Brynna Gabrielson's Blog, page 4
September 20, 2012
Another Milestone Down!
Today sales of Starkissed surpassed 1000 copies! Hard to believe just a month ago I'd only sold 50 copies! I'm so thrilled sales have continued to climb. Hopefully it keeps up. It's really exciting to see so many people reading and enjoying the book! Three more readers have posted reviews on Amazon.com this week which is fantastic. The more the better!
Once I've submitted my major project next week I'm going to start figuring out how to release via Print on Demand, so hopefully by November those of you who are looking for a print edition to read will be able to order one on Amazon.
Not sure if anyone was aware, but Starkissed wasn't available on Kobo for the past five days. I was having issues listing with a new ISBN. Thankfully it's back up and available today. And now the Goodreads ratings and reviews are working. Hopefully having those on the listing will inspire more people to buy!
The Major Project is near done. I'm just rewriting the final draft. Can't believe it's due in a week. Scary.
Other than the MP/Starkissed, not a lot is going on my way. Been learning how to drive over here in England which has been challenging. I'm having to learn how to drive with new rules on the wrong side on the car, on the wrong side of the car, in a manual transmission (which I'd never driven until now). It's pretty much a nightmare. Thankfully I'm getting better bit my bit. Today I managed to start the car on a hill on the first try. Yesterday it took me 20 minutes plus. Multiple times. If anyone knows any good cheats/tips for driving manual and not completely screwing up do share.
Nothing much left to share! So I shall sign off. Thanks for reading.
Brynna
Once I've submitted my major project next week I'm going to start figuring out how to release via Print on Demand, so hopefully by November those of you who are looking for a print edition to read will be able to order one on Amazon.
Not sure if anyone was aware, but Starkissed wasn't available on Kobo for the past five days. I was having issues listing with a new ISBN. Thankfully it's back up and available today. And now the Goodreads ratings and reviews are working. Hopefully having those on the listing will inspire more people to buy!
The Major Project is near done. I'm just rewriting the final draft. Can't believe it's due in a week. Scary.
Other than the MP/Starkissed, not a lot is going on my way. Been learning how to drive over here in England which has been challenging. I'm having to learn how to drive with new rules on the wrong side on the car, on the wrong side of the car, in a manual transmission (which I'd never driven until now). It's pretty much a nightmare. Thankfully I'm getting better bit my bit. Today I managed to start the car on a hill on the first try. Yesterday it took me 20 minutes plus. Multiple times. If anyone knows any good cheats/tips for driving manual and not completely screwing up do share.
Nothing much left to share! So I shall sign off. Thanks for reading.
Brynna
September 17, 2012
The Results are in!
I know I promised I'd update on Friday with all my results, but then I actually had to finish writing my report and that sort of took precedence! Sorry! But fear not, I am here to tell you all bits and bobs now.
So - after one whole month of release how many copies of Starkissed did I sell? drumroll........773! More than ten times the initial goal of 75. Incredibly happy and shocked and just all around pleased. Thank you to all that have bought copies, or told your friends to buy it!
Other things:
I had a goal of reaching 50 likes on Facebook. By friday I had 47. Not a big deal - though if you haven't liked it yet, please do!
I had a goal of reaching 250 followers on Twitter, I had 431 on Friday!
I had a goal of reaching 1000 blog views, I had 800 and something...
I had a goal of reaching 150 user adds on Goodreads. I reached 221!
I had a goal of getting 5 reviews on Goodreads. I had 21!
All in all, I'd say this whole endeavour has been pretty damn successful! I started my report merely curious about self-publishing and wondering if it was worthwhile. Today I'm thinking it could be a career.
Since friday my tally of books sold has actually risen to just over 900. Closing in on 1000! Sales have slowed a bit. When I hit the one month of release mark I was taken off all the hot new release lists and since then have seen a dip. However it's not been too bad. I'm still yo-yoing up and down on the Top 100 Bestsellers lists in Girls and Women, Love and Romance, and People and Places. I think I'm even #10 in Girls and Women right now, I was #9 last night. So still doing well.
