Purple Prose:
self publishing

Miranda Hardy is doing a cover release this week for her new picture book, Wacky Waddles, and generously offered to share her knowledge on the U.S. tax rate for writers and authors who reside outside the U.S, and for those who are doing a joint venture with a non U.S resident. This is very important information. Thanks, Miranda. :)

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Thank you Stina for allowing me to take over your blog today. I hope that I may bring some knowledge to those who plan on doing business in the U.S., but may reside elsewhere.

When I was paired with an illustrator on an anthology project, I had no clue where Maldives was located, but I knew I needed to work with Rimi no matter the consequences. Working with others who reside outside of the U.S. requires knowledge of certain tax laws.

Are you thinking of publishing in the U.S., but live in another country? Maybe you are working with someone else in another country on a collaboration, perhaps even a business partnership? Regardless of whether you plan on self-publishing or going the traditional route, if your work will be published in the U.S., you’ll need to understand certain aspects of our tax laws.

The U.S. government requires companies to withhold 30% of royalties made in the U.S. and paid to entities residing in other countries…unless the U.S. has a tax treaty with your country.
Click HERE for a list of the countries in which the U.S. has treaties established.
So, what do you do if you’re entitled to an exemption or reduction in the U.S. tax rate?
1.) You need to apply for an ITIN (Individual Tax identification Number) or EIN (Employer Identification Number) with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Applying for an ITIN is a long process, involving sending in original documentation for identification purposes. Click HERE for the instructions.

Applying for an EIN is simpler. International applicants call (267) 941-1099. They will give you the EIN instantly over the phone. Hours are 7:00AM – 10:00PM Eastern Time.

What’s the difference between the ITIN and the EIN? EIN’s are used by employers, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, non-profit associations, trusts, estates of descendants, government agencies, certain individuals, and other business entities. Since I am a writer, I deduct writing expenses, as well as keep track of my writing income separately; therefore, I’m a sole proprietor.

2.) Fill out a W-8BEN and send it to the company you may be dealing with (Amazon, your publishing company, etc.). Make sure you send the original through the mail to the entity you will be receiving the monies from. This form can be found HERE.

That’s it! You can always, for your reading pleasure, examine the U.S. foreign withholding procedures for yourself with the IRS Publication 515. It’s 64 pages of complicated forms and acronyms.
Although my background is in accounting, this post is for information purposes only, and does not constitute professional legal tax advice. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service updates publications often, and tax policies are subject to change.

Miranda Hardy
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Miranda Hardy writes children's literature to keep the voices in her head appeased. When she's not in her fantasy world, she's canoeing in alligator infested waters or rescuing homeless animals. She resides in south Florida with her two wonderful children, and too many animals to mention.

Rimi Rasheed
Blog |Facebook | Twitter
Rimi Rasheed is a professional in primary education yet follows a passion in digital illustrating, and much of her work is focused on children. She is well known for her colourful creations of lovable characters, most of which can be found on her blog. She lives in Maldives with her husband and two children.

Wacky Waddles is a rhyming picture book for young readers. Take the journey with Wacky Waddles as he explores his new home.

Paperback available through Amazon.
Ebook available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

For many writers, once we’ve made the decision to pursue a writing career, we become so focused on finishing our book, we often don’t think about what comes afterwards. And with more options available to us than a few years ago, it’s important that we look at the big picture, no matter where we are in the pursuit of publication.

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! By L. Diane Wolfe is a thorough guide that will benefit writers, no matter where they are in the writing process. It covers everything you could possibility want to know about writing and beyond. In total, there are eighty-four chapters, each ranging between two to three pages. Topics cover all aspects of traditional and self publishing, social networking, marketing, and promotion. And with each topic, the book explains everything you need to know so that you can make the choices that are right for you and your project.

Chapters include:

• Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing

• Going the Traditional Route

• Business Setup (i.e. what you need to know if you’re self publishing)

• Developing a Website

• The Media

• Reviewers

• Where to Send Review Copies

• What to Expect From Reviews

• Newsletters

Because each chapter is short, you won’t find the level of information that you might find in a book or online workshop focused on that specific topic (for example, writing newsletters). But it is a great resource for figuring out what you need to do to succeed. The book is also filled with links you can click on for additional information on various topics. This makes the book invaluable, regardless of which publishing route you choose.

Have you thought much about promotion, regardless of where you are on the publishing path? (and that includes those of you writing the first draft of your first novel).

Note: I’d like to thank L.Diane Wolfe’s publisher for providing me a copy of the book for the review.

