Category Archives: Business of Writing

Tweaking Ads

I’ve been trying to reserve weekends for crafting and any time-intensive publishing business work, like checking my Amazon ads. And from this morning’s work I clearly have to go in and tweak/replace the bulk of those ads because they are simply not performing (interestingly enough the ad for A Most Malicious Murder, my alternate history mystery written as Melanie Fletcher, is the only one that is doing gangbuster business. Go figure).

Like most things, ads aren’t something you can set and forget. You have to go in regularly and check how they’re doing, tweak and prune where necessary, and sometimes wipe completely and start over with new ones. There are a number of different schools of thought on that last bit—some people recommend that you try and jump-start a poorly performing ad, while others recommend that you retire it and start over.

One thing I’ve learned in the time I’ve been doing ads is that you really have to figure out what works best for you. This is a case where one size most definitely does not fit all and you have to experiment with blurbs and price points until you find what delivers you the best ROI. Which is a little frustrating for a lot of indie authors because it would be so much easier if there was a proven, cut and dried way to create effective ads. That simply isn’t the case, much as I wish it were. You can have the catchiest ad copy and the greatest blurb in the world, but sometimes it’s just not going to work on someone who isn’t in the mood for your book when they click on your ad. *shrugs* Sucks, but there it is.

So I keep learning from the ads that are performing well and tweaking the ones that aren’t. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s all part of the business of publishing.

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I’m a Little Boggled

Jun 13

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Last week I held a giveaway for this really pretty golden rutilated quartz pendant set in sterling silver (made it myself so you know it’s good) and advertised it all over social media. To get a chance to win it, all you had to do was subscribe to my newsletter or join my reader group on Facebook. Current NL subscribers and RG members were automatically entered to win.

I got a new subscriber and a new group member, which made me happy, and ran the giveaway last Friday. For any giveaway I compile a list of people who are entered, then use a random number generator to select the winner. And lo, Number 25 was my winner. Sent her an email on Friday aying that she’d won and to let me know where to send the pendant.

Never heard back from her. Yesterday I sent out a newsletter telling everyone about the giveaway and asking her again to get in contact with me. As of today I have heard nothing. So I’m going to roll the random numbers again and pick a new winner.

But this illustrates an inherent problem with building newsletters by using NL swaps, free stories, or giveaways. You wind up with a lot of people who signed up for the freebie and have no real interest in your books or your work. I’d rather have a small but absolutely devoted group of subscribers who are actively reading my books (and newsletter) and looking forward to my next release than a large group of subscribers who immediately delete my newsletter when it lands in their inbox. Big numbers are only accurate when they reflect people who are genuinely interested in your books—otherwise it’s just padding.

Anyway, let’s hope that the new winner gets in contact with me!

Posted in Business of Writing, Contests

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Looking Like a Tax-Paying Citizen

Jun 6

Posted by Nicola Cameron

So today I put on some nice clothes and a bit of makeup because I was heading into the main branch of my bank to open a business bank account for Belaurient. As it turns out they don’t actually handle business accounts (aka ones with DBAs attached) but they could create a separate checking and savings account for me that would be linked to my main account.

Since I have my EIN for reporting tax income I figured that would be good enough (I don’t have my LLC yet anyway) and sat down with Heather to discuss scrapbooking and Daiso while she created my accounts and deposited a bit of money in each to keep them open. She also set up survivor access on all my accounts so that if anything ever happens to me Ramón will have instant access to my money (I already handle his bank account so I don’t need that).

Now that I have the business account set up, I can go ahead and start a business PayPal account. I was thinking of routing my Amazon/Smashwords/Google Play income directly to the business account but 1) the ‘Zon has been having enough problems with getting KDP payments out on time and I do not want to break any links right now, and 2) I don’t have to pay state income tax on those sales because it’s already collected and submitted by the sellers. I do have to pay state income tax on any material items I sell myself, however, so I think it’s best to keep the business accounts strictly for that, and I can transfer the federal tax slice of my A/S/G payments into the Belaurient savings account for quarterly tax payments (I’m doing that anyway with my personal savings account so it won’t be any more work).