I think the biggest regret I have is that I didn't realize how to use the lists on Amazon sooner. For the first couple weeks of release I had it parked in general fiction and Love and Romance, or something. Two really hard to enter top 100 lists. But when I realized I could put Starkissed in a more targeted genre, I made a list almost immediately and sales just picked up from there. Had I done it sooner, I imagine I would have sold a fair few more titles in those first weeks! Oh well, lesson learned and now I can pass this wisdom on to other self-publishers!
Anyways, must dry my hair and eat some lunch,
Talk soon,
Brynna
So - after one whole month of release how many copies of Starkissed did I sell? drumroll........773! More than ten times the initial goal of 75. Incredibly happy and shocked and just all around pleased. Thank you to all that have bought copies, or told your friends to buy it!
Other things:
I had a goal of reaching 50 likes on Facebook. By friday I had 47. Not a big deal - though if you haven't liked it yet, please do!
I had a goal of reaching 250 followers on Twitter, I had 431 on Friday!
I had a goal of reaching 1000 blog views, I had 800 and something...
I had a goal of reaching 150 user adds on Goodreads. I reached 221!
I had a goal of getting 5 reviews on Goodreads. I had 21!
All in all, I'd say this whole endeavour has been pretty damn successful! I started my report merely curious about self-publishing and wondering if it was worthwhile. Today I'm thinking it could be a career.
Since friday my tally of books sold has actually risen to just over 900. Closing in on 1000! Sales have slowed a bit. When I hit the one month of release mark I was taken off all the hot new release lists and since then have seen a dip. However it's not been too bad. I'm still yo-yoing up and down on the Top 100 Bestsellers lists in Girls and Women, Love and Romance, and People and Places. I think I'm even #10 in Girls and Women right now, I was #9 last night. So still doing well.
I think the biggest regret I have is that I didn't realize how to use the lists on Amazon sooner. For the first couple weeks of release I had it parked in general fiction and Love and Romance, or something. Two really hard to enter top 100 lists. But when I realized I could put Starkissed in a more targeted genre, I made a list almost immediately and sales just picked up from there. Had I done it sooner, I imagine I would have sold a fair few more titles in those first weeks! Oh well, lesson learned and now I can pass this wisdom on to other self-publishers!
Anyways, must dry my hair and eat some lunch,
Talk soon,
Brynna
September 13, 2012
Not the end.
The end is near. Okay, not really. I'm going to keep doing this whether I'm working on my project or not, BUT tomorrow is the 1 month deadline for all those sales and marketing goals I made for my project so...with regards to submitting my project, tomorrow is the day that matters right now! The good news is that save for a couple goals, I surpassed all the rest! With flying colours I might add. Starkissed has now passed 700 copies in sales, which is exciting. Actually the past few days have been great for sales. Since I went to bed last night I've sold 32 copies which is pretty impressive. I think my full day totals are up near 40 right now. It's selling better than ever, though it has been dropping a bit on the bestsellers lists. Either way, I'm happy how things are going. Many self-published authors say their sales actually pick up over time and that the first month isn't always their best, so maybe things will keep getting better! Who knows!
Other than that I'm actually going nuts I think. I've been trapped in my room for hours over the past few days working on this project so I can send in the draft tomorrow. I'm so close to finishing it's almost scary. I feel like I've missed so much in the report, but my word count is soooo limiting and there really isn't room to add anything else.
So instead i'm literally going through word by word, trying to cut as much as I can so I can squeeze in my conclusion. No fun.
Oh well. I must go! I will post all the goals and results for my project tomorrow. Exciting!!!
Brynna
Other than that I'm actually going nuts I think. I've been trapped in my room for hours over the past few days working on this project so I can send in the draft tomorrow. I'm so close to finishing it's almost scary. I feel like I've missed so much in the report, but my word count is soooo limiting and there really isn't room to add anything else.
So instead i'm literally going through word by word, trying to cut as much as I can so I can squeeze in my conclusion. No fun.
Oh well. I must go! I will post all the goals and results for my project tomorrow. Exciting!!!
Brynna
September 11, 2012
A brief interlude.
