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Amra 's Armchair Anecdotes
Welcome to Amra’s Armchair Anecdotes! I’m Amra Pajalić—
writer, teacher, and storyteller. Pull up a chair, and let’s dive into
stories about writing, life, and lessons learned—sharing wisdom
from my armchair to yours.
Amra 's Armchair Anecdotes
The Business Side of Being an Author
Being a successful author requires more than just writing skills – it means embracing entrepreneurship and developing a sustainable business model that supports your creative practice.
• Understanding taxes is essential – track income and expenses to claim writing-related deductions
• Invest in your business through editing, cover design, marketing, and professional development
• Use technology to streamline operations – accounting software, social media schedulers, email marketing platforms
• Learn about industry-standard rates for freelance writing, speaking engagements, and workshops
• Apply for grants from government bodies, arts councils, and writing organizations
• Develop an entrepreneurial mindset by setting goals and tracking progress
• Establish a strong online presence with a professional website and consistent social media
• Build a mailing list to connect directly with readers independently of social media algorithms
• Join writing communities and Facebook groups to network and learn about industry trends
• Embracing your identity as a business owner can be empowering rather than intimidating
You can find the episode show notes, your free episode handouts and my how-to guides at amrapajalic.com/podcast
Welcome to Amra's Armchair Anecdotes. I'm Amra Payalich, writer, teacher and storyteller. Pull up a chair and let's dive into stories about writing, life and lessons learned, sharing wisdom from my armchair to yours. You can find the episode show notes, your free episode handouts and my how-to guides at amrapayalichcom slash podcast. And now it's time to dive in.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Amra's Armchair Anecdotes, and today I am talking about the business of being an author. So, obviously, being a writer, we're concerned with the actual writing aspect, with the creative parts of it. However, if we are wanting to think of ourselves as professional authors, there is a business side to it that we need to understand and that we need to think about. So, in one sense, you know, writing is the art and publishing is the business, and so we need to sort of think of ourselves as entrepreneurs. So today I'm going to be talking about taxes, business investment, upskilling, streamlining with technology, setting rates, monetizing your skills and creating an online footprint. So let's dive in.
Speaker 1:In this first part, I'm going to be talking about understanding taxes as an author. So it's very, you know, not glamorous at all, but it is really important because if you're earning money from your books, your freelance gigs or your workshops, you need to report your income. In many countries, once you start earning above a certain threshold, you're considered a sole trader or a small business owner. When I first started out and I was going to claim my taxable income the income that I earned from my day job and the income that I earned from my writing, a lot of the tax people didn't understand and didn't want to put it through, which is a real shame. It's very important that any income that you are earning is listed on your tax return, because it's about building that credibility that you are an author and that you have things to claim, and that you are then able to claim your writing expenses. Now the most important thing is that you need to keep records of your income and expenses. So I used to use an Excel spreadsheet. I had a date in my diary every week where I would sit down, go through my bank account and list all of my income and all of my expenses. Then two things happened. One, I got a grant and two, my income and expenses got quite complicated in terms of a lot of small transactions happening. So I got accounting software. So I've been using Inuit accounting software. Recently they've put their prices up and I'm not finding I'm going to finish the end of this year. Our taxes in Australia are done in June, so I will finish this tax cycle. And then I've bought new software called Biller and I buy a lot of my software from a company called AppSumo who offer really great deals where a lot of the time you can buy software that is from a startup company where they're trying to sort of enter the market and get brand recognition and get people using them, and they offer you these great deals where it's just a one-time fee and you've got lifetime access. So with Biller, once I start using it, I'm not going to have to pay a monthly fee. I've just bought it and that's it. I'm going to be using it Now.
Speaker 1:It's really important that you understand what you can claim so you know you can claim home office expenses, software subscriptions, travel for research, book purchases and might be important to work with an accountant, at least for the first year to set up correctly accountant, at least for the first year to set up correctly. Now with publishing and writing income, what I've found in Australia is going to a regular tax accountant is not helpful. They don't really understand the business and what you can claim and I actually found it frustrating going to them in terms of getting my writing income claimed. You need to actually get an accountant who is versed in the arts industry and then learn all of the things that you can claim, and then you might be able to do it yourself, which is what I do. I now do it myself using the software and using the online accounting system, so you really need to have a solid grasp of taxes. A lot of our writing income is not taxed, and so you need to claim and pay taxes. However, this is where the expenses come in, because, in order to to make an income, we are actually spending money on software applications, on all of these things, and so those deductions help go towards, you know, taking back the income and you paying less taxes. So it's really important sort of to learn about that and to find a method of tracking and claiming everything.
