Author Spotlight (Brooke Lynn)

Being an author has many rewards. One of the rewards that I love and will always treasure is meeting different people. I met this author on Twitter. She was posting about the love of the Lord and how she overcame childhood trauma. So, this week, I want to turn the spotlight on fellow author & fellow survivor, Brooke Lynn.

"Raised by Strangers" is "Uplifting & Powerful".......Brooke Lynn was only five years old, when she was kidnapped and forced to live a life burdened with cruel and bizarre physical and emotional abuse. Her will to survive, inspired by an invisible hope, helped her fight demons and stay alive as she endured haunting experiences. Check out her true life story, "Raised by Strangers" & learn how God turns tragedy into triumph. You will find a renewed hope, discover your purpose and learn there is freedom in forgiveness!

 Author Bio:

Brooke Lynn is a writer and a speaker who passionately lives — reaching others with God’s word and love. She is a survivor of abuse, sharing her past pain and recovery to encourage others with hope. Brooke resides in the Washington D.C. area, has been married for nineteen years, has two children and three dogs.

“Raised by Strangers” is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com in paperback or digital format. 

Please visit my website at: www.BrookeLynnBooks.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BrookeLynnAuthor1

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BrookeLynnBooks

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/BrookLynnWriter/




              

                     

Dangers of Being a Sole Proprietor

I dedicate this blogpost to those who are authors with a publishing company, but are operating as a sole proprietor.

Now how many of you like a simple life? I'll be honest, I do too. But this is one area that you can not neglect. Let's talk about what a sole proprietor is:

This is where you own a business and you can start it right where you are. You don't have to file any article with your respective state. The only thing you have to file is a DBA (doing business as) with the state. The cost should be less than $50 depending the state. On your taxes, you can just file just file a Schedule C and call it a day. Sounds simple, right? It is.

Now, let's talk about the dangers. 

If you are sued in your business, you have no protection of your business. Whoever is suing you can come after your business assets AND your personal assets. If the business is bankrupt, so are YOU. 

People with a business as a sole proprietor will more & likely stand a greater risk of being audited by the IRS. If you don't have any income for 5 years or if you have losses, it will be treated as a hobby and not a business. If you set up your business as an LLC (a hybrid version of a sole proprietor, where creditors can not come after your personal assets) that's a way around that trap.

Just a little food for thought.

The Mayne Man

Why Do Authors Need A Bookkeeper?

As an author, I've been able to talk to many authors and consult them on various things. Because many authors have publishing companies, it's imperative that they have a bookkeeper.

I'm sure a lot of you are looking at me strange when I say that. But let's face it, authors write and count money. But if you're good at managing your books and having good records when it's time for taxes, or if you are good at doing your taxes, then you are exempt from this article. 

I write this article for those who are not good at managing your books or you just want to minimize your taxes legally (and lessen the risk of an IRS audit). If this is you, then hiring a bookkeeper is not a bad idea. 

What are some reasons to take on a bookkeeper:

1. Starting a publishing company - unless you have a substantial amount of working capital (money) to where you don't need to apply for a small business loan, then you will need a bookkeeper. He or she will handle your books for a reasonable fee and present you a financial picture via charts, graphs, etc. so when you go to apply for a loan, you will have something to present. 

2. You have been hit with back taxes - a bookkeeper will help you manage your personal and business records so when the IRS wants to see your records, you're empowered to face them and not run from them. 

3. Tax season - the last thing you want to do is to wait till the last minute to go to your bookkeeper with your receipts when it's time to file. You want to be proactive with your taxes and reactive. 

4. Your personal life can get back in order - sometimes your life will come to light when you see the numbers in front of you. 

Hope this helps. It's one thing to make money, it's another thing to keep it!

Stay tuned, and I have one more article next week (right before that April 15th deadline).

The Mayne Man

Authors & Taxes

I was privileged and honored to be featured on fellow author Tyora Moody's Written Voices Blog back in November of 2014. This was the article that I wrote for her column. I felt it was appropriate to post it on my blog now considering that April 15th is right around the corner. Hope this is beneficial.

Authors and Taxes

Many people don't know this about me, but my profession is accounting. At my day job, I conduct audits but I am preparing to start up a tax practice in 2015/2016. As an author and an auditor, I know that we are all prone to being audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

However, being a small business owner can make you more susceptible being audited. It is true that there are loopholes for authors and other small business owners, but from what I see and hear in my field there are a lot of people either taking deductions that they shouldn’t, evading taxes all together, or dodging owed back taxes.

