Riding the Scree - RaelWV's SelfPub Thread

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
I figured it was time to start a diary here, since jumping into self publishing is one of my big projects for 2015 (the other is a belated honeymoon - guess which one comes first?). So, yay me!

First up will be a short story collection, which is acting as a kind of test run for some novels I've got in various states of completion. I want to sell some books, but I'm under no illusions that I'm going to become rich off this and be able to quit my day job. If I can find an audience and make it profitable enough to keep doing it right, I'll be happy with that.

At this point, most of the "book stuff" itself is done. The text has been edited, and I've formatted versions for KDP and CreateSpace. I'm planning on using those and Draft2Digital. I still need to do something about a cover, which is proving trickier conceptually than I anticipated.

Right now, the part I'm having the hardest time with it figuring out the business part of it - do I need to start a separate company? If so, what kind? Do I need a tax ID number aside from my SSN? Do I need to worry about copyright registration? Seems like there's a lot of conflicting advice out there, which I'm still sifting through.

Onward!
 

akaria

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
579
Reaction score
61
Location
Brooklyn represent!
Welcome to the adventure!

I highly recommend D2D. The set up is super simple. Your book goes live pretty quickly. Customer service is on point. Longest I've waited for a response is a couple of hours.

I haven't formed a separate company. SSN works fine so far. If I am so lucky as to make wheelbarrows full of money, then I'd form and LLC or something. Of course, INAL or an accountant so YMMV.
 

Layla Lawlor

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 4, 2014
Messages
171
Reaction score
28
Location
Alaska
Re: the tax/business questions - I've been self-publishing (intermittently) for over a decade and have never done anything other than use my SSN. When I lived in a state that had sales tax and was selling my books directly to local customers at conventions, I signed up with the sales tax office (but in retrospect, I think it was honestly more trouble than it was worth to file all the necessary quarterly paperwork for the paltry amount that I ended up earning). Otherwise, I just fill out the 1040SE self-employment income form each year and put it down on the appropriate line on the regular 1040 form.

I also keep a very detailed spreadsheet of all my sales/expenses just in case I ever get audited, to be on the safe side and to make sure the information I put on the tax forms is 100% accurate. And I have a business email folder into which I put all my royalty statements from Amazon and other correspondence, as well as physical folders for stuff like check stubs. I am not an organized person by nature, but about this, I am as organized as I know how to be! I recommend in the beginning, keeping everything you think there's even a chance you might need; later you may decide you don't have to keep all of it, but I don't know how many times I've been glad at end-of-year paperwork time that I never throw anything away.

(Obligatory notes about not being a tax attorney, this should not be taken as official advice, etc ...)

Edit regarding (U.S.) copyright: You automatically have copyright on everything you write (in the U.S.). Many people choose to go ahead and file with the national copyright office for additional protections in case you are infringed upon (you can google for their website & instructions). I've never done this but have a vague nagging suspicion that it would probably be a good idea if I did.
 
Last edited:

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Messages
2,906
Reaction score
1,140
Website
www.slhuang.com
I did a phone consult with a lawyer prior to SPing to ask exactly those questions and it was the best $70 I ever spent. Her advice has saved me loads.

Her advice about forming a company / not was specific to my state, day job, and prior income level, so I highly recommend getting your own customized advice on that.

She did highly recommend I register copyright, which I had not thought would be necessary. I won't get into specifics for fear of relaying the info wrong, but the gist of it was that it's still against the law for people to infringe no matter what, but if you haven't registered it would be a nightmare (and prohibitively expensive) to bring a case, but if you have, it is actually doable to sue the infringer. So there is apparently a huge practical difference.

My initial consult lawyer also recommended hiring a lawyer (not her) to register the copyright, as she said it would be easy to screw up, particularly since I was using a pen name. You don't need a state-specific attorney to register copyright, as it's federal (assuming you're in the US, and if not ignore EVERYTHING I just said ;)). You SHOULD find a state-specific attorney or financial professional to ask your other questions of. I have relatives who work in finance in another state and the advice they'd given me prior to my lawyer consult was the exact opposite because of differences in our state laws -- so again, I'm VERY glad I consulted the lawyer. :D

Good luck!

eta: Also a disclaimer that I am not a lawyer or financial person and may have garbled things -- seriously, get a professional consult, it's SO worth it. And I found getting a consult to be not nearly as scary or difficult as most people seem to think!
 
Last edited:

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Thanks Layla and slhuang. The lawyer in me (not one who does tax or media law, sadly) will make me register the copyright. Sounds like a good idea to consult with somebody else on the business/tax stuff.
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Does anybody have standard copyright/attribution language for an image (used in a cover) used under a Creative Commons attribution license? Can't find any good examples in my research.