Speaker 1:The second thing that's really important is investing in your business and your professional development, so writing is like any other career. That means investing in yourself. So where should you put your money? Obviously, editing and cover design. Now you know these are the things that matter. As an indie author, I do make my own covers. Um, I spent a lot of time learning about, you know, principles of cover design, but I can only do basic covers. I don't have the sophisticated um understanding of some software packages where you can, you know, have humans and blending and stuff like that, but I do invest in editing through some software that I use, pro writing aid and also through a human proofreader and editor who reads my work and makes sure that we're covering. You know, all those things that AI software does not pick up.
Speaker 1:Marketing and promotion ads, book tours and review copies all cost money, so you will need to set aside a budget. Now you can do these things on a low budget when you're starting out in terms of getting review teams who review your books, but there are also places and services that you can pay to do this, and obviously the more well-known and the more established companies do have higher fees and then courses and conferences, so you want to upskill, attend writing and business workshops to stay updated and industry trends and marketing strategies. The great thing now is a lot of these things can be done online. So I do attend a lot of online courses or pay for online workshops, but I'm also going to my first in-person workshop in November, which I'm really excited about, and so those are opportunities for me to learn and to network, and all of those will be claimable tax expenses because they are all contributing towards me upskilling and learning about my business. So upskilling yourself to save money is a really important one, and this is where I have really spent my money and my time.
Speaker 1:I have just invested as much as I can in software that will help support my business and that will help me be able to do things myself. So you can learn basic graphic design for social media using Carver Now Carver has a free Carver. Now Carver has a free program. I do pay for the paid subscription because it does have a lot more elements and a lot more features that I find really helpful. One of the things that is a lifesaver is that you can create a graphic and then you can resize it for all social media things. Obviously, you still have to edit them a little bit, but you know it is a great time saver. Now you need to also do book formatting. So there are two software that I know of Vellum and Scrivener that you can use. I use Atticus for my formatting and I love, love it. I find that it does really beautiful formatting. It's got so many features. I bought it when it was first starting, and so I bought the you know one price for the subscription and initially there were glitches with it, but they've been really great about expanding and introducing new tools and, you know, modifying the software, and I find it works like a dream.
Speaker 1:You also might want to understand the basics of Facebook and Amazon ads so you can experiment without relying on expensive ad agencies. You can do a course through SPF self-publishing formula, and I did this early on in my career. I did not know anything about Facebook ads and I paid. I was paying on a monthly basis for their course because I knew that I would need it. It's something that I always need to use, and that was my monthly investment, and now I own that course. Whenever I try and do Facebook ads or Amazon ads, I go back to it. I look at it. These things are always changing, so you always kind of need to refresh yourself, and so that's something that I have paid for and that I have got access to.
Speaker 1:The other thing that you want to do is use technology to streamline your business so you know when you are doing everything by yourself. There are so many parts of it, so many components, so many things that you need to do, and so getting software to help support you is really important, and at the moment, we, you know, are having this disruption in terms of AI and so many more tools are being created and opportunities are being created. So I personally find it really exciting because I love learning about new things and love adapting to technology. So I've been, you know, looking at all sorts of things that come out. So you know accounting and invoicing. You know, as I said, you can do build, you can do Inuit, quickbooks, zero Wave.
Speaker 1:There are many social media schedulers. I bought one from AppSumo and it's called Postly, and so what I do with that is I schedule all of my book posts to be recurring, for them to show up every six weeks, and also sometimes, with my articles, I've set them to be scheduled every year, and so that way, things just are constantly showing up on my social feed and it's that constant cycle of reminders to my audience about who I am and what I'm doing. And the most important thing is that I'm not spending time on this. I do it once you know, when I have a book, I create all of the reels and the social media posts that are evergreen, that are like hooks about it, and I schedule them and they just rotate on a regular basis and keep showing up and then when I'm doing things about my article, I just put it recurring every year and that way it just shows up again a year later and by that time everyone's forgotten about it.
