Rob Bignell's Blog, page 220

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Getting each one right every time - Inventing Reality Editing Service

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5 Quotations about Writing as Observation - Inventing Reality Editing Service

Writing Inspiration: Who are you?

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Published on March 24, 2018 04:45

How to Market Your Book: 7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Yo...

How to Market Your Book: 7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Your Book shows how to develop a strategy that will get articles about your self-published book in newspapers, magazines, on radio and television programs, posted on blogs, and linked to on websites, while landing you book signings and readings, all at virtually no cost.

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Published on March 23, 2018 05:00

Indie authors should consider using Schedule C

Among the important tax forms you��ll need to complete once you��ve become a self-publishing business is a Schedule C.

This form reports income or loss from a business that��s a sole proprietorship. It is attached to your Federal 1040 income tax form. You��ll be able to claim a number of deductions via this form.

You should complete Schedule C if the main reason for your author��s business was to generate revenue rather than serve as a hobby. In addition, you should have been regularly engaged in your business activities during the calendar year.

The first section of the form requires that you fill in your name, the name of your business, and your business address. As a sole proprietor, you probably would use your personal name for that of your business, unless you were an LLC.

A few lines in this section of the form can be confusing if filling it out for the first time. Line D asks for your Employer Identification Number; you don��t need one and can simply use your Social Security Number. Line G asks about your material participation in the business; as you actively participated in the business operations (and were not just an investor), you are a material participant. Line I involves contractors; you must send a 1099 Form to every contractor you paid more than $600 to during the year.

The next section addresses gross income. This is the heart of the form and helps you determine how much you will have to pay in taxes.

Line 1 asks for your gross receipts or sales; this is the total amount of services and products that you sold. So if you sold $20,000 in books, earned $10,000 in webinar registrations, and were paid $20,000 in speaking fees, your gross income would be $50,000. Do not subtract from this any product returns or costs to generate sales. Line 2 allows you to list those returns and allowances, the latter of which is if you��ve reduced the cost of an item in order to sell it (For example, your book sells for $10, but as cover had a slight crease in it, you sold it for $2; the allowance than would be $8). Line 4 refers to the cost of producing any goods you sold, and this usually is not applicable to authors.

The next section deals with your expenses. This is where you can make a number of deductions. Line 8 addresses the cost of advertising your business; this can range from flyers and business cards to social media ads. Line 9 allows you to deduct the expense of using your vehicle for business or to take a standard mileage deduction. If you contracted out labor, such as hired an editor or a book cover designer, you can list that on Line 11. Depletion on Line 12 typically does not apply to authors.

Line 13 for depreciation can, however, have affect you, if you��ve purchased a lot of new office equipment. Lines 14-16 deal with payments made to cover employee insurance costs and loans on buildings you may own for business purposes, so they usually do not apply to indie authors. Line 17 allows you to make deductions for any payments made to accountants (include tax preparation fees!) and attorneys who represented your business. Office and postage expenses can be deducted on Line 18. The cost of renting vehicles, office space and business equipment can be listed on Lines 20a-b.

Supplies such as books to run your business can be listed in Line 22. State and local sales taxes/licenses can be deducted on Line 23. Lodging, transportation, meals and even entertainment can be deducted in Lines 24a-b. Line 25 addresses deductions for telephone, Internet and other utilities use by your business. You probably will not use Line 26; it is intended for wages paid to employees but not to yourself. Line 30 is for the home office deduction. Line 27a is a catch-all for expenses that don��t fit lines 8-30; such items might include bank service charges, trade organization dues, trade magazine subscriptions, and training or conference registration fees.

By the end of the section, at Line 31, you��ll arrive at your net profit (or loss), which substracts all of your deductions in Section 1 from your gross sales or receipts back in Line 1.

The schedule��s third part addresses the cost of goods sold. As an author, you are not utilizing a factory or workshop to manufacture goods for sale, so this section is unlikely to pertain to you.

The fourth part asks for more information about your vehicle use, should you have claimed a deduction for it in Line 9.

