Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Wow, that is a lot of questions. I am not the one to answer them as I am a children's author from Australia. So the only advise I can give you is to go to a writers information section of the internet. Or maybe you have a government department who would help you. Then again it might best to go to a teacher and ask them to help you or low and be hold you could do something really sort of risky and ask you parents. I think that they may help you or find out for you if you ask them for help. A writers life is one where you have to enjoy your own company as it is only you and the computer. No one else can write what is in your head. But if that is what you are dreaming of being go for it as I love my work. It really will not pay my bills but I have a husband and so I am a little lucky that he helps me out. Also I am now retired and that is a help too. I have been writing children's books for well over 35 years and I am not a rich writer with money but am with who I write for. Mary Filmer Children's Author

Http://maryfilmer.com/

Hi
No they don't put it free, when you upload you can chose KDP SELECT, this means you agree to exclusivity with Amazon, and in return your book is placed in the KOLL (Kindle online lending library) and anyone with Amazon Prime can borrow you book once a month and you get a share of the KOLL amount (which is usually about $2). You can also use the 5 days per quarter to set the price of your book to free in order to use this as a promotional tool. Some people have a lot of success and some don't so that is up to you. There are lots of posts regarding the merits (or not) of Select. If you do opt for it there is an autorenewal on it so you have to uncheck the box of it will roll on.

You also need to promote, if you have free days but there are plenty of places to do so.

If you don't decedie to go with Select and just opt for plain KDP then you can sell your book elsewhere, such as Smashwords or Barnes and Noble.

2) Yes Createspace is Amazon, that is one way of getting a print book on Amazon. The criteria is a little different than for the Kindle book, as the formating needed is different. You can get the book on Kindle via Create space but there can be issues and it is quicker to upload it yourself. The paperback does not have to be exclusive even if the e-book is in KDP SELECT. If you buy the extended distribution then the book will be put in other catalogues but it does up-price the book a bit so again that is something to think about. There are other options (such as Lightning Scribe or Lulu) as well.

3) Depends where you live for Tax, search the FAQ it is quite extensive info there and should tell you what you need. If you are outside the US the rules are slightly different.

4) Certainly in the UK it counts as self-employed even if it is not the main job. You need to contact HMRC and get the relevent form (which is easy to fill in) and a number, for the tax issues. Non-UK no idea, sorry.

6) Why is getting their ISBN unprofessional? I don't see what difference it makes. You don't need one for Kindle, as they have ASIN and Amazon assign that, outside that Smashwords give you one for free if you don't have your own. Ditto Createspace.

I haven't seen any disadvantages with the free ones.

I think there is a bit on FAQ about it. I think an ISBN is an ISBN, but I could be wrong.

Do read the ToS and the FAQ, as they are helpful:) Also the Amazon ones are a bit... vague:)

Amelia, I am glad you have ask your parents and it is a problem if they don't know how to do these sort of things. I guess you might be best to ask at your school so they have a student rep at your school? Or maybe ask a teacher? English teacher would be best.
Yes I pay taxes like we all do and have done so for a very long time. I wrote for a news paper for 2 years and that was good for my writing as it opened many doors for me. I think if I were you I would look at some type of course you could take which would let you join a paper in your area. Maybe just start writing, to the editor, sending him or her letters that could be printed in the paper would give you a taste of what it is like to write and then ask them after a while how one would go about getting a job on a paper. The one thing I can tell you is I have never stopped writing in all the years I have had many ups and a great deal downs. In this business very few make a living out of writing. But that is not to say you will not become the next big writer of our time. Keep the dream Amelia for if you have a dream to write and study hard you will become a writer one day. Mary Filmer Children's Author http://maryfilmer.com/

Wow Amelia that's a lot of questions! I wondered some of these myself. From what I can tell Amazons the main company and CS and KDP run through them. KDP reflects through Amazon and CS is seperate if you have any issues or questions with them but sales and stuff go on both of them. Hope that makes sense, I didn't want to say too much cause I'm a bit confused about some of it too

Not much to input on the rest, but so far as the tax issue goes: If you're in the U.S. at least, at the end of the year you'll get a form in the mail that lists your income from KDP (or anywhere else that you got income from). I can't remember the exact form name (It's not a W-2, but it's a derivative of one), but it will list the amount you were paid and taxes (if any) that were withheld. This form gets put in with your standard income tax sheet and is filed under "other income."

If for some reason you wouldn't already be filing (lack other employment, didn't meet income requirements), I'd still advise bringing the KDP/CreateSpace forms to a tax professional and filing anyway, just to be on the safe side and establish them as genuine income sources for future reference.

If you're outside of the US, none of that is liable to be directly helpful, but I imagine the process is similar in most Western (or Western-influenced) countries. Hopefully that's at least somewhat helpful.

It varies by the publisher. My KDP deposits DID NOT remove the taxes last year; my iUniverse ones did. I didn't receive payment from CreateSpace last year, but I suspect they don't either. It's not really something to worry about unless you're making a couple thousand dollars at least; if they DO remove taxes, you'll likely get them back unless you become a blockbuster. If they don't, you probably won't cross the threshold of actually owing on it, so again, no worries.

If you cross the threshold (which I don't recall offhand, but an accountant or tax preparation service could tell you) of income in a year, and taxes were not already deducted, then yes, you will have to pay those taxes at filing time. If through bizarre circumstance you not only cross the threshold but hop a tax bracket or two late in the year, you may end up owing even if taxes were already deducted (due to higher/modified tax rates that weren't factored in at the start), but it's likely that if you manage that feat, a few extra taxes are probably not on the "worry" list, as you're going to be congratulating yourself on having a best-seller. ;)

Paypal also sends out an income statement, if I remember correctly. If they don't do it automatically, I'm almost certain you can request one. Otherwise you'd need to print out your Paypal statements and provide the totals on those as income or turn them over to your tax preparer as well.

If you don't file things, it depends entirely on how interested the government gets in you for whatever reason. Any income that isn't declared as taxable (and has any qualifying taxes paid) can then be assessed as though it was untaxed income for the year in which it was earned, which then can accrue all manner of fascinating fines and interest for the period between when they determine you owe them something and whenever it should have been reported/taxed in the first place. So it's always better to just declare it and have done with it (at least, I think so... but my experiences may be colored by super-happy-funtime I had with the IRS due to a previous employer not paying the payroll tax. It was a big thing. Very messy.)

Depending on where you're at, it might be called something different. But the thing that everyone gets all het up over in the US on April 15th, where you tell the government how much money you made, how much you already gave them, anything someone else gave them for you and all the related paperwork that proves those statements is your "tax return." (Some folks also call the check the IRS sends back if you overpaid for whatever reason the "tax return.')

Hope that was at least semi-helpful.

I aim to please. I may not always manage, but I try, at least. XD

Generally, if you bundle up all your paperwork and drop 'em at an H&R Block, it'll only run you around $100, unless there's some extremely funky paperwork or deductions involved. Probably the quickest, easiest and least painful way to get things done.

Best wishes, and good luck!