The French Battle Amazon. My Writing Expenses.


Those Communist French.

I read recently that the French government fixes the price of books so that French bookshops, including those online, cannot discount books by more than 5% of the RRP.  On further investigation I found this article in the New York Times.   French legislators even dictated to Amazon that its publishers can charge whatever they like on Amazon. It seems this law has helped bookshops prosper in France. It also seems to have affected the uptake of ebooks in France with them being only a lowly 1.8% of the market.

The fixing of prices by the French has benefited French Bookshops and probably French authors with higher royalties.  I have been trying to find out the actual price of the average just released paperback in France. The price would probably still be cheaper in France than here in Australia due to their much larger market where the cost of producing a book can be spread over more sales.

My Expenses Were how Much? 

I have been completing my tax return. In my previous tax return I had not bothered making any deductions for my writing income except for $20 worth of telephone calls.  But this year, after another government department demanded I create a profit and loss statement, balance sheet and depreciation schedule for my writing business, I did so.

I needed to revive long forgotten accounting skills I learnt during a never used economics degree, and excel skills I learnt a decade ago. I also spent a lot of time studying the information on the ATO site and made six phone calls to their surprisingly helpful staff.

I found my expenses were considerably more than just $20 worth of telephone calls. There were also printer toner cartridges, pens, pads, folders, a percentage of depreciation of my computer equipment, a percentage of my broadband connection, a new cheap camera, 60% of a new cheap printer, and home office expenses of 34cents per hour. The grand total was $485.

I have changed from thinking earning my writing income only cost me time.

And if You Have Been Wondering…  

No, I have not finished writing my novel. Just get off my back, my muse is being crushed by all the guilt. I have just written a few thousand more words over the past few weeks and I am halfway through chapter 48. Interestingly, the POV character in this chapter is having a hard time convincing those around her that they’re all deluded and she isn’t. A bit like I have felt when attempting to communicate with people this week. Perhaps I did die in a train wreck on Monday (my train from Melbourne was delayed after it hit a car pushed onto the track by hoons). Either that or a full moon is affecting an awful lot of people. But anyway I know perfectly well how my misunderstood character is feeling. 

And if you really must know, I have written 96,300 words. Will I crack the 100,000 before the world ends on December 23rd?

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