Speaker 1:Email marketing, so that one's really important when you are an author and thinking of yourself as a business. So you know, there's ConvertKit, there's MailerLite. I use SendFox. Again, that's something that I bought from AppSumo where it's a one-time fee. It actually comes up and schedules social media posts, does these smart campaigns by collecting information from my social media, and so that way it also just has it set up so I can send it, and I try and do that every month or more and just sort of have that regular schedule of sending emails out. And just backing up your subscribers is really important because you never know what might happen.
Speaker 1:I use editing and writing software, so I use ProWritingAid, which is software that is great for proofreading. It's helpful to do that first read through and pick up just the basics of errors that are made, and then I send it to my human um, you know, proofreader, uh, who then picks up all the other things that um are missed by me and missed by pro writing aid. I've alsoseudoWrite, which is also great software that's actually got some built-in things to help you, you know, add detail, add sensory detail, et cetera. But I just find it really helpful to go through and clean up that rough first draft and, you know, clean up repetitions and stuff like that, and it's quite intuitive. Also, the reason I like PseudoWrite is it's got Bibles where you can import your books and it creates character outlines and Bibles, which is going to be helpful for me moving forward with my series.
Speaker 1:Then, some other software I use Rocket Publisher for keywords and market research, which is really important. So you know I bought that once and now, every time I have a book, I use that to create my metadata and to make sure that I'm targeting the best keywords and the best, you know, ways of marketing my book. I bought a subscription to Deposit Photos, again through AppSumo, and this is where I get photos that I use for my covers and also for my social media, and I really noticed the difference when I started using professional stock photos for my reels in terms of creating that wow effect. In terms of creating that wow effect Whenever they have a deal through AppSumo for deposit photos, I get another subscription and I just have that so that I can download images whenever I want. I've also bought Audio Hero for royalty-free music so I can keep making these reels and adding interesting music to it and you know, giving my reels, uh, that professional lift. I bought snap cut where, uh, these episodes, I upload it to snap cut through the youtube link and it creates little short reels that I can then use to promote and and so I'm just also always looking at, you know, technology that is coming out. Appsumo sends me regular newsletters and I'm always buying some software.
Speaker 1:I have bought things that I haven't really used, but I like that experimentation. Sometimes I buy software, like I bought EasySpeak, which is software that puts like a teleprompter on your telephone, and I had that for a few months and I just used it yesterday and I was like, oh yeah, this is fabulous. And I've bought this software called Meeting, which is about scheduling, you know, like webinars and stuff like that. That's what I wanted to do with it and I haven't used it yet, but I will be using that and trying to integrate that into my practice as a way of sort of connecting with people. So, you know, even if it takes a little while sometimes to get ahead of these things, you do get there, you do come around to it, because once you've bought it, it's there. So something else that you need to think about is about knowing your rates and monetizing your skills. So you know, writing isn't just the book sales. We're supplementing our income in various ways, but you need to know your worth. So in Australia we have Australian Society of Writers and they have their rates of pay. So whenever you are quoting a public appearance or a workshop, you need to go to that website and find what the standard industry rates are.
Speaker 1:You might be thinking that you're doing yourself a favor by offering something for free or offering something that is less than, but you are damaging yourself in the long run in terms of not creating a sustainable practice and damaging the industry in general, because once you know people start offering things that are much less, it's not going to happen. I know that sometimes you have to weigh up. You know, doing a talk um, that's for free, in order to, you know, promote or to build your skills. But the problem is there is a lot of expectation in the industry and a lot of people who take advantage, um, where they want you to do things for free, um, for your exposure, um, and yet you know they pay the people who like. For example, if it's a conference, they're paying the venue. Uh, they're paying for people who are, you know, setting up the technology and the microphones. Um, they're charging people to come in, but they're not going to pay the people who are actually delivering workshops and talks. So, um, I don't do anything for free. I um don't, you know, if there is no payment attached, I'm not really um interested in.
Speaker 1:But I have also been in this industry for, you know, going on 30 years, so I've put in my time. So, freelance writing. Now, markets rates really vary and different publications have different rates, so you just sort of need to see what the industry rates are. There are groups that you can join where you can network and share information with people and find out what the market rates are. So, speaking engagements, as I said, look at the Australian Society of Authors to find out the rates and use those, and also for workshops and consulting, because you know, if you have a skill self-publishing, marketing you want to offer workshops to aspiring authors, which is something that I do a lot of, because I am a teacher in my day job and I've been teaching for 12 years. I do regular workshops and it's something I love doing, but it is also an opportunity for me to make money that I can then put back into my business. The other thing is, these opportunities also build, give networking opportunities. People buy your books, and so there is that other side to it.
