Book Review: Serpent’s Kiss by Layla Dorine

serpents kiss book cover

Serpent’s Kiss by Layla Dorine is a wild ride full of mystery, intrigue, and suspense in a society that’s been driven underground. Readers who enjoy fantasy filled with political machinations, assassination plots, and outsider heroes will be drawn in by this novel. Of course, there’s romance too and a bit of steam — though the leads are surprisingly chaste for how much they want to tear each other’s clothes off. …Read more

Tax Season Is a Time to Keep Cool: A Writer’s Guide to Missing 1099-MISC forms and Unpaid Royalties

person doing taxes

It’s tax season here in the United States, and questions popping up on many author boards is, “What do I do if my publisher didn’t send me a Form 1099-MISC?” and “Can I deduct unpaid royalties as a loss if my publisher closed?” This article covers who needs a 1099-MISC, what to do if you don’t get a 1099-MISC or get one that’s wrong, and how little the IRS cares about your unpaid royalties. It also discusses reporting publishers you suspect of tax fraud. …Read more

How to Track Book Sales — Even When You’re Not the Publisher

Image of book pile to illustrate tracking book sales

In this article, I evaluate sales tracking systems that are free to any author with an ebook on Amazon, paying special attention to Pronoun and NovelRank. Why these two? I’ve used both of these for a while because they’re user-friendly and can be used by any author whether they self-publish their ebooks or work with a traditional publisher. I also touch on tracking sales of print books—a much more difficult endeavor.

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