As most of you know I've fallen into accounting as a day job since I was in college. While I studied film accounting help pay my bills and put me through school, keeping me out of the dreaded retail that so many people fall into during school. While the day job held me back from pursuing internships I will never regret taking that first job in accounting and the job that currently hold now.
Why you ask?
Well let me tell you. This is one job that no matter where I am in life I can apply what I've learned into my personal life. While I've been in accounts payable (I'm the person that pays all the bills and makes sure that they are on time and that we are paying what we are supposed to be paying and when. Specifically with contracted companies as well as overhead costs. That's the cost of doing business). Well now that I'm diving in to the self publishing world I'm realizing more and more just how valuable this knowledge is if I actually apply it my everyday life and now personal business.
So instead of writing first thing this morning I find myself doing something I never thought I would be doing on my day off from the day job. I'm making a spreadsheet. I know it's terrifying, but not only will it help when it comes to doing my taxes, but it is going to help me figure out my budget for the next year as I dive head first into self publishing.
If you don't think publishing is expensive then you need to wake up and smell the coffee cause it can be. Don't get me wrong you can get a good book out on a tight budget but you have to know the right people, do it yourself, or talk prices down. Not only are you looking at production costs, but you also have to take into consideration marketing and travel. Personally I'm planning on going to conferences not only to as a marketing tactic but as a way to help hone my craft. If you're not careful those cost can and will add up too fast that you don't know what hit you and you can't pay your bills.
Well I'm a stubborn bastard and until I find critique partners that I trust then I'm willing to spend the extra money on good editing, cause in the end there are two things in my personal opinion that will help or kill your sales. That is your cover art and the actual writing. Promotional items I can make on my own. Other marketing strategies I can do on a very limited budge. I'm a creative person after all, so I can come up with something for cheap that will stand out.
But you can't fake a good cover or good editing skills. So, I'm sitting down making a spreadsheet to help not only visualize what I've spent in the last year on conventions (all you can write off on your taxes FYI) but what are the estimated costs of each book I've got with editors and the possibility of how I can spread out the cost/save to make sure that I'm not breaking my own bank account.
So if you are going to a business make sure that you take into account the accounting that goes with it. As painful as it might be making those spreadsheets it will help put the whole picture into perspective. Not only will it help you budget for future books but it will help you make a game plan as to when you can realistically publish a book and make sure that you have the funding for all the costs that go with it.
That being said I wish that I had done this long ago. And personally plan on keeping track of all costs as well as what each book makes each month after I publish. This is what every business does. And while I may be a writer, this is something that will help my push my writing business in a direction that I'm not sure everyone does.
Guess what? As a self published author you aren't just the author, you're the publisher as well. That means not only am I running a publishing business I'm the creative aspect. I'll let you take that in for a minute. I'm the product and the administration and the CFO and marketing director and COO and president. I wear many hats. To be able to do that cleanly that means spreadsheets. That means doing the accounting.
So keep track of your receipts, as well as all the costs that are involved in what you are doing. In the end many of them can be written off in the end. But trust me, don't forget about accounting. It's a good safety net for you as a company. Don't just pay something cause you heard that someone is good. Do research into the people you are hiring. Also here is a big one...read the invoices! You can't believe how many times there is an error on one. If there is something there that you didn't agree to then don't pay it until you get an invoice that reflects what you agreed upon. Then don't trash it! Save the invoice and write on it how you paid. If you paid with a hard check then make a copy and attach it to a copy of the invoice. This will save you just incase they come back to say that you didn't pay them.
Don't forget about accounting! It can save you in the end as much as you might hate doing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment