Thirty Seventh Income Report – April 2016 (-$764.2)

Are you curious about a one-year delay? I explained it in my first income report.

April 2016 was focused around publishing Making Business Connections That Count.
Next to the everyday hustle of my day job and writing, I also completed a bunch of activities needed to publish a book.
I sent a broadcast to my email list asking for volunteers to beta-read the book. I incorporated their feedback and sent the manuscript to an editor.
I brainstormed some title possibilities, then consulted my email list about my ideas.
After deciding on a title, I ordered a cover design.
I created a Facebook group for my launch team and kept them engaged.
I twisted the arm of my mentor to write a foreword for my book.
When the manuscript came back from the editor, I approved her corrections. I also added some bullet points at the end of each chapter.
I scheduled the date of a Buck Books promotion for my launch.
I contacted some bloggers and influencers advocating the value of their contribution to the book launch.
And I did a whole bunch of other activities I didn’t note in my journal, like finding Amazon categories.

I love writing books, but publishing them with my crazy schedule is a pain in the butt. It significantly adds to my workload and leaves me exhausted.

Routine

After the season of Lent, I (most days) continued waking up at 4 am and working on my business before going to work.
I also continued my usual workload: writing 1,000 words a day (I wrote 32,000 words in April) and publishing at least one Quora answer a day.

I also tried to get traction on Medium. An article was quickly accepted by Better Humans publication, but another submission clearly got lost. I published a few articles on my own, but they got very little momentum.

Taxes

The tax office sent me an official note requesting a correction of my taxes. My accounting office mistook not only the amounts, but misunderstood—or misapplied—some regulations. Luckily, the tax office provided guidelines, and the corrections were straightforward.

In less than a month I received my tax return back. I had set aside a reserve fund, prepared to pay about 20% of my revenues in taxes, but it wasn’t necessary. I used this fund for investments and savings.

House renovation

My savings were quickly consumed by our home renovation. When we bought the house, it was habitable, but not finished.
In April we got a new facade. The construction crew we hired was awesome; they did the whole house’s facade within a week. And I paid them in cash from my book royalties.

The Income Report Breakdown

Income:
Amazon royalties: €479.75 ($542.12)
CreateSpace royalties: €22.63 ($25.57)
Draft2Digital royalties for 2015 and January 2016: $23.41
Coach.me fees: $33.46

Total: $624.56

Costs:
$150.75, VA’s remuneration
$30, View From the Top Community fee
$29, Aweber fee
$22.22, royalties split with co-author
$250, Business on Purpose mastermind
$15, promo of The Art of Persistence on The Fussy Librarian
$10.65, my business credit card yearly fee
$590, Making Business Connections That Count edition and proofreading by Archangel Ink
$100, Making Business Connections That Count cover
$191.14, my blog’s hosting
Total: $1388.76

Net Result: -$764.2

Ouch! That’s reality of book business. One month you earn 4 figures, the next you are several hundred bucks in red.
April was the beginning of the very sad period when I had to subsidise my business from my day job salary.

Previous Income Report: March 2016