Basics For Authors

Okay, I have to admit, I'm not the world's most organised author.  Actually, truth be told, I'm pretty cruddy at being organised.

What? You're the same? Cool... I think most of the cool kids are like that... But there are some basic things we do need to do as authors.  Here are a couple that I'm actually pretty good at.

Contracts

My office is constantly awash with papers... Drafts of works in progress (I'm a paper girl!) Invoices from my business, orders, notes and research. Yes... they constantly wade in and around my desk.  But I actually have a very organised filing system for my contracts.  It works for me...

I have one folder just for my contracts.  Each Publisher has a divider and sitting just behind that, but in front of all the contracts, is a quick glance list.

On that list is the name of the work, the date the contract was signed, the ISBN, the actual release date, the contract termination date and the formats available in.

Here's a pic of one of the pages.

Behind each is a copy of every completed contract.  Each is tagged with a colour tab so easy to find and refer to.

 I keep that folder on one of my bookshelves with my personal and reference books.

Why do I keep all this stuff? It is important to know this information. Why? Just imagine a contract dispute. You need to be able to find the details and see the relevant information at a glance.

Imagine if you lost a copy of a contract and needed to work out the termination date? Was it from the date of execution of the contract or from publication. Was it a 2, 3 or 5 year contract?

Royalties

The other things we need to keep is a folder to do with the money side of things. Being an Aussie, we have to have copies of the 1066 for the AT0 (Australian Tax Office), if you deal with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) you need to have either an EIN (Employer Identification Number) or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)

You also need somewhere to keep track of your payments from your publishing house (royalty payments)

What you should keep: A printed copy of each royalty statement, a copy of any 1066 or tax declaration form. The actual copy of the ITIN certificate or EIN certificate.  I also keep a running tally sheet of what are the projected royalty amount PER TITLE inside my folder. This helps me to keep track of the amounts that should be paid in.

However many copies sold x Royalty according to vendor = Correct payment amount

This makes it easier to go back if there is an inaccuracy in the document and to query it with the publisher.

Your Works

The last item is, of course, personal.

I like to keep a printed copy of the final document in a folder and I usually keep a single backed up copy on hard disk, carefully stored in perpetuity.

Like I said, I'm not the most organised person I know, but I certainly see it as important to keep track of those all important legally binding documents.

So how do I keep organised?

As each contract comes in, I print and file immediately and fill out the information that I have. Some of this only becomes apparent once it has been published... if there is an unknown or changing publication date, if the ISBN isn't assigned until the last minute. But everything I have goes into the folder as soon as it is finished. (Signed, returned etc)

The same with royalty information. As soon as it is received, I print it and slip it into the correct section of it's file after checking the amounts against the Novelrank statistics etc.,

A good calculator will help you check if your payments are correct. If there are any queries, then you can immediately email your publisher to ask for clarification.

Being organised and on top of everything is the author's job, as much as the publishers.  By being organised and following through, you make filing your tax simpler and you don't have to scrabble around at the last minute looking for the paperwork to submit. It also makes everyone so much happier!

Good luck with your trip to publishing! It's well worth the ride! 

I hope this has helped somewhat in know what are the most important documents we all need to keep.

Imogene