Available February 5, 2012
Publishing/Marketing, 214 pages
$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0
Available in all Ebook formats

Barnes and Noble -
Amazon -
Amazon Kindle -

Thanks to book review websites like Goodreads and Amazon, a reader can decide if they want to read a book or if they should skip it because of the reviews and ratings.

Last month, I posted about a poorly edited book* I had read that ended up with some surprisingly high ratings on both Goodreads and Amazon. Since that post, I’ve noticed an unexpected finding. The way people rate self-published books is different to how they rate traditionally published ones. I’m consistently finding that the overall ratings for self-published books are higher than the ones for books that are traditionally published.

One reason for this is because we may be tougher on traditionally published books due to their cost. When a self-published novel costs only $1.99, we tend to be more forgiving. We’re less forgiving when we shell out $10 for a book. And watch up if we pay significantly higher than that, which is the case for hardcover books. It doesn’t mean the self-published books are better. It just means we’re dealing with a whole new level of subjectivity.

Do you find you are tougher when you rate traditionally published books verses self-published ones? Do you think this inequality in how books are reviewed is fair to authors and readers alike?

* I'm currently reading Hopeless. It's not the book I was referring to.

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And the winner of the book Social Media Just For Writers is:

Michael Di Gesu

Congrats, Michael!

Self publishing is negatively viewed by the masses, and rightly so. This is because many authors still believe that investing in professional editing is unnecessary. If the story is good, they reason, that should suffice. Look at Fifty Shades of Gray. The writing is not great, yet the novel is a best seller.

Last week, I downloaded a New Adult (NA) novel (not the one in the picture) after a friend told me the price had dropped to $0.99. The potential for a great read was there, but the author chose to skip on professional editing. It was ridden with typos (e.g. We had a picnic, though she didn’t each much), missing words, confusing sentences. While I enjoyed the story, the lack of line and copy editing* left a bad taste, and I won’t buy anymore of the author’s books.

But it seems I’m alone in this believe that self-published books need to be properly edited. The book (which is $3.99, again) received 111 five-stars, 29 four-stars, 5 three-stars, and only 1 two-star rating on Amazon. When I wrote this post, it was ranked #178 in paid Kindle books (# 6 in Teen Romances). On Goodreads, the average rating was 4.29 stars (4121 readers rated the book). I was shocked. It seems that most people who read the book didn’t care that the level of editing was well below the standard of NYC.

What saddens me is that this might be the new standard for all our books, now that NYC is starting to compete with the self-published e-books on pricing. With the reduction of price, there will be the reduction in the time spent on editing. This level of editing could be the wave of the future.

Do you care if a book is poorly edited, just as long as the story is compelling? If you self publish, do you hire a professional editor to ensure your writing and story is the best it can be? Do you expect to see poorly edited book from NYC, now that they’re trying to complete with the pricing of self-published books?

*Six or seven beta readers were listed in the back of the book. The Secret of Ella and Micha byJessica Sorensen is also $0.99 and the writing is solid. Jessica obviously takes great pride in her books and craft. As soon as her new book (The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden) was released this week, I downloaded it.

©Stina Lindenblatt

Unless you’ve been wandering lost in a desert for the past year, you are aware that the publishing industry is rapidly changing. With it, the number of self-published, small press, ebooks, and traditionally published books being published each week is dramatically growing. What does this mean? More people are trying to gain the reader’s attention. The same reader we want to check out our own new release.

Elana Johnson blogged last week on how we’re starting to suffer from a social media hangover. Promotional activities (blog tours, giveaways, interviews) that used to be effective are now turning people off. Some readers still enjoy them, but most don’t bother to read the posts. I don’t. Katie Mills also talked about this change. Based on comments from their posts and other places, as well as personal experience, this is what I’ve learned:

• Covers are important. If your cover looks amateurish, no one (other than your mom) will be interested in your book. When you send the JPEG file to be used on another blog, make sure you send one of high resolution; otherwise, it will look blurry and amateurish.

• A compelling title always tromps a dull one.

• Make sure your blurb is tight and interesting. If your blurb is dull and vague, I’m not going to read your book. I’ve seen a number of self-published books lately with great covers and boring blurbs.

• Don’t irritate people with your promotion. As we all know, this is a serious issue with Twitter and Facebook. If you want people to pay attention to your new release, then please avoid spamming. If you DM someone who just followed you back, you can guarantee they WON’T read your book (or blog) if you tell them to.

