognition and to build excitement for your upcoming releases. All you have to do is walk in any bookstore's fiction and/or romance section and look at how many titles and authors are lining the shelves to realize that something will have to be done to make you stand out and generate good sales numbers. Granted, writing an awesome book and then getting publisher support are two huge keys to your success, but there are other ways to generate some name recognition that hopefully will lead to sales when your book hits store shelves.

1. Web site/Blog -- I've heard many authors say that the best promo dollars they spent were on a good quality Web site, many of which include a blog. Even if you had a perfectly fine Web site before you sold (which I did, thanks to a good friend who created it for me), when you sell may be the time to take the leap and get it redesigned. That's what I did. I went for a new look, one that incorporated both of my writing identities so that I didn't have to maintain two Web sites. It was also in a different format, WordPress, so that I could do updates myself easily and without additional costs beyond the initial design and launch.

As far as the blog goes, try to build a base of loyal readers. How? Put of good blog content and update often, every day if you can. Perhaps hold contests. Back in January, I took a look around my overflowing bookshelves and realized that I couldn't possibly read all the books in my office if I lived to be 200. So, I went through and culled hundreds of them, all perfectly good, unread books. But instead of carting them all off to the Goodwill, I decided to have a contest on my site. Each week from the beginning of the contest until my first book's launch date in September, I'm giving away three books to a winner each week, chosen from among those who comment on my blog. I get rid of the books and get a little promo; the winners get free books to read; and the authors of those books get exposed to potentially new readers. It's a win-win-win situation.

2. Appearances -- Even though I don't have a book out yet, I've been making appearances at reader events and will be speaking at this year's RWA National Conference. It's my fourth year as a conference speaker, which means three of those years were before I even sold. I think it's very important to act professional and confident that you will sell (not arrogant) even before you do. I was pleasantly surprised last month when I attended the Heart of Dixie chapter's readers' luncheon and had a table full of readers who were interested in my books. We had a fabulous time.

3. Branding -- Instead of branding the type of books I write (which currently stands at two types but could expand in the future), I decided to brand my name and the look of my site. My Web designer also created bookmarks and business cards with the same look. And it'll still work even if I suddenly start writing something totally different.

4. Booksellers/Librarians/Reviewers -- Start getting to know these people, both locally and online. I've introduced myself to several, and I've already garnered some interest for book signings.

5. Social Networking -- I created MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Shelfari, Manic Readers and GoodReads accounts and started friending people on each. This is free online promo, and it's fun to "meet" other writers and readers and talk about books. I'm trying to add 10 friends a day between now and when my first book comes out. If I accomplish that, I'll have almost 1,000 friends by then. That's 1,000 people who may see my MySpace blog posts or the bulletins I'll send out when my book is available.

There are plenty of other ways to do advance promotion, but I'll leave it at that for now. All this said, remember that the writing is the most important thing. Don't get so wrapped up in promoting your first book that you don't spend enough time working on the second.

What are some cool promotional ideas you've seen used or utilized yourself?

My Web site is located at www.trishmilburn.com -- come on by to find out where I'll be appearing, find links to my social networking pages, and to comment on my blog for the chance to win free books.

Labels: book promotion, the business side of writing