financial – Page 2 – Random Thoughts

This Business of Writing: Accounting Methods

Today, Dear Reader, we continue the series on the business of writing and welcome back Brigitte A. Thompson as she shares her professional advice as an accountant and author.

business, bookkeeping, accounting, legal forms, writer, author — All rights reserved by iStockphoto

A business can be operated under one of three methods of accounting; cash, accrual, or hybrid. The IRS will be automatically informed of your choice when you file your first business tax return. If you decide you would like to change your accounting method, you will need to get approval from the IRS using Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method which is available on their web site IRS.gov. Continue reading “This Business of Writing: Accounting Methods”

This Business of Writing: Legal Organization

Today, Dear Readers, we begin a series of posts by accounting professional and author Brigitte A. Thompson of Datamaster Accounting Service LLC. Please make her welcome as she shares her expertise with us all.

Writers work in all different genres and write for a variety of media outlets. Some of us are business writers, others create romance novels and many write articles for magazines or copy for web sites. Putting words into print is our profession, but dealing with the financial aspects of our writing business can be challenging. This series of blog posts can help!

Legal Organization for Writers

There are several forms of legal organization to choose from when establishing your business. The most common form for a writer is a sole proprietorship, but there are other options. You should understand the choices and speak to a lawyer, accountant, or tax preparer to find out which option is the best for you. Continue reading “This Business of Writing: Legal Organization”

Authors Learn to Embrace the “B” Word

budget, accounting, calculating, finance One of the best business management tools you can learn to use is a budget. Oh, I know; “budget” ranks right up there with IRS, death benefit, hemorrhoids and goiter as words we want to avoid associating with. But, this word does not have to be something vile and filthy. You don’t need to wash your hands after writing it. It can, in fact, be an excellent tool for helping you improve your peace of mind and your quality of life.

While it is an extremely valuable tool in getting your personal and family finances in order – thus getting the money problems monkey off your back, I’m not going to go into all of that. This time we’ll look at it specifically as a means of helping you run your business more efficiently. Continue reading “Authors Learn to Embrace the “B” Word”

Practical Pricing of eBooks

ebook pricing price Lately I’ve been reading quite a few articles offering advice on pricing an eBook. They range from the adamant insistence that all eBooks should be 99 cents to the almost snobbish claims that artistic integrity demands that eBooks be priced the same as paper books – and hard bounds at that! Most of the proponents of a particular view have a good point to make, but these points are all too often used to whitewash the entire spectrum of eBook genres and their authors with a one-size must fit all attitude. I vigorously disagree with that, and I’d like to chime in on some of the other views I’ve heard discussed and add one or two of my own. Continue reading “Practical Pricing of eBooks”

Simply Swapping Favors and the Barter System

Photo by Michael Ging

There was a time when, especially in rural America, most “commerce” was done not by exchanging cash money for goods you wanted but by trading something you had and could spare for something you needed. Many rural General Stores were simply barter centers where families who had chickens would bring eggs and trade them for butter and milk brought in by another family or for flour ground by the mill up the road.

These stores would have cloth, pots, pans and farming implements brought in from the more industrialized East, thereby being able to supply most of the needs the local families had. Cash transactions were accepted of course, but a large part of their trade was done through barter.

Rural life is still a lot like that. Swapping favors is one way we can help one another get things done without depleting our bank accounts. This goes beyond rallying around a friend who has something heavy to move because we know when we need help he will return the favor. For instance, I have the equipment and skills to do high end woodworking, Tim has a truck and trailer. Tim has often delivered my furniture pieces going “out East” for me, and I have built him furniture. Continue reading “Simply Swapping Favors and the Barter System”