My next door neighbours seem to be very musical...ish. I think, as I type this, someone is attempting to play some sort of horn instrument. A trumpet maybe? Attempting is probably the best descriptor here. Earlier they were going at the piano. While I applaud all forays into the arts and I really do wish I too could play an instrument...I am trying to finish my major project here and each sour note kind of makes me want to run away from my room and computer. This isn't helped by the fact that out of the corner of my eye I can see sun streaming in through the window. What a day to be trapped inside...I WANT OUT.
Only 17 more days until this project is due though, and out is not an option! So thus I sit here, listening to poor attempts at playing music and wishing for freedom and some magical way to fit all I have to say into my 5000 word limit. Because right now I'm well past 4000 words and have yet to add several important and lengthy sections. I am doomed. Yes I am.
Aside from writing about the Starkissed experience, not a ton has happened since I last wrote. I've sold more copies for sure. I'm past 650 now, well on my way to 700. I'm really anxious to see how many have sold by the 14th (the deadline for my project). As I've said over and over again, I had a really conservative estimate on how many I would sell and I've just blown that apart. Or you all, the readers have! If I can get 750 sales by the end of Wednesday then I will have sold 10 times my initial estimate. Not too shabby! We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.
Alright, the music has stopped. Perhaps I can focus now and get something on this project done. Fingers crossed.
Later,
Brynna
Only 17 more days until this project is due though, and out is not an option! So thus I sit here, listening to poor attempts at playing music and wishing for freedom and some magical way to fit all I have to say into my 5000 word limit. Because right now I'm well past 4000 words and have yet to add several important and lengthy sections. I am doomed. Yes I am.
Aside from writing about the Starkissed experience, not a ton has happened since I last wrote. I've sold more copies for sure. I'm past 650 now, well on my way to 700. I'm really anxious to see how many have sold by the 14th (the deadline for my project). As I've said over and over again, I had a really conservative estimate on how many I would sell and I've just blown that apart. Or you all, the readers have! If I can get 750 sales by the end of Wednesday then I will have sold 10 times my initial estimate. Not too shabby! We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.
Alright, the music has stopped. Perhaps I can focus now and get something on this project done. Fingers crossed.
Later,
Brynna
September 10, 2012
Monday Minutes.
Life is starting to get very scary very fast. This is, of course, because my major project is due in 18 days. While I technically have the majority of it completed, it's the little bits that I still have yet to assemble that are going to kill me. For example, the Appendix. Oh dear god the appendix.
On the other hand, it is all very exciting though. As I've said before, when I set out on this project I had laid out some goals - such as selling 75 copies of Starkissed by September 14th. However, it's September 10th and I've now sold over 600 copies of Starkissed! I don't know if this will make my grade any better, but it feels really great and I'm so thrilled it's been going so well.
I don't know if I posted this previously, but Starkissed is available at Barnes and Noble now. It showed up a few days ago. Unfortunately only US customers can buy there, but to all you Americans, go ahead and show your Nook love for Starkissed here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/starkissed-brynna-gabrielson/1112684418?ean=2940044789401
Anyways, I shall go and get ready to catch my train back to Oxford.
Brynna
On the other hand, it is all very exciting though. As I've said before, when I set out on this project I had laid out some goals - such as selling 75 copies of Starkissed by September 14th. However, it's September 10th and I've now sold over 600 copies of Starkissed! I don't know if this will make my grade any better, but it feels really great and I'm so thrilled it's been going so well.
I don't know if I posted this previously, but Starkissed is available at Barnes and Noble now. It showed up a few days ago. Unfortunately only US customers can buy there, but to all you Americans, go ahead and show your Nook love for Starkissed here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/starkissed-brynna-gabrielson/1112684418?ean=2940044789401
Anyways, I shall go and get ready to catch my train back to Oxford.
Brynna
September 7, 2012
Another wow day.
It's been another one of those fantastic days in the Starkissed sphere. Every day I wake up and I can't believe how well things are going. This morning I pried open the lid of my computer only to discover that Starkissed had finally made it on to the Love and Romance sub-genre list. It was only at #98, but I was ecstatic. I think it might be one of the hardest lists to get on out of all the Children's eBook genres. Primarily because I think most YA books fall into this category and thus genre themselves as such. Even better, after a few hours it climbed and at the moment it's holding at #88.