• Use Goodreads wisely. Goodreads is a great way for people to find out about your book via word-of-mouth. Plus, fans of your books can check the site for the release date of your next novel. It’s also a good way to invite your “friends” to your book-release party. However, I often delete the announcements (unread) unless I’m excited about the book or the author is a friend of mine.

• Word of mouth is your best promotion. Not long ago, a blogging friend mentioned Easy by Tammara Webber on her blog. We started talking about the book. Because of that, I bought it and read it right away (even though my TBR pile is out of control). I then told my CP, who also read it even though her TBR pile is as bad as mine. We both love the book and have told others about it.

• Be selective with your blog tours. You are better off having your book reviewed on a major book blog (if possible) than swamp your blogging circle with a blog tour. According to the comments on Katie’s and Elana’s posts, most of us avoid reading posts that are part of a blog tour, especially when a number of the blogs we follow are part of the tour. The exception is if the topic is of interest to us. Then we stop to read it.

• Keep your promotion small, unless you can spread it around so it’s not hitting the same people again and again. Every so often, subtly remind us about your book. I might not buy it right away, but the reminder later on might be all I need to pick the book up. This is more effective than over promotion, which tends to turn some people off a book.

• If you’re going to do an interview, KEEP IT SHORT. Most of us don’t have time to read to a 750-word plus interview, unless it’s by our favorite author. Personally, all I care about is the book. Write a great story and I’m sold.

• Make sure your book is professionally edited. Later next year, I plan to release a New Adult novel I’m currently working on, and plan to have the book professionally edited (that includes structural edits, line edits, and copy edits). Why? Because I want the word-of-mouth to be good. Need I say more?

• Start working on your next project. The best promotion for your last book is your next one. I loved Easy so much, I had to read the first book in Tammara Webber’s Between the Lines series. I’ve already read the first two books and can’t wait to read the third one.

• Remember the purpose of social networking. The key word here is social. This is your chance to make genuine friendships. Friendships that could eventually lead to positive word-of-mouth about your book.

How do you decide what books to read? Are there any forms of promotion that especially turns you off? Do you have any other suggestions for getting your book noticed?

More and more fiction writers are joining the growing trend of self publishing. Some have delusions of becoming the next Amanda Hockings (seriously, who wouldn’t want to be her?). Others have realistic expectations and know what it takes to produce an excellent product that will be noticed. These individuals also know that it will take a while to grow their career, just like for most traditional authors. They do their research, and they based their decision to join the ranks because it fits their goals.

With YA, things aren’t as clear cut as for other genres. There are two types of readers who read YA stories: teens and adults. As we know, teens are not adults. When it comes to adoption of eReaders, nothing is truer. Teens haven’t jumped onto the ebook train like adults have. This, though, is slowly changing.

When it comes buying books, again, both groups are very different. Teens have less disposable income and most don’t have credit cards. They tend to borrow books from friends and libraries (although there are a lot of teens who do buy books instead of borrowing them). The majority of the YA books sold are being bought by adults. Some are giving them to their kids as gifts. Many are being read by adults who love YA stories.

So what does this have to do with self publishing? Plenty when it comes to your goals. If you don’t care who reads your books, just as long as someone buys them, then self publishing is a viable option for you. Currently, there are about a dozen self-published YA books that have made it to the top 125 selling children’s chapter books on Amazon. The majority of the books in the top 125 are YA novels.

However, if you hope teens will read your books because you deal with issues that are important to them (think Speak and Thirteen Reasons Why), then you might want to focus on traditional publishing—for now. With traditional publishing, your books have a greater chance of ending up in public and school libraries (unless they are banned, but that’s a discussion for another day). This means they have a greater chance of being read by teens.

What YA genres do well self published? Paranormals and science fiction. This could be because they tend to be part of a series, and this is a great way to develop a fan base. These genres do much better than YA contemporary books. The contemporary novels that did well on the list were all through traditional publishers, most notable the big six.

If you’re interested in self publishing, but you would love teens to read your books, don’t fret. You can take this chance to build your list. That way, you’ll have a solid base when the teens take over as buyers of YA ebooks.

For more info on YA ebooks, check out the following links:

Breakdown of YA book sales according to format
Are teens embracing ebooks?
Teens on ebooks
YA Confidential (scroll down for the ebook question)

Have you figure out what your publication goals are? Have they determined which path you want to take?

(You don’t have to pick only one route. It’s fine to pursue both paths. It just depends on your goals.)

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YARWA is offering the workshop “author branding in YA.” It will be held online May 14 to 25. For more info, check out this link. You don’t have to be a member to register.