Stephen is joining us today at Writers in Business. Welcome Stephen. First, please tell us about your new book.
Breakthrough, the first book in the Adventures of Chase Manhattan series, begins with a big bang and offers the audience exciting, unique, and diverse heroes and villains. The result is a fresh suspense thriller series integrating elements of greed, betrayal, passion, lust, unconditional love, coming of age, and hope. The action is swift. There are numerous red herrings, twists and turns, that will keep the reader turning the pages and wanting more.
~ Wow… that sounds like my kind of book! Where can we purchase a copy?
Books can be purchased through my web site and through
Barnes & Noble.
~ What method are you using to track your writing income and expenses?
Through 2009, I used the shoe box method. I have receipts for all books I purchased to give as gifts, Post Office receipts, food and Starbucks receipts, and an account for mileage. I then transferred everything to an Excel spreadsheet.
Moving forward, I expect the financial aspect to become complicated and I need more sophisticated record keeping. I do know QuickBooks and will be using this software. I’m sure my accountant will appreciate the effort and make his job easier. Organization is the name of the game. If an author is organized, they position themselves for success. A disorganized author is setting themselves up for mediocrity or even failure.
~Can you share a marketing tip with us?
Exposure is everything, even at the expense of sales for an aspiring author. I’m focusing on Blog Talk Radio, expanding my blog exposure, my FaceBook exposure with my Fan Site (Fans of the Breakthrough Trilogy), and traveling to major metropolitan areas for book signings. I may or may not show a profit for 2010, but I will gain national exposure. I’m working with a number of A.M. radio talk shows and local morning TV talk shows, so hopefully I’ll be able to line up two-minute interviews and promote my book Breakthrough and my upcoming books Opening and Escalation.
~Do you use business cards?
I use business cards mainly at book signings, although I do hand a few out now and then. I need to have new ones printed using my blog rather than Web site. I released both sites about the same time and for whatever reasons, the blog took off and the Web site did not. Sign of the times, I guess.
So the new business cards will have my blog site and I’ll lose the Web site. I’m also going to include my FaceBook Fan Site (Fans of the Breakthrough Trilogy). I don’t think having three sites on a business card is a good idea. It’s too much for the recipient to look at. So the Web site will fall by the way side.
Writing has progressed from a hobby to a business for me. This is not to say I’m losing the love and passion for writing. These will forever drive me. But as the promotional and marketing aspects expand and sales increase, an author needs to take seriously the business aspects.
I love the title of your book, Bookkeeping Basics for Freelance Writers. This is where I need to start, the basics. Ignorance is not bliss, its ignorant. There’s power in knowledge. And knowledge applied helps birth wisdom. I also need to look for write offs that I’m not aware of.
Thank you, Stephen. Yes, finding those write offs can be the holy grail of the recordkeeping experience. There are many deductions available for writers and my book shows readers how to harness them.
It was a pleasure to learn more about your writing and your experience as an author. To read more about Breakthrough and Stephen’s new books, please visit him at his blog and his web site .