More excitement because now Starkissed is ranked with the TOP 20 of the People and Places - Girls and Women list. Right now it's #16, though it was at #12 earlier today! And then to make things even more fun, it's climbed to #2 in the Hot New Releases list for Girls and Women. Just...wow. Unfortunately I think it can only hang out on that list within the first month of release, so it will likely stop showing there after next Tuesday. We shall see.
As you can see, things are just going really well. I keep climbing the ranks in the paid kindle store (Up to #2226 this morning) and selling more and more copies. I've sold more copies in the past 6 and a half days then I did in all of August. It's kind of like...amazing.
Oh today I finally finally finally got my EIN! For those who have no idea, and that's got to be all of you - unless you self-publish, then you know of this fabled beauty. Essentially any author who self-publishes on Amazon has 30% of their royalties withheld for taxes by the IRS. BOOOO. As I'm not American I shouldn't be paying this, so instead I have to get a tax number to send off to Amazon so they can remove this withholding and give me all the money (so i can then pay taxes to Canada...). Anyways, the way to do this is to get a TIN or an EIN. The TIN is an Individual Tax Identity Number, and the EIN is an Employee Identity Number. The TIN is the primary route most self-pubbers have been taking for years. But it's apparently a long and arduous task and just...crappy. It takes weeks and there are tons of forms, and then you have to send you Passport to the IRS, or take it to your local US embassy. It doesn't sound fun. The EIN however, is a 10 minute phone call - but is only meant for those who have established their own company. Technically as I don't own a company I shouldn't have the EIN, but I'd heard about some self-pubbers who'd had luck getting them, claiming themselves as the sole proprietor publishing in their own name. So I thought what the hell, might as well try. And I did, and I got it! Yay! So now I just have to fill out a form, send it lickity-split to Amazon, and then all will be squared away. Or something. We'll see. For those of you who may require an EIN at some juncture, this blog post was a god send: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/02/24/non-us-self-publisher-tax-issues-dont-need-to-be-taxing/
Aside from Starkissed it's a been a nice week. Went down to the coast on Wednesday and climbed through the ruins of Corfe Castle, desceneded (and then climbed to get back) the longest, steepest path to get to the most gorgeous beach at Durdle Door, and then went to Weymouth for supper at an awesome Chippy. Then yesterday went to the races. I had one winner, though not a great pay out. But I picked it because it's name was Miss Marjurie. My mom's name was Marjorie. Not the exact same spelling, but it felt like a lucky one. And it was. Just felt lucky to everyone else so the odds were a bit short. Rory however had three winners. Lucky guy.
Anyways, life goes on, but this post does not. Later.
Brynna
More excitement because now Starkissed is ranked with the TOP 20 of the People and Places - Girls and Women list. Right now it's #16, though it was at #12 earlier today! And then to make things even more fun, it's climbed to #2 in the Hot New Releases list for Girls and Women. Just...wow. Unfortunately I think it can only hang out on that list within the first month of release, so it will likely stop showing there after next Tuesday. We shall see.
As you can see, things are just going really well. I keep climbing the ranks in the paid kindle store (Up to #2226 this morning) and selling more and more copies. I've sold more copies in the past 6 and a half days then I did in all of August. It's kind of like...amazing.
