This is an opportunity—a safe haven— for writers everywhere to let their insecurities out and receive and/or offer support and guidance in return. Please click on the above link for a complete list of participants...
I'm going to start off today by telling you that I hate having to write this post.
If this blog has proved anything, it's probably that I don't know anything about anything (Well, except maybe Firefly) and, as I continue to fumble my way toward self-publication, it becomes ever clearer.
And it's not a feeling I enjoy. I feel as though I should already know these things and not knowing them is an Epic Fail on my part.
I'm starting to fear that "Epic Fail" is actually my middle name.
But the worst part is that as clueless as I can (sometimes) be about the writing part, it's really nothing compared to how clueless I am about the business side of things. The idea just grips me with terror because it is so unknown, and if the topic comes up I have to fight the urge to crawl underneath my desk and sit there with my hands over my ears singing "Lalalalalalala...I can't hear you!" until the topic goes away.
Because the writing part I am comfortable with. Mostly comfortable with. The business part...well, not so much. Or, you know, not at all.
But that is not going to cut it anymore so I look to you—my much wiser and more experienced indie author acquaintances—to maybe take pity on the uninformed and idiotic. By all means, do the pointing and laughing thing—I think I've certainly earned it—but then maybe consider throwing a poor girl a bone.
Here is a sampling of my potentially stupid questions (in whatever order they happened to pop into my head):
—Did you start an LLC or something like that? Is a vital step or maybe an unnecessary one?
—Did you consult a lawyer or an accountant? Both?
—And what about taxes? Assuming there's any amount of income, how do the taxes work? I've only ever had W-4s. What do you get when you're an indie author?
—Is the money you spend on things such as cover art or copy editing or domain fees or anything book-creation related deductible?
And I know there's probably a million other questions that haven't even occurred to me and really should have, so if there's a self-published author out there who's gone through the business side of this endeavor and maybe has some insight to share and time to spare to answer a million stupid, stupid questions and who might be willing to talk to me, please let me know. Or if you just know of a good resource for me to use so I will leave you alone, let me know that.
I can be reached through the comments below or at mjfifield at gmail (dot) com.
Thank you.