Mistake # 1: Home Office Space Deduction

Just because you have a desk and a laptop at home does not mean that you automatically qualify for this deduction. You must meet certain criteria for the home office to be recognized and no, never claim your monthly rent for the apartment you live in as the deduction. You must be able to prove that the amount you claim is what you use reasonably in relation to the space. If you live in a home that you own, try separating the utilities—an account for the main house and another for your office space. This way, there are no questions about who uses what. The IRS is big on documentation. Be prepared.

As I writer, I don’t take the home office deduction because I spend most of my time writing/working away from home. Too bad I can't take a deduction for the coffee I drink in coffee shops.

Mistake #2: Meals and Entertainment

The only way you can legitimately take this deduction is if you're having a meal with a client while discussing business or you are traveling overnight away from your residence. Just like travel expenses, the meal cost must be reasonable. 

Mistake #3:  How You File

If you own a publishing company where you are taking on other authors, you should NOT be a sole-proprietor. Be sure to convert to an LLC or an S-Corporation. Speak to a tax and/or legal professional to help. This protects your liability and you show the IRS that you legitimately have a business and not a hobby. 

What You Can Deduct

One huge gripe of mine is someone telling me what I can’t do without providing solutions to what I can do. So below are a few things you can do to make your tax burden a little more bearable.

1.     Office Supplies – Consider printing, book mailings, postage, envelops.

2.     Travel – If you travel more than 30 miles outside of your city it is deductable. Be sure to use mileage (document in a notebook) versus gas costs. You can find current mileage rates on the IRS website.

3.     Advertising and Public Relations Costs—if you pay a publicists or buy ads you can claim these costs.

4.     Computer and Internet Services-you can use this as a deductable if you are using it solely for business.

There are plenty of deductions that you can take when you own a business. If you have questions, feel free to contact me at Tremayne_Moore@yahoo.com.

The Crab Mentality & How It Hurts Us

I was sitting on the plane a few weeks ago and was wondering why we don't support each other. Other groups support each other, but in most cases, we don't. Notice I said "most cases." I asked a few friends (all of them are fellow authors) to help me understand why we don't support each other. They either gave me some reasons with explanations or they answered some questions that were going through my mind. 

I'll start with the questions first, which one fellow author answered with no shame. :)

Questions: Do you suppose that most people of our race don't want to support our vision/dream for the following reasons:

1. They fear that we will surpass their socio-economic status?

Yes, I definitely think this is true. Some people will support you until they feel like you are surpassing them. And this is especially true of self-published authors. Some of the readers/friends who supported me in the beginning, can't be found now because they think I'm outdoing them.

2. It's easier to support someone famous vs. someone local (or grew up with during childhood)

Yes because I had some friends who didn't buy my books until I made it into the bookstores. And then I had some who didn't support me until I made the Amazon bestseller's list. So if you're my friend, why did you wait to support me? You're only supporting me now because you think I'm a local celebrity because I've been in the newspaper a few times. 

3. If they support, they want something in return (or just want us to give, but will support someone 10x wealthier than them & not even thinking of them).

Yes, I always have people coming to me saying, "You're an entrepreneur, I have this great business idea to share with you." And I tell them that I already have more business than I can handle and I'm not looking for any new ventures. And these are usually people who haven't supported me but want to use me. And when people come to me saying, "Let me take you to lunch, I want to pick your brain." I usually pass because what they want is free information for a $5 meal. No thank you.

And one more thing, our people want me to publish them for free but they will pay AuthorHouse (or another vanity publisher) thousands of dollars to get published. But then they want to blast me for charging a thousand. Or they come to me after they have paid thousands to them and want me to make corrections for free...

If that isn't a crab mentality, I don't know what is. 

Another fellow author had this to say (and she also gave a great observation of how we should support each other): My thoughts are that the reasons you stated contribute to the crab mentality. In addition, many suffer from jealousy, envy, hatred and wanting to be like someone else or having what someone else has, and this is why they can't offer real support. I think people like this have internal issues that must be seriously dealt with. Most of the time, these people won't show this kind of attitude right away. But, it will certainly appear because they are poor at hiding it. Also, keep in mind that when people are miserable, they want others to be miserable too. They will often play the victim role to keep the attention on themselves so that others are distracted from supporting your vision or dreams. The crab mentality rears its ugly head in every situation when it comes to our race. We are so used to asking for a "hook up" and freebies from black owned businesses while we spend all of our money on Tommy Hilfiger, Polo and Coach... making them rich. But, really, some just don't want to see you doing better than them and that is sooooo sad. I think of Oprah and her best friend, Gayle.

The final fellow author chimed in and said this: People don't support because they don't believe in you. In other words: people often don't believe in you because of their own personal prejudices or views of themselves.

I would like to thank the three fellow authors who shared their thoughts on a topic that needs to be addressed. In lieu of what was stated above, our mentality has to change. We can no longer blame others for our own plight.

Blessings:

The Mayne Man