“Argh! I don’t remember which site it was on.”

The growling and grumbling was emanating from my office where my daughter was stuck in that black hole of searching for a particular game she had played on one of the sites she is allowed to visit. I am sure we could all commiserate with her. After all, I’m back to looking for the Christmas presents I hid just weeks ago in a place I was sure to remember them this year. Not!

And, since the internet is far bigger than my home, imagine all of the places I would have to search to find that one website I saw months or years ago. I know, I know… there is the favorites tab. I promise, I do use it. But, unless you have an accountant mentality, or your own personal assistant to help set it up, the organizing underneath favorites can end up looking like, well, my closets.

This picture, above, is taken of my office. I shudder to list the items that this closet stores for me; scrapbooking tools (rarely used), files, boxes of books, all of the school photos of my daughter, left-over fabric from projects- the list could go on for the entire length of this blog post.

So, it should be obvious you would not want to see my favorites tab. There are three different tabs for writing. One of them is broken into two more tabs for setting locations. The same is true for Italy, school, food, travel (also in Italy and in writing). My own circular logic catches me, so that I can’t decide if a recipe for lasagna would be in family, food, travel, Italy or writing. Ultimately it is found in Christmas (I must have been tracking recipes to make over the holiday that year).

Recently I too have found myself searching all connections, all favorites tabs, all top sites, and even my own blog, for a site I found about a year ago. I can’t quite remember how I originally came across it- though I think it might have been one of my Linkedin connections. But in any case now I can’t recreate that path no matter what I do.

My last shot is to ask all of you. Do you know of a site that supports crowd-sourced publishing? I am not looking for one that offers fund, but rather one where the resources can come together and agree to create the project. So, for example, I would list my book idea and then solicit an editor, marketer, cover designer, who would agree to work on the book for a percent of the royalty.

So far, in my searches, I have found sites that crowdfund book projects (like Indiegogo or Pubslush), or sites that aggregate these resources (like Writer.ly). But I have not yet found one that pulls together the actual resources. I know it exists… I found it once, many months ago. I probably even bookmarked it.

But, since I am at a loss, I’m offering a special bounty for finding this site. Leave a comment with your suggestions and a link and if you are the first to get me to the correct site I will give you an e-copy of either of my books (BETTING JESSICA or UNTANGLING THE KNOT) or a PDF of my as yet unpublished third book, MOLTO MAYHEM – PLUS I will donate $10 to your favorite (non-political) charity.

Good luck, and happy searching.
Deanne

Note: October is now over and I have selected the winner of the drawing for my book, UNTANGLING THE KNOT. Thanks for all of the comments. The winner is… Judith Ashley.  Write to me to claim your prize!

“I gotta say, I kinda rock at accounting. Hard to believe but I actually like it.”

The scary thing is that I totally understood what this person was saying. Okay, I didn’t exactly love accounting in school (especially a certain teacher who will not be named) but I did like the precision of calculating financials. 

That said… accounting has become one more thing to add to my already overly long to-do list as an author. The business of being an author goes soooo much farther than simply writing and editing. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Just like any small business there is the financial end of the business to consider.

As any author will tell you, money begins flowing out long before it ever flows in. First there might be classes you take to improve your craft. As well, every writer should belong to an appropriate writing organization. I belong to three – Romance Writers of America, Rose City Romance Writers, (a chapter of RWA, but paid for separately) and Willamette Writers. Next there are conferences you attend to network, pitch your work and again improve your
writing skills. These can set you back hundreds of dollars. And finally there is the cost of marketing yourself and your writing; website costs, business cards, material to give away (like bookmarks), book trailers, author photos… the list goes on and on.

The good news is that, if you can prove you are actively engaged in the business of writing, not simply doing it as a hobby, many costs are tax deductible (okay, here is where I write the disclaimer that much as I like accounting I am not actually an accountant and you should check with one before writing off any expenses!)

The bad news is that unlike when you work for a company or as an independent consultant, there is no one else picking up these costs for you. Because of this, writers should always track their expenses and then create, even in the simplest way, a cash flow statement (with income and expenses) as well as a balance sheet with assets (ex. your books, $ sent aside for marketing, your computer) liabilities (the contracts you have for your books, taxes owed,
credit card debt owed) and equity (the amount you, as an author, are worth = assets-liabilities). Overwhelmed? Read more here: http://www.moneyinstructor.com/lesson/linkincomebal.asp

Tracking your financials in this way helps you to better understand both how to spend/invest your hard earned money and also makes you appreciate and not take for granted the very important assets that often get overlooked by everyone, including spouses… your talent and your creative imagination.

Thankfully these are the very things which save you from being an accountant in your day-job.