Accounts
I had been looking forward to retirement for a number of reasons, one of these being that I would no longer have to do my accounts. During my massage years I did these myself. I knew what I could claim, kept meticulous records of my income, kept my receipts and periodically updated my account books so there was not so much to do at the end of the financial year.
Income from my first book was added on to my massage income. However, now without that, I am not sure what I can claim with this second book. Of course, there are the expenses of printing the book, but I am not sure if I can claim a percentage of other things, as I could do with my massage clients, such as the rates and electricity. For this financial year, I have income from three sources, my pension, my book and now the workshop, and any client, should I charge them. I will have to seek out an accountant to give me some advice. And start the tedious job of going through my receipts again, as proof of money spent. I have definitely spent way more money on the book than what I have received. I don’t know whether I’ll ever break even. The reality of self-publishing is that it is expensive. A friend quoted some stats the other day. It was something like the average self-publisher sells about 67 books in the initial thrust, then the rest of the sales occur in dribs and drabs. If I continue to do workshops and can secure some public talks, I am hoping to keep sales going. And if I can find someone to actually show me how to advertise on Facebook and Amazon, I might run some more ad campaigns. Marketing is not my strength. Another thing I read recently was that people had to see an ad multiple times before they would buy the product. I am not sure whether this was a ploy to spend more on advertising or an actual reality. But I am thinking it is probably true.
And so, doing this financial year’s accounts becomes another thing to add to my to-do list. It was nice not having to bother last year as my only income was from the pension. As the expenses out weigh the money earnt, it would probably be in the Inland Revenue’s interest that I don’t file my tax return, but it is a legal requirement to declare any extra money I make. I definitely need to seek the advice of a reliable accountant, one who knows about writing requirements for the IRD. It may be that I don’t have to file a return, but I am thinking that is not the case. Either way, I still need to get some advice.