And I know, this must be absolutely fascinating to you. Thing is, I’m detailing all this for people who are thinking of getting into indie publishing (or frankly any sort of side hustle) so that they don’t let the business side of the job slide. Get an EIN, set up an LLC or similar, get a separate bank/PayPal/Venmo account to handle the business money, and hire a good accountant who knows all the tax loopholes. It’s a lot of work in the beginning, but in the end you’ll be glad you did it.

Posted in Business of Writing

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Stupid Body Tricks

Jun 5

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Crystal Blade Episode 26: Down Mexico Way is live at Kindle Vella. If you enjoy spice, you’ll like this one.

Meanwhile, my left leg is acting up and the knee is hurting like a complete bitch due in part to 1) osteoarthritis, 2) what I think is a sciatica attack, and 3) the mondo hella rainstorm we had in the wee hours of the morning, so I didn’t really get to sleep until 5:00 AM and didn’t get up until noon. This neatly screwed up my plans for the day to go to the main branch of my bank and get my business checking and savings account started. I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

And yes, it is nice that I have the freedom to sleep in if I need it, but I also work every hour the Flying Spaghetti Monster sends so there are tradeoffs, believe me. With luck and a handful of NSAIDs I should be able to get to sleep early tonight, which will let me head out in the morning and hit the bank. Once that’s done, I can start the business PayPal account, and then I can start selling signed books from the website.

I’m also looking into ways to use the Silhouette to brand the boxes. It’s a little extra work, true, but readers really like having the decorated boxes and it’s only an afternoon’s worth of work to print out and apply the decals to a stack of boxes. If nothing else it give me an excuse to play with the Silhouette and make some more magnetic book marks to add to the books as swag.

Posted in Business of Writing, Crystal Blade, Vella

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It’s One Of Those Fridays

Jun 2

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Crystal Blade Ep 25: Please Please Me is live at Kindle Vella. Go forth and enjoy!

Spent the bulk of yesterday in an organizational frenzy for both Belaurient Press and Belaurient Arts, and I am pleased to say that all the financials are now organized and up to date (and to my shock I am already in the black for both BP and BA), my to do list is pristine, and my EIN application has been processed. Next week I can open a business bank account, open a PayPal business account, and start selling books from the website, whee! And in two weeks once my EIN has been added to the TIN I can get my Texas state tax ID. Ain’t going to piss off the state comptroller nohow.

Putting all the books wide is proceeding—I should have all the Olympic Cove books up on Smashwords and Google Play by tonight, and if SW gets a move on they should be available on B&N/Apple/Kobo/et al by next week. I was noodling with the idea of formatting Stealing Dmitri, Trickster, and Behind the Iron Cross this weekend but I would also really like to deep clean my office and give my closet a proper reorganization. One of these days when I have money I’m going to tear out the shelving in there and put in custom shelving that will better suit my needs. But for now I need to work with what I have, and I know I can set stuff up in a more efficient way.

And I know some people may wonder why I’m bothering with all this when I could be writing, but I’m trying to keep weekends available for business work and cleaning. And to be honest I work better when my environment is clean. I’d rather take a day and get everything straightened out than sit there distracted by the dust rhinos when I’m trying to write.

Posted in Business of Writing, Sales

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Nobody Ever Tells You How Much Paperwork There Is In Indie Publishing

May 12

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Crystal Blade Episode 16: Children Are Our Most Valuable Resource is now available at Vella. Because maybe you’re not going out tonight and need something to read, I dunno.

I am also delighted to announce that people are starting to pay for Crystal Blade eps and not just read them using their free tokens, so I’ve got that going for me. Now if I could just rustle up some contract work and send Ramón home for two weeks things would be magic.

In other news I’ve got a weekend full of business work ahead of me (I need to start a business PayPal account so that I can sell books and jewelry through the website, start reading Zoe York’s books on the business side of indie romance publishing, update all of my income/expenses spreadsheets, and tweak my Amazon ads), plus I really need to do a big stock-up shop and give the bathrooms a deep clean.