Oh today I finally finally finally got my EIN! For those who have no idea, and that's got to be all of you - unless you self-publish, then you know of this fabled beauty. Essentially any author who self-publishes on Amazon has 30% of their royalties withheld for taxes by the IRS. BOOOO. As I'm not American I shouldn't be paying this, so instead I have to get a tax number to send off to Amazon so they can remove this withholding and give me all the money (so i can then pay taxes to Canada...). Anyways, the way to do this is to get a TIN or an EIN. The TIN is an Individual Tax Identity Number, and the EIN is an Employee Identity Number. The TIN is the primary route most self-pubbers have been taking for years. But it's apparently a long and arduous task and just...crappy. It takes weeks and there are tons of forms, and then you have to send you Passport to the IRS, or take it to your local US embassy. It doesn't sound fun. The EIN however, is a 10 minute phone call - but is only meant for those who have established their own company. Technically as I don't own a company I shouldn't have the EIN, but I'd heard about some self-pubbers who'd had luck getting them, claiming themselves as the sole proprietor publishing in their own name. So I thought what the hell, might as well try. And I did, and I got it! Yay! So now I just have to fill out a form, send it lickity-split to Amazon, and then all will be squared away. Or something. We'll see. For those of you who may require an EIN at some juncture, this blog post was a god send: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/02/24/non-us-self-publisher-tax-issues-dont-need-to-be-taxing/
Aside from Starkissed it's a been a nice week. Went down to the coast on Wednesday and climbed through the ruins of Corfe Castle, desceneded (and then climbed to get back) the longest, steepest path to get to the most gorgeous beach at Durdle Door, and then went to Weymouth for supper at an awesome Chippy. Then yesterday went to the races. I had one winner, though not a great pay out. But I picked it because it's name was Miss Marjurie. My mom's name was Marjorie. Not the exact same spelling, but it felt like a lucky one. And it was. Just felt lucky to everyone else so the odds were a bit short. Rory however had three winners. Lucky guy.
Anyways, life goes on, but this post does not. Later.
Brynna
September 4, 2012
Another week down!
Time for another weekly update of Starkissed! I can definitely say this has been one of the most exciting weeks so far. So let's recap all the fun!
On Saturday Starkissed made it's way onto one of Amazon's Top 100 Bestsellers lists. It's been hanging out pretty steadily on the Children's ebooks, People and Places, Girls and Women genre list since. I think it started at about #43, and it's made it's way all the way up to #21 so far. It could have gone higher when I was sleeping, but probably not much. Right now it's at #24. It also has been leaping on and off of the Children's Ebooks, People and Places Top 100 list. Yesterday it was coming it at about #82. Right now it's at #96.
Then even more fun, I was just kind of looking around the Kindle store this morning and looked to the right of my screen and saw Starkissed listed under Girls and Women Hot New Releases. And when I clicked on the link it took me to the Hot New Release list and Starkissed was ranked at #3! It's dropped to #4 right now, but I can't explain how excited I was when I saw it there. It also made the Hot New Releases People and Places list, coming in at #12 last I checked!
So lists abound, sales have been picking up for the past few days. Since the start of September I've sold 115 copies. I don't know my exact numbers for August as my 'month-to-date' sales disappeared once September hit, and I have to wait for the August report to generate from Amazon, but I think I sold about 214 at last count on August 31st (Just on Amazon.com). Anyways, adding that to my figures from Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon.co.uk and September's Amazon.com sales I'm at around 360 copies sold so far. A few more than that actually as I don't know what sold in the last few hours of August 31st and I still have no clue what my iBooks sales are at. Either way, I've more that quadrupled my sales goal, so I'm thrilled.
In other news, yesterday was my 25th Birthday. It was the first time I've ever woken up on September 3rd and been completely and utterly satisfied with the year before. 24 was one of the most amazing years of my life. It was a year of dreams come true - I moved to England, I started my Master's Degree (and nearly finished it), I visited Germany, Italy and France, I met someone amazing and fell in love, I published my first novel.
24 was the best age of my life so far. I hope it continues with 25.
Must be off now!
Thank you for reading!
Soon,
Brynna
On Saturday Starkissed made it's way onto one of Amazon's Top 100 Bestsellers lists. It's been hanging out pretty steadily on the Children's ebooks, People and Places, Girls and Women genre list since. I think it started at about #43, and it's made it's way all the way up to #21 so far. It could have gone higher when I was sleeping, but probably not much. Right now it's at #24. It also has been leaping on and off of the Children's Ebooks, People and Places Top 100 list. Yesterday it was coming it at about #82. Right now it's at #96.
Then even more fun, I was just kind of looking around the Kindle store this morning and looked to the right of my screen and saw Starkissed listed under Girls and Women Hot New Releases. And when I clicked on the link it took me to the Hot New Release list and Starkissed was ranked at #3! It's dropped to #4 right now, but I can't explain how excited I was when I saw it there. It also made the Hot New Releases People and Places list, coming in at #12 last I checked!