Speaker 1:Also, something else that you can do is seek grants to develop your business. So when you are a small business, there are various grants. I applied and received two a grant in order to use digital software to improve my business, so I set up a Shopify store with that grant, which meant I didn't have to pay money for it and I was able to use that. So how do you find grants? Check government websites, local art councils, writing organisations, look at programs from writing associations such as Society of Authors or national funding bodies. I've also received grants from my local council. I delivered a workshop through a library, a memoir writing workshop that was very well attended because it was for free, and so I'm always sort of on the lookout for grants. I've received grants from writing organizations to actually have writing time, so Creative Victoria was very supportive for that. I actually have a grant writing course with bold authors that I will link in the show notes and so you can check that out and find out how to write a grant application if you're not sure.
Speaker 1:So when you are applying, you need to be clear about your project, how it will use, the expected outcomes. You need to tailor your application to the grant's funding criteria and you need to provide a budget. And then, if you're rewarded, you need to use it and you will need to report on how it was used. And so for that export market grant, I had to generate reports, which was really easy to do because I was using this great software where I had to generate reports of all of the things that I had paid for that were advertising, that were in my advertising budget, in order to be reimbursed for that grant. So it was a reimbursement grant where you spent the money and then you got the money back. So there are all sorts of different grants that you can get and small business there's really opportunities. I also did some digital mentorship that the government is providing. So you know there's some great things that you can find on social media, too, where things pop up based on your interests. So sometimes, just you know, follow that thread and see where it takes you.
Speaker 1:The next thing is you want to have an entrepreneurial mindset and your online presence, so you need to be setting goals and tracking your progress. So my new goal, for example, with this book that I'm publishing on the 1st of November, was I wanted to learn how to insert images and do image overlays in the actual book. Um, I'm doing a kickstarter first, so I'm going to be selling it through presale on kickstarter, so I've been learning how to do that. And then also, um, I'm going to be exploring translation. So at the moment, there's opportunities for indie authors to access translation and publish their books internationally using AI software and then partner with a human proofreader. So that's something that I'm going to be looking at. So I'm always sort of looking at how can I build my business, what are new things I can try? So think about long-term strategy rather than short-term gains. You know I did audiobooks for my books that were human-narrated. That's something I would still like to do, but there is a lot of changes now, with a lot of retailers like Amazon and Google Play offering their own AI translation services, and so I'm just waiting to see how things pan out there.
Speaker 1:You need to be consistent with your branding and your online presence. I was just listening to a podcast about search engine optimization and I've had the same domain for you know, ever since domains was a word that we knew about and, um, I have had a lot of you, different service providers to host my website. I've always had a website, and the the advantage of that is that for search engine optimization, you need to have a lot of backlinks, and so I do, because, everywhere that I could, that I was being published, that I was being acknowledged, I would always put the link to my website, and so, even if I change service providers, that website link still remains the same and people can find me, and so it means you know when there's an article published or when I did a blog post, my website appears. So things like that are really important. I would encourage you to. You know, get a domain, to start a website, even if it's only four pages. You know about me, contact me about my books, about me, contact me about my books. You know, just a basic website and then you build and you build it and you keep improving it. So I'm always looking at other author websites and looking at what they are doing and going. I like that, and then looking at adapting that on my website and making those changes. So at the very least, you need to have your author bio, links to your books and a mailing list.
Speaker 1:Sign up active social media profiles. Now, with social media, you decide do you have one or two that you're really active with and that you love, or do you want to do what I do, which is use the social media scheduler and just kind of publish everywhere. And there are some social media that I'm more active in and some I just sort of have things running. I sort of view that I want my social media on every platform because I want my username locked down so no one else can take it, and so then that social media scheduler just allows me to keep updating things and even if I don't check in very frequently, things are just sort of popping up there on a regular basis and keeping that going. Now an email newsletter is really important. Social media algorithms changed, but the mailing list is yours to control.