Thanks,
 

Treehouseman

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
1,090
Reaction score
102
Doesn't the Creative Commons main site have everything worded? I'm at my work computer so can't google, but if you look up the main site they have all the icons and wording there.
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Thanks, Treehousman. I had been directed to the CC site by the license itself, but it didn't mention how to attribute. There is some info on the CC site, although it's geared toward online use rather than print. It also, unhelpfully, links to other guides that do things slightly differenlty. I think I've got what I need, however.
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Just signed up for my first author appearance - a showcase of WV writers this summer at Tamarack! It includes a reading, which is something I haven't given too much thought about until now.
 

AgathaChristieFan

proud writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 20, 2011
Messages
390
Reaction score
34
Location
Martinsburg, WV
Congratulations, RaelWV! That's so cool; I hope you have fun at the showcase. I'm from West Virginia too--the Eastern Panhandle :)
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Back from the honeymoon and getting to work on "book stuff" in earnest, planning to release The Last Ereph and Other Stories on March 2.

I've built up a new website, hopped on Twitter, and created an author page on Facebook (links in the sig). Now I'm finalizing file formats. Whee!
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Got my proof copy in the mail from CreateSpace today. It looks really good! It gave me a little lift to hold a real book in my hands. Plus a knot in my gut about finishing this up.

:D
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Wanted to pass along a couple of things I learned finalizing files with Draft2Digital this past week.

First, I learned that using Calibre to check out D2D's files doesn't work quite right. I had problems with my front matter (title page, copyright, dedication) all showing up on one page instead of separate pages (as in my KDP version). According to D2D there was no problem, except that I was checking their files using Calibre. Once I downloaded the free viewers they recommended, there were no issues.

2. For my CreateSpace and KDP editions I have the first paragraphs of scenes indented like regular paragraphs. D2D changed all those to flush left. When I asked about this I was informed that was industry standard and the only format supported by D2D at this time.

Hope that info helps someone else down the line.

Everything's uploaded - March 2 is just around the corner! :partyguy:
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Today's the day! The Last Ereph and Other Stories is now available in paperback and various eBook formats.

Now let's see if anybody buys the damned thing. ;)
 

cutecontinent

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2010
Messages
626
Reaction score
112
so d2d is like the new smashwords?

why no love for amazon on aw? :(
 
Last edited:

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
D2D's claim to fame v. Smashwords is that they will do all the format heavy lifting that Smashwords (as I understand it) forces you to do at the front end. Worked for me (although I've yet to sell anything through D2D channels).
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
OK, so I guess it's time for my first monthly report.

The Last Ereph and Other Stories came out on March 2. In March I sold 17 copies (10 paperback, 7 KDP, 0 D2D). I've also gotten the book stocked by a local independent bookstore.

In terms of promos I just finished up a Goodreads giveaway. We'll see if that bears any fruit. I'm in the middle of a Librarything giveaway, so same there. I did a blog interview that was published last week and an Internet radio interview that will go up in a couple of weeks.

I'm certain most, if not all, of my sales this month are friends and relations. But I got to start somewhere, right?
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
Since I mentioned promos . . .

I mailed out the two copies to the Goodreads winners. No feedback yet, but it's only been a week.

I had 25 people sign up via LibraryThing and I'm in the process of getting books to them.

I'll be interested to see how many - if any - reviews I get from 27 people with free copies of the book.
 

Norman D Gutter

Engineer Sonneteer
Poetry Book Collaborator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
2,144
Reaction score
352
Location
Arkansas, USA
Website
davidatodd.com
Hi rael in West Virginia:

I just read this thread for the first time. Here's hoping you have many sales of your story collection and of future works.

Best Regards,
NDG
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
So, the sales report for April is . . . pretty much nonexistent. Aside from a single copy sold by my local independent bookstore, I didn't sell a single copy last month. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Particularly disappointed because I got Tweeted about to more than 70k people the other day, which created nothing.

Also less than thrilled with the giveaways. No reviews yet and several Librarything "winners" never even claimed their prize.

I dropped the eBook price today, so we'll see where that goes. And I've got some appearances lined up for the summer. Gotta keep plugging away.
 

raelwv

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
260
Reaction score
33
Location
West Virginia
Website
www.jdbyrne.net
This evening I had my first book signing event . .



. . . at Empire Books in Huntington, WV.

Well, it would have been a book signing if anybody had actually bought one.

:cry:

I did have several good conversations with people, gave out some business cards, and got some mailing list signups, so it was hardly a waste. Still, it's a little soul crushing to talk to everyone who walks through the door and have most of the ignore you.