So lists abound, sales have been picking up for the past few days. Since the start of September I've sold 115 copies. I don't know my exact numbers for August as my 'month-to-date' sales disappeared once September hit, and I have to wait for the August report to generate from Amazon, but I think I sold about 214 at last count on August 31st (Just on Amazon.com). Anyways, adding that to my figures from Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon.co.uk and September's Amazon.com sales I'm at around 360 copies sold so far. A few more than that actually as I don't know what sold in the last few hours of August 31st and I still have no clue what my iBooks sales are at. Either way, I've more that quadrupled my sales goal, so I'm thrilled.
In other news, yesterday was my 25th Birthday. It was the first time I've ever woken up on September 3rd and been completely and utterly satisfied with the year before. 24 was one of the most amazing years of my life. It was a year of dreams come true - I moved to England, I started my Master's Degree (and nearly finished it), I visited Germany, Italy and France, I met someone amazing and fell in love, I published my first novel.
24 was the best age of my life so far. I hope it continues with 25.
Must be off now!
Thank you for reading!
Soon,
Brynna
September 1, 2012
Smell the pencils in the air.
Only once in the past 20 years have I not gone back to school in September. It was hard not going then, and it's hard now. I know most people dream of getting school over and done with and moving on to real life, and for the most part, I do too. But I love back to school. When I was younger my favourite thing was going shopping for all my new clothes and school supplies. And then they'd just sit there in the corner, untouched because I wasn't allowed near them. I would itch and scratch, just waiting to bust out my new backpack or sweater. Then finally school would start and despite the fact that the temperature would still be way up there, I'd show up in my new jeans and long sleeves, debuting my awesome outfit featuring me sweating to death in it. I loved cracking open a virgin notebook and writing on the first page. I LOVED decorating my locker. And for a few weeks it would be great. I'd break in my new classes and they'd still feel exciting and new.
It would start to wear thin once October hit, but it wouldn't be too bad. By November I'd be wishing I'd not let Summer go so willingly. So today I'm holding on to November, thinking about the essays and projects and reading. About the half dozen pencils I'd have to throw away because they'd broken, and the notebook now filled with manky bits of scrap paper.
So yay for not going back to school this year. Although let's face it, I'm still technically in school. I'm still finishing my major project. Actually what I'm doing right now is writing this blog post so I can avoid the MP for a few minutes. But come September 28th, I hand it in and it's goodbye school.
September also brings one other kind of awesome thing. My birthday! Which is on Monday. So if you're wondering what can I do to make Brynna's birthday awesome - how about buy a copy of Starkissed? But yes, Monday I turn 25. A whole quarter of a century. No longer shall I be able to select 18 - 24 on surveys. I realized something else yesterday, as of Monday I will be able to rent cars without that stupid extra fee! This is both exciting and depressing, because that extra fee was pretty much the last 'age' milestone holding on to me. Sigh.
Also, speaking of September, this morning I woke up to check my sales data for Starkissed and had a panic attack because it had ALL disappeared. It said I'd sold 4 copies. Then I realized that I was looking at month-to-date sales and it wasn't August anymore. It was about 3 hours into September. The exciting bit is that I know I've now surpassed over 250 copies sold which is exciting!
Anyways, today I MUST get some work done on my major project. Then tomorrow I'm down to Wiltshire to see the boyfriend.
Soon,
Brynna
It would start to wear thin once October hit, but it wouldn't be too bad. By November I'd be wishing I'd not let Summer go so willingly. So today I'm holding on to November, thinking about the essays and projects and reading. About the half dozen pencils I'd have to throw away because they'd broken, and the notebook now filled with manky bits of scrap paper.
So yay for not going back to school this year. Although let's face it, I'm still technically in school. I'm still finishing my major project. Actually what I'm doing right now is writing this blog post so I can avoid the MP for a few minutes. But come September 28th, I hand it in and it's goodbye school.
September also brings one other kind of awesome thing. My birthday! Which is on Monday. So if you're wondering what can I do to make Brynna's birthday awesome - how about buy a copy of Starkissed? But yes, Monday I turn 25. A whole quarter of a century. No longer shall I be able to select 18 - 24 on surveys. I realized something else yesterday, as of Monday I will be able to rent cars without that stupid extra fee! This is both exciting and depressing, because that extra fee was pretty much the last 'age' milestone holding on to me. Sigh.
