Declan Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Creative Writing courses seem to be a money generating scheme for writers and academics. I imagine they would be useful, and have considered taking them myself. But time etc... Have done a few MOOCs on Coursera (to prove myself that I still have the dedication to stick to learning) but they don't have a creative writing course. I did do a Songwriting Course from Berklee that was well presented and picked up some techniques that are useful for prose. Currently, half way through the Future Learn course that wrighty links to. There's lots of good information in there, but I like the format less than Coursera. The peer review element is a bit crap on Future Learn. You submit your writing - do a review on the next page - get a review on the next. Their motivation is to get through that review and get to their feedback asap. So you get a review "Not interested in the subject didn't read to the end." The key message so far has been the need to keep a notepad of observations and such, that you can use to draw on when writing. In Studmuffin's case there might be a description of a place in his notepad he's visited in an old notebook that could have been used to flesh out the descriptive in the book. Both Mr Wright's mention getting a proof-reader / editor to help you. These are distinct roles proof-reading is checking that the grammar, spelling etc are correct, anyone with reasonable English skills can do this, probably best to share around two or three people. An editor is a more professional role, they'll ask you critical questions about apparent contradictions in the plot, whether you need to move the order of events around etc. It may cost money, but if you are look to sell the book, it may be money well spent. Are there any on the Island? Coming back to my point that your book reads like you began writing and kept writing till you got to the finish. You might like to consider a programme like Scrivner, which lets you write in any order you like, move sections around, change chapter structure.
studmuffin Posted January 10, 2015 Author Posted January 10, 2015 Hi Wrighty, thank you for reading and like Declan and John, thank you for the useful, constructive feedback. I have really listened to the feedback and temporarily taken the book of/off (J) Kindle to correct some of the issues. The book took three months to do and I really wanted to get the book published by the end of last year which I shouldn’t have done. I had spent so long on it so rushing it at the last was stupid and things like proof reading suffered. As Declan pointed out, the opening scene weak and I wasn’t happy with it. I have deleted the whole chapter and re-written it. I have also introduced place names and taken time to describe the characters in greater detail. The biggest thing I have done is to pay a proof reader to clean the text up. I found him from my new favourite website, E-lance, by posting the job a I received numerous offered from proof readers for a fee. The guy I am working with is not only helping with grammar and spelling but also giving me feedback and advice on areas I can improve. I never realised the complexities of structuring a sentence, particularly those involving “.!? Etc. But I think I have finally got my head around it. The notepad suggestion is a great one and I am using that on the short stories I am writing. When you write a really long story over several weeks it is so easy to forget things and describe something that is different from the last time. Having the ability to quickly check a fact is an obvious but useful facility. It is really strange how I, as the writer, can read a sentence over and over and not spot an error which is so obvious - wood for the trees springs to mind or laziness. From the £2.00 sale, I get 70% but a further 30% goes in US withholding tax, why I have no idea. I sold about 14 books in the few days it was on and from that there appears to be about £13.00 in my Kindle account. So, will writing a book make you money, possibly not. But it is enjoyable, but hard, a lot harder than I thought. Short stories are more fun, because they are quick burst and you can do a 3/4000 story in a day if you can throw a few hours at it. My injury is coming to a conclusion so likely I will be back at work shortly, so the second instalment may take a bit longer. Some of the stronger characters such as Una, Larry and Clint will definitely be taking a major role. Thanks again!
Albert Tatlock Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Most writers that self publish regret rushing to publish their first works.
The Old Git Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 From the £2.00 sale, I get 70% but a further 30% goes in US withholding tax, why I have no idea. I know from holding Apple (AAPL) shares that I have to fill in a W-8BEN form so the USA don't charge me withholding tax on dividends, I guess it may be a similar situation with receiving payments from Kindle. Is there any info on the Kindle site about payments to non USA citizens?
j2bad Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 From the £2.00 sale, I get 70% but a further 30% goes in US withholding tax, why I have no idea. I know from holding Apple (AAPL) shares that I have to fill in a W-8BEN form so the USA don't charge me withholding tax on dividends, I guess it may be a similar situation with receiving payments from Kindle. Is there any info on the Kindle site about payments to non USA citizens? This is the case for apple ibooks but the op is perhaps a bit confused as 30% is the standard market rate for the vendor / platform cut, the witholding tax stuff is just so you can get paid the 70% cut from the US, it is a pain but a quick call to the IRS and they will sort it for you, much the same as getting paid for apps sold on the appstore or music via itunes. Kindle sales have a similar model though they are far more complicated and the rates vary depending on a number of factors including what discounts you allow and whether you can guarantee the sale price is lower on kindle than elsewhere.
studmuffin Posted January 15, 2015 Author Posted January 15, 2015 ETA, the revised book, taking into account the generous feedback given, is free to download on Kindle until Sunday. If you download, feedback left on Amazon would be greatly appreciated. The nicer the better
pongo Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 the op is perhaps a bit confused as 30% is the standard market rate for the vendor / platform cut, the witholding tax stuff is just so you can get paid the 70% cut from the US, it is a pain but a quick call to the IRS and they will sort it for you, much the same as getting paid for apps sold on the appstore or music via itunes. Wrong. The OP is quite correct. This is something I deal with regularly and know inside-out. As well as any cut taken by the agent, the US govt deducts and keeps (the agent collects on behalf of the US govt) 30% "withholding tax" on the royalties of US sales/licenses if the copyright holder is tax resident in a jurisdiction which (like the IOM) does not have a tax treaty with the USA. The IOM only has some sort of information sharing agreement with the US but no taxation treaty. People living in countries with a proper tax treaty are either exempt or pay a significantly reduced rate - it varies between different countries. People (and businesses) from the UK, for example, have 0% tax deducted provided they complete the tax interview and supply the UK equivalent of the TIN or business equivalent when completing IRS form W8BEN. Calling the IRS will make no difference (there is not a procedure for claiming this money back). The 30% rate is fixed for people who are tax resident in non-treaty jurisdictions. To be clear - this only applies to US sales/licenses (the IOM is not necessarily a good place to base a small to medium sized business (and independents) with a significant proportion of royalty income from US sales/licenses via US based agents - though obviously this has to be weighed against potentially lower IOM tax in general). ETA: ++ everything I have written only applies to non US citizens. It gets more complicated for US citizens, Green Card holders etc even if they are living outside of the US. (Incidentally - Googling this you will find a lot of out of date information - because aspects of the procedure, though not the underlying regulation, have recently been updated. The Amazon system reflects all recent changes.)
j2bad Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 I did not know about the IOM specific tax stuff as the work I have been involved with was for a uk based client, and in that case it was just a quick call to the IRS.
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