I keep thinking that eventually I’ll have a weekend where I can just relax, read, watch TV, that sort of thing. I still remember a Sunday many years ago when the house was clean, I’d gotten all of my tasks done for the week, I didn’t have any jewelry projects on the go, and I spent the afternoon on the couch reading. It was freaking magical. I would like to experience that again.

Posted in Business of Writing, Crystal Blade, Personal, Vella

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Okay, TODAY Is Officially Tax Day

Apr 18

Posted by Nicola Cameron

And man, am I happy I got all of that done in February. Of course I have to send in the estimated taxes for Q1 and pay all the bills but that’s not a problem, I’m set up for that.

I’m also back at the jewelry bench, tra la. In addition to two other pendants I’m working on a rutilated quartz pendant that I’m going to use in a giveaway next week. Those of you who read A Theory of Crystal will remember that Yelena and her men were able to use rutilated crystal to save themselves from an unfriendly blast of magical evergy, and the cabochons are super pretty so I wanted to make one into a pendant. I’ll post pics once that’s done, and I’m giving some serious thought to creating a unique piece for each book from here on and using those as giveaways for promo.

Although I’m not giving away the carved labradorite flower bracelet from Shadow of the Swan that I’m going to make. That one is for me. Although I could be talked into making another one if there’s any interest…

Posted in A Theory of Crystal, Business of Writing, Thoughts from the Bench

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Tax Day

Apr 15

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Okay, technically Tax Day is 4/18 this year because of the weekend but I got all the bills, tax and otherwise, paid off today anyway because I’ve got the money ready and I’d rather get it out of my bank account before I’m tempted to spend it on frivolities such as food and toilet paper.

The drive to get Crystal Blade uploaded to Vella is progressing. I spent the bulk of the day trying to find an appealing image to use for the story’s avatar (can’t use the book cover because Vella images can’t have text and require a strong central image that will fit into a circle) and found something that I think will work. Next up is editing the first three chapters and splitting each one into two easily digestible 1.5-6K Vella chapters. The useful thing about this is that I have to recap the events of Crystal Shard in the first few chapters in order for Blade to make sense, but this has to be done in a smooth way that doesn’t yank the reader out of the story. That can only make the final novel better.

I figure I’ll upload about six chapters to begin with, then edit and upload two additional chapters a week while I work on finishing the book. That’s very doable for me and it gives me impetus to write without stressing me out too badly. Once that’s done, I’ll send out a newsletter letting people know where to find the chapters. And Lord, I hope someone pays to read them.

Posted in Business of Writing, Personal

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Yay for Gift Boxes!

Feb 7

Posted by Nicola Cameron

Back in December I had entered Siobhan Muir‘s Hot Teddy Bear Hero Gift Basket giveaway, as you do, and much to my shock I won!

So today I received a big box with four of her books (Flip the Trope: Endless Summer, The Samhain Soldier, Broken Chains, The Beltane Witch), a nifty cell phone wrist purse with stickers and jewelry, a magnificent ceramic hot drink glass with all kinds of tea samples, a branded mask, and a beautiful Bearifairy (shown at right) who I have named Isabeau Bear. She now sits with my Edgar Allan Poe doll and watches me as I write, which is only appropriate.

I also got this beautiful lightweight shawl in a pale apple green with delicate beads along the ends. The moment I saw it I knew my Muse would be wearing it in future TikTok videos because it goes perfectly with her hair.

So a big THANK YOU goes out to Siobhan Muir for this amazing swag (and I plan on trying the tea tonight).

In other news it’s cold and rainy out there right now so soup is on the menu for tonight, I’m continuing to plow ahead on Claw, and I think once the omnibus is done and I have the print version ready I’m gonna do my own book box giveaway with swag and other nifty things. Because it’s always important to keep the love flowing, you know?

Posted in Contests

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Tags: siobhan muir