Also, speaking of September, this morning I woke up to check my sales data for Starkissed and had a panic attack because it had ALL disappeared. It said I'd sold 4 copies. Then I realized that I was looking at month-to-date sales and it wasn't August anymore. It was about 3 hours into September. The exciting bit is that I know I've now surpassed over 250 copies sold which is exciting!
Anyways, today I MUST get some work done on my major project. Then tomorrow I'm down to Wiltshire to see the boyfriend.
Soon,
Brynna
August 31, 2012
An Interview with Me!
Hey all,
I'm featured the featured artist on a blog today. Read the interview here: http://cathedraloftime.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/featured-artist-friday-brynna-gabrielson.html
I'm featured the featured artist on a blog today. Read the interview here: http://cathedraloftime.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/featured-artist-friday-brynna-gabrielson.html
August 30, 2012
200 reasons I love you all.
Just a quick note today! When I woke up this morning sales of Starkissed had surpassed 200! In fact as of this afternoon I think I've sold 218 copies (plus a few more on iBooks I can't account for!).
Seeing as I've sold so many more copies of Starkissed than I thought I would, I thought I best try and sort out of my tax situation. For those who don't know much about self-publishing - because Amazon and Smashwords etc are based in the states, they withhold 30% of royalties from authors for taxes. But seeing as I'm not an American citizen, I don't actually have to pay these taxes. So to 'opt out' of paying this 30% before my first royalty cheque is despatched, I have to either acquire an ITIN or an EIN. These are essentially identification numbers that I can send to Amazon to stop them taking money. The EIN is meant to be quite easy to get, while the ITIN is a pain, so today I decided to try to get an EIN. However when I called I was promptly informed that all EIN processing is down right now because of a computer issue and it won't be up until after September 4th! It's not really a big deal, but I'd really like to get it off my to do list and unfortunately it's just got to stay there a while longer.
On the other hand, I managed to get an ISBN for Starkissed today. One awesome thing about the Canadian government is that they give free ISBNs. Most countries will charge a hefty sum for the privilege of that 13 digit number. I don't actually need an ISBN as most sites don't require them for eBooks, but I thought it would be good to have. Now when someone clicks on buy the book on my Goodreads page it should take them to Amazon, which it didn't do before. Don't quote me on that though, as the ISBN hasn't loaded to the Kindle book yet so I can't test it!
I know this is all just oh so interesting, but who knows, maybe one of you will opt to publish your own book one day and then all this rambling will actually help you! So get ready for an oh so exciting post when I actually get my ITIN or EIN!
Until another time at which I've yet to determine,
Brynna
Seeing as I've sold so many more copies of Starkissed than I thought I would, I thought I best try and sort out of my tax situation. For those who don't know much about self-publishing - because Amazon and Smashwords etc are based in the states, they withhold 30% of royalties from authors for taxes. But seeing as I'm not an American citizen, I don't actually have to pay these taxes. So to 'opt out' of paying this 30% before my first royalty cheque is despatched, I have to either acquire an ITIN or an EIN. These are essentially identification numbers that I can send to Amazon to stop them taking money. The EIN is meant to be quite easy to get, while the ITIN is a pain, so today I decided to try to get an EIN. However when I called I was promptly informed that all EIN processing is down right now because of a computer issue and it won't be up until after September 4th! It's not really a big deal, but I'd really like to get it off my to do list and unfortunately it's just got to stay there a while longer.
On the other hand, I managed to get an ISBN for Starkissed today. One awesome thing about the Canadian government is that they give free ISBNs. Most countries will charge a hefty sum for the privilege of that 13 digit number. I don't actually need an ISBN as most sites don't require them for eBooks, but I thought it would be good to have. Now when someone clicks on buy the book on my Goodreads page it should take them to Amazon, which it didn't do before. Don't quote me on that though, as the ISBN hasn't loaded to the Kindle book yet so I can't test it!
I know this is all just oh so interesting, but who knows, maybe one of you will opt to publish your own book one day and then all this rambling will actually help you! So get ready for an oh so exciting post when I actually get my ITIN or EIN!
Until another time at which I've yet to determine,
Brynna