Speaker 1:This is your opportunity to build a community, to connect with your readers, to update with people, and you sometimes struggle with it because you're like, oh, I've got nothing to say, I'm not publishing a book. But you have to change your mindset and think about it, as do you really want to only be emailing people when you have a book to sell? Because doesn't that seem a bit mercenary? Don't you want to be actually emailing them on a regular basis and letting them know what's going on with you, so that way, when you do have a book to sell, they're like yes, I've been following this, I'm curious about this, I want to support this person. So think of your newsletter and your social media about nurturing relationships.
Speaker 1:Join facebook groups so you know, when you're seeking a new area, use it for research. So, you know, with kickstarter, I bought a book and I read it, and I joined a group about kickstarter where I would see other people posting about campaigns, posting their feedback, and so I was just constantly researching and learning because I'll just be, you know, a post would pop up and I'm like, oh, let me read that, and through that I would be learning. Um, I'm doing the same now with um the wanting to do translations. So I've joined a facebook group for scribe shadow and, again, I'm seeing all these people posting about their experiences translating and I'm learning through that. I'm with 50 Books to 20K no, 20 Books to 50K which is a Facebook group for indie authors started by Craig Martell, which I love because it's so practical and so useful. Wide for the Win, I'm in an Atticus group, so I've got all these groups where I'm just sort of collecting information, finding out things and learning about the industry.
Speaker 1:And another thing is think about search engine optimization. So, you know, in terms of creating your website, creating your online footprint, um, just having things out there that are, you know, showing up with your name so that, um, you're building that as part of your practice. So, in conclusion, um, you know, being a, the business of being an author, is so many things. We have to do the writing, we have to do the marketing, we have to think about the, you know, business side of it in terms of following new trends, learning new things. I find it personally really exciting and empowering.
Speaker 1:I do get overwhelmed sometimes with my ambition and with all of the things that I want to do, but I'm also learning. I don't have to do them right now. I do have a file, a Scrivener file, that I called the Self-Publishing Bible, and so anytime I learn something new that I'm like, oh, I'd like to do this, but not right now, I create a section, name it, and I put links or the information there. And so that way, at some point when I am in, you know know, at that point in my writing career where I can take on this new thing, I've got already some information, I've got a starting point, I've got what I was, you know, looking at at that time, and then I can find it and build it.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I would say is, you know, thinking of it as a business can be intimidating, but it can be also empowering, because you are the one making all the decisions and you are embracing and engaging with this industry, and I personally find it so exciting, and I have never been more joyful about my writing life than I have been at this point where I've been thinking of myself as a small business and a small press or a micro press, and it's even made me much more entrepreneurial in terms of really pushing myself forward and finding gigs for, you know, freelance writing and doing writing workshops, because all of these are opportunities for me to network, to put my face out there, to build credibility, but, more importantly, to generate income. And then this is the income that I can use to pay for all the other things that I want to do, you know, to pay for the audiobooks, to pay for the images that I need, to pay for the editing of my books, and so it's made me also much less. You know, there's the thing of being, I think, especially a woman, where it's like I need permission from someone for me to be able to do this. I need someone to say you are an author, you are a small business owner, and leaning into this and leaning into this new identity has really given me strength to overcome all of those challenges, even my social media. I knew it was important, I knew it was something that you had to do, but trying to post on a regular basis felt excruciating. It's like who wants to hear from me, who wants to see me popping up?
Speaker 1:But then, when I found my passion for creating reels and creating social media about my book, for creating reels and creating social media about my book, and I just thought of it as sharing, all I'm doing is sharing what I'm doing. I'm sharing the things that I'm learning, I'm sharing my writing journey, I'm sharing information about my book, and that just changed my mindset and made it just so much more fun and so much more joyful. And then when I get those echoes, when I get people, you know, who attend my writing workshop, and then they connect with me on social media and then they subscribe to my newsletter and then they buy my book, it just makes it all worthwhile because I see what these connections are and the importance of these connections. So I will put up some links in the show notes for things that you might want to investigate and look at. I hope this episode has been helpful to get you thinking about how to be a small business owner as a writer and how to empower yourself and move forward in your writing journey.
Speaker 1:Until next time, thank you for tuning in to Amra's Armchair Anecdotes. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe and follow for more insights, stories and inspiration From my armchair to yours. Remember every story begins with a single word.