7 Tips for Authors on Handling Their Money

• When and how do I get my royalties?
After countless hours of writing and revising, wringing your hands over the cover design, and struggling with formatting glitches, you’ve finally done – you’ve self-published your book! You’re euphoric, but one nagging question remains: When and how do I get my royalties?

• Set up a new bank account for your book sales
If as a self-published author you wish to separate your book sales from your personal income, you’ll need to keep separate bank accounts. Getting a bank account for your royalties, however, is a bit more complicated than simply going to the bank and opening one.

• Once you publish book, start bookkeeping
As an author, when you think of bookkeeping, the first thought that probably comes to your mind is how you organize all of your books on the limited number of shelves you have in your house. As a published author, you’ll want to think about bookkeeping a little differently, though.

• Writers can choose between bookkeeping systems
When writers run a small business centered on their books, they need to spend some time handling the accounting. When doing so, they can choose between one of the two bookkeeping systems – single-entry or double-entry.

• Indie authors need to record business transactions
Indie authors always should keep track of their business transactions via journals and ledgers.

• Indie authors use cash accounting method
When running your self-publishing business as an indie author, you’ll want to choose an accounting method that sets the rules you’ll use to determine how your income and expenses are kept track of and when they are reported to the IRS.

• Why self-published authors must keep records
Once you self-publish, you’ll need to bring all the meticulousness of your writing efforts to bear on your business records. That means never tossing a receipt and tracking them on income statements and balance sheets.