The fifth part asks for a breakdown of the other expenses you listed in Line 27. Be specific; don��t use ��Miscellaneous�� as an explanation for expenses.

A final note: Before you write down any deduction, ensure that you have records to back up your claim. This should include receipts, at the very least.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Published on March 22, 2018 04:45

May you tell me which is right? I can.

As I child, did you ever ask your teacher, ��Can I go to the bathroom?�� only to be corrected ��I don��t know, can you?�� You��d look confusedly at her, and she��d say, ��It��s may I go the bathroom.�� You grumbled ��May I go the bathroom?�� and with hall pass in hand head off to do your business.

Yet somehow that lesson didn��t seem to sink in for a lot of writers, who still confuse can and may in adulthood.

Can is a helping verb that means physical or mental ability; to wit, Can Kieran play basketball really well? A form of able or capable always can replace can in a sentence, as in Is Kieran capable of playing basketball really well?

May is a helping verb that requests permission, as in May I go with Mary to the concert, Mom? Or suggests the possibility of, as in Tomorrow may be a snow day.

This distinction between can and may only exists when asking a question. If answering a may question (May I turn the channel? ) with a ��no�� or a denial, you can respond with a version of can:
�� You may not turn the channel.
�� You cannot turn the channel
�� You can��t turn the channel.

Of course, may and can slowly are becoming interchangeable in daily use. A century from now (and maybe sooner), the distinctions outlined here may be archaic. For the time being, when in a formal situation or being polite, always use the grammatically correct version described here.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Five Great Quotations about Stories - Inventing Reality Editing Service

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Published on March 21, 2018 04:45

5 Interesting Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a ��reality�� in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as ��The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life�� or ��The government outlaws books.�� The author then asks ��What if?�� exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture �� that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating �� a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance �� still doesn��t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Body logins
What if rather than passwords, tablets and smartphones instead allowed you to log in by reading your body movements �� the way you place the phone to your head, the way you slouch in a chair, and so on? Research, after all, has found that the way we move is as unique to each of us as a fingerprint.

Composite metal foams
What if instead of heavy body armor, new lightweight foams could turn bullets into dust upon impact? How does this change the way we fight wars? Would a nation with this invincible technology be emboldened to devastate its enemies in a first strike? What are other applications of this technology (space exploration, nuclear waste shipping, etc.)?

Eta Cassiopeiae A colonization
What if far future explorers colonized a planet orbiting this sun of the binary star system? The planet��s year would be slightly longer than Earth��s, necessitating a 14-month calendar.

Smart cop dashcams
What if a rudimentary AI connected to a dashcam in a police crusier could quickly identify wanted people, weapons, and other information? What countermeasures might criminals take to counter this technology?

Turing glasses
What if you could wear glasses that allowed you to determine if the biped before you was an intelligent android or a human? How would the glasses work? How might androids wishing to conceal their identity employ countermeasures to trick the glasses?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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5 Writing Prompts for Science Fiction Writers

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Published on March 20, 2018 04:45

Writing Advice: 8 Tips For New Fiction Authors

�� Should you ever co-write your book?
�� Should you use a pen name for your book?
�� How to come up with a great pen name
�� How to come up with an awesome story title
�� Should you turn your life story into a novel?
�� How long should my young adult novel be?
�� Fanfic not so bad if used for growing as a writer
�� BONUS: "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights..."

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Writing Inspiration: Who are you?

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Published on March 19, 2018 06:00

5 Great Quotations about Story Ideas

��I try to write about the stuff that torments us all.�� - Danielle Steel

��All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them.�� - Isabel Allende

��Don��t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.�� - Barbara Kingsolver

��Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them.�� - Orson Scott Card

��If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.�� - Ray Bradbury

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Writing Inspiration: Who are you?

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Published on March 18, 2018 06:00

Every success story begins with a dream. If you dream of...

