Saturday, February 27, 2010

Filing Taxes as a Writer...

As a debut author, this filing season is the first year that this will be a consideration for me. I did some research on the net and found a few articles which I felt may be useful to someone else as well. Here they are:

How to File Income Taxes if You're a Professional Writer or Hobbyist

Death, Taxes and the Writer

Taxes and Finances for Writers

I hope this helps. Now I need to go sort out how to file mine based off of this information!

Folake.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Writing Contest

This is a repost from a fellow blogger. Author Exposure had this on their blog and I just wanted to pass it on. Please click here get the details of the writing contest from AE blog directly.
Have a blessed weekend.

Folake.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Edit vs Review

Editing is usually a paid service pre-publication. There are different levels of it. There are professional editors. If you have a major publisher, one would be assigned to you. Other options are authors who are well published who also offer this service. For more detailed info on editing, please visit K L Brady's blog where she has a nice write-up on it.

Reviewing can be pre or post publication and can be paid or free. Usually, the review is the property of the reviewer to post anywhere they deem please. They do give you the rights to use in part or whole however. Some reviewers offer it as a paid service where they give you the option of not posting the review if it is a negative review or if it is less then a 3 on a scale of 1-5 stars. Sometimes, the payment is for the purpose of expediting the service. Common reviewers of AA literature or non-mainstream self published work (not exclusively!) are RAWSISTAZ, APOO, OOSA Online Book Club, the Romer Review (TRR), AALBC, AAMBC, etc. There are also several smaller Book Clubs or Blogs that offer these services such as Joey Pinkney, Author Exposure and Flavor Book Club etc.

Rules I would advise we go by are as follows:
1) Be cognisant of the fact that you are never assured of a positive review. If it is pre-publication, do not ask for a review if you are not willing to change anything about the project or incorporate the advice. If it is post publication, if you produced quality work, enough reviewers will see that and the occassional negative or lukewarm review will not matter. Reviews are subjective. One person's opinion may not necessarily reflect how the public will receive your work. But do pay attention to criticism and use it to improve on yourself and your work even while staying true ro your vision for your project.
2) Try to send your work to reviewers of similar work or the same genre. For example, some reviewers only do fiction. Pay attention to their review and submission guidelines and their past reviews on similar writings.
3) Know that most reviewers do not keep to the timeframe that they promise. This is partly because a lot of these free services are run by volunteers and they have normal jobs and lives. Be patient with them. A rushed review because of the pressure of frequent emails from you is not in your best interest.
4) Do your research about your project and make sure you cross all your 'T's and dot your 'I's because someone will notice it if you don't.

Now I will go and apply all these rules even as I try to patiently await more reviews this week! Here's to hoping there aren't one or two places I've sent my book for review that I should not have!
Do have a blessed and productive week.

Folake.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Short Story Contest

Here's another contest sponsored by BookRix and posted by a fellow blogger. It's free to enter and has $1800 in prizes. This one closes February 23rd. Please click here for contest details.
Thank you.

Folake.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Empowering you, the official blog for "The Only Way is Up"

Please check out my official blog for my book The Only way is Up by clicking here. This new blog focuses on issues discussed in the book and is very interractive. We would love to have you on there frequently! We also have a free book giveaway every Friday in the month of February in honor of Black History Month. Details available by visiting Empowering You blog. This will continue to be my blog for writer resources and the blog section on my website will continue to carry information that is specific to the book itself.
Do enjoy the rest of your weekend and the week ahead and keep it positive.

Folake.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Another Successful Book Signing!

I had a wonderful day today @ Stonecrest Mall, Borders yet again. I am so thankful for my friends who showed up and all the people who were interested in my book and those who purchased it. I met so many people who are associated with one Book Club or the other and after purchasing the book, they wanted to know if I was available for discussion with their Book Club if they liked the book! It was of course another tiring day. After four hours of standing, I was not only tired but cold!!! But it was well worth it.
Thanks y'all. For more pics, please check the event portion of my website or facebook.

Folake.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Self Publishing Writing Competitions/ Awards; Call for Submission...

Hi all,

Good Morning.

Just some quick updates from my fellow bloggers I thought I'd share with you.

Please click here for a list of awards that Independent Publishers are eligible for and click here for a call for submissions I came across this morning.

All the best and have a good day.

Folake.