By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Amazon has been in the news recently because of growing pains (shipping issues regarding timely delivery) and other problems it’s experiencing…most notably their possible plans to spike the price for Amazon Prime in response to low 4th quarter profits.
But I’ve been noticing other things—marketing related—that I’ve found very interesting. And it’s made me wonder if it’s possible to adapt some of our own promo activities. Continue reading
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Tax time is making me a bit reflective this year. Maybe I didn’t have the time to reflect on Dec. 31st/Jan. 1 since I had a January 1 deadline…at any rate, I’m doing it now.
Tax time also always makes me think of ways I could improve. It’s great that I’m selling books—but I’ve missed opportunities along the way.
I thought I’d share my mistakes here in case you might find yourself in the same boat with some of these things. And mistakes are just opportunities to learn, after all.Continue reading
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I had my appointment with my CPA on Wednesday. The appointment was in the middle of the Southern snowstorm aftermath, actually—there’s nothing like adding to the misery of taxes with a minor natural disaster, you know. I hired a CPA last year when I continued waking up in cold sweats in the middle of the night, worrying that I was doing my taxes wrong. I didn’t think I’d fit in well in tax jail. I decided I didn’t mind paying for peace of mind.
She had me painstakingly pick through my bank account and pull out every deposit from all sources…self-publishing and traditional publishing…for 2013. This was nightmarish and took the better part of an hour. But I didn’t have the 1099 from Amazon yet and she wanted to double-check all my income sources anyway, so I combed through the statements. The entries I was looking for were direct deposits and checks from Penguin (via my agent), Llewellyn (my agent doesn’t represent me with this publisher), Amazon, ACX, Smashwords, Apple, CreateSpace, and Barnes & Noble.Continue reading