Every success story begins with a dream. If you dream of being a professional, published author, that success story requires believing in yourself and in knowing that your efforts will lead to triumph. Read the motivational blog entry this quotation came from by clicking on the quote card.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Nurture Your Books runs interview of me - Inventing Reality Editing Service

Create video diary of writing process

Ebooks: The Now of Publishing

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Published on March 17, 2018 05:00

Gear needed for making YouTube videos

You��ll need a few pieces of equipment to ensure you produce a quality video. You probably have all of it already; if not, the few missing pieces are fairly inexpensive and available at most discount store supercenters as well as online.

Let��s look at the video gear you��ll need and some of the specific requirements of each.

Video camera
A full-size video camera that can make high-definition digital videos is vital. DSLR cameras or camcorders can create a superior video and audio to smartphones, though the technology of the latter is rapidly improving. When selecting a camera/camcorder, be sure that it either has a lot of storage space or that an SD card can be plugged into it, as videos require a lot of memory compared to even large photos. It also should have USB ports. As your subscriber list grows, you��ll want to improve your video quality, and various attachments can help you do that. Another extra option that you should take seriously is a rechargeable battery from the camcorder manufacturer.

The most important thing with your camcorder is that it has some way to easily transfer videos onto your computer. Look for USB outputs or opt for a device that records to SD cards your computer can read. Avoid older technologies, such as VHS camcorders and home Super 8 cameras. There��s nothing wrong with these formats per se, but transferring video from them onto your computer is much, much more difficult and expensive than from a digital camcorder.

As an alternative, a webcam, which most laptops come with, can be useful when you��re recording works in which you want to be shown in front of a computer. Still, many videos made with webcams look amateurish.

Tripod
When filming, use a steadying device such as a tripod. Handhelds will result in shaking. Tripods also will allow you to shoot from different angles than a handheld camera. Your tripod should be able to pan and tilt. If you need to do smooth tracking shots as part of your video, you��ll also need a dolly to set the tripod upon. Always ensure your camera will fit onto your tripod.

Microphone
Your audio ought to be as good as the quality of your video, and your computer��s built-in microphone likely won��t cut it. Purchase a dedicated microphone, as it will minimize the amount of echoing and background noise; this is because the microphone sits closer to your mouth than the one on your camera. Also worth purchasing once you get going is a pop filter, which you place over the microphone to reduce audio feedback, which can be a problem when editing the video.

Lights
Lighting isn��t necessary in some video situations, such as if you��re filming outside or if your narrating something that appears on the computer screen. But if recording indoors, even on days with a lot of sunshine your video can appear dark. Fortunately, lighting doesn��t need to be expensive; work lights found at hardware stores will do the job, albeit it��s unsophisticated.

Whether using work lights or a professional kit, setting up your lighting involves having three separate light sources. One should be behind the camera as it faces you. Another should be at a 45 degree angle to your side and facing the wall behind you. The third light should be opposite of the second source and facing the wall.

Software
After filming your video, you��ll need video editing software for post-production. This allows you to cut and add scenes to your video, to use special effects, and to include tracks of music and sound effects. Anyone using either Windows or an Apple has access to free software (Movie Maker for the former, iMovie for the latter) that comes with their computer or can be downloaded from an app store. These are fine, easy-to-use programs for beginners. Other programs that give you more sophisticated software can be purchased for a relatively low price.

If recording with your webcam, you may need software to handle input; most computers already have it pre-installed, though. If recording content that is on your computer monitor, you��ll need to download third-party software.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Published on March 16, 2018 04:45

6 tax matters indie authors should consider

Once you��ve set up your self-publishing business �� and especially if you expand it to be more than just an author collecting royalties �� you��ll have to file additional tax forms beyond the 1040. The good news is you also qualify for some tax deductions, such as your home office and vehicle use. Let��s examine some of the aspects of business taxes that you should consider once you��ve published:
�� Tax forms self-published authors must file
�� Why self-published authors must keep records
�� Writers can deduct home office space on taxes
�� Deduct start-up costs on Federal income taxes
�� Indie writers also can use depreciation on taxes
�� Indie authors can deduct vehicle expenses

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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