Author Interview: Gary Gorman

Jun 27, 2012 by admin

What prompted you to write your book in the first place?

Initially I was asked if I wanted to contribute to Nikki Pilkington’s 30 Day Challenge series. The intention at first was simply to write a sales challenge e-book for Nikki’s series. Whilst in the process of writing this I was speaking to my VA Helen Stothard about how we might turn it into both a physical book and a Kindle book. One of my key goals this year was to publish a book so it also ticked off that ambition for me. It all slotted into place and went on from there.

Give us a brief synopsis of your book?

The book is called ’30 Day Sales Challenge’ and it’s a set of 30 daily challenges or tasks designed to take a new salesperson from being understandably nervous about selling through to becoming someone who is a confident, persuasive and engaging customer focused salesperson. I help them along that journey by sharing a daily piece of advice and then setting them a task related to that days insight. It works by getting the next task to build upon what has been learnt on previous days. I’ve been really pleased to hear that lots of my readers have improved so much over the course of the book.

Why did you decide to go down the self publishing route?

Because Helen told me it was the way to go! No, seriously, I knew Helen had lots of practical experience around self publishing so that definitely influenced my decision. I also felt I would have more control over the end product from self publishing and that has proven to be the case. Certainly with the growth of Kindle and e-books it’s never been easier to self publish.

What has been the best part of your publishing journey?

Opening the parcel containing the first copy of my printed book definitely. It is a moment I will never forget and made all the hours spent on the book worthwhile.

What has been the worst part of your publishing journey?

Waiting for the parcel to arrive was the worst part. I guess it’s like a child waiting for Christmas….it seems to take ages to arrive. It was worth the wait in the end though.

Would you consider writing another book?

Yes and in fact I have my second book coming out later in the year called ‘Inside The Entrepreneur’s Mind’ where I’m exploring what makes 21 real life business owners want to risk it all to grow their own business when they could settle for an easier life.

What would you have done differently in hindsight?

Nothing particularly other than I wish I’d have written my own book earlier. It has been a great thrill that I wish I’d have experienced sooner. I’d be on my tenth book by now!

What advice would you give a budding author?

Set yourself a clear date to finish the writing otherwise it just drifts and other things get in the way. Draft a basic plan of your content and chapter headings to provide a basic structure and try to have a distinct beginning, middle and end both to the book overall and to each individual chapter. Then break it down into so many words per day and make sure you churn those words out. They don’t have to be particularly polished (that can come later) but just the sheer discipline of doing a set number of words each day creates forward momentum. I’d also suggest they work with someone who has done it before and can help to get the book published.

Do you feel different in any way now you are an author?

Well my family hasn’t treated me any differently anyway J I feel proud that I have something out there in the world….a legacy I guess…..that can never be taken away from me. I feel pleased also that the book has enabled me to help far more people become more confident sales people than I possibly could have done face to face.

Where can readers purchase your book?

’30 Day Sales Challenge’ is available to buy on Amazon and Kindle and also via my website at www.GaryGorman.co.uk

 

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Media: All about eBooks

Jun 25, 2012 by admin

I was recently invited to take part in a podcast by the master of podcasts, Dave Thackeray.  He wanted to talk to me about eBooks and digital publishing.  At the time the recording was made Dave was in the process of writing his own book ‘Sharing Superheroes‘ which he has since released on Kindle, I’d like to think that our conversation persuaded him that this was the way to go with his book.  In fact Dave is such a convert now he’s just launched his second Kindle book as well.

I thought I’d share the recording with you here.  Dave’s original post which also has the recording shares his reasons why you should listen, as well as his experience of his own publishing journey.

So if you’re contemplating publishing your own works do have a listen, and then give me a call so we can discuss how I can help you.

Just call 01904 890212 or email helen@hlsbs.co.uk for more information.

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An easier way for UK authors to get a US tax identification

Jun 23, 2012 by admin

If you’re a UK author and you’ve started selling your books via Createspace, Kindle or Smashwords the chances are you’ve started selling copies in the American market.  Whilst this is great news for you, it also presents a problem in terms of being taxed on your royalties. Now I am no tax expert, and would always recommend that you talk to your own tax adviser or accountant when it comes to anything to do with the finances, however, thanks to one of my authors I have been saved an expensive trip down to London to the US Embassy in order to obtain my US Tax Identification number.

I thought I had done all the research and had just about decided the least costly approach would have been a special trip to London, as the only alternatives I had found either cost in excess of £400 for a dedicated agent to handle the matter for me, or would have required me paying both a notary and then paying for an Apostile (its a legal document that fastens to the notarised copy of your passport).

I’ve been selling on Kindle for over a year and have regularly received my UK royalties in full, but haven’t quite got to the $200 threshold for .com sales.  If I didn’t do something about it soon I was going to have a 30% tax withholding deduction made before I received the payment, coupled with the conversion fees from my bank on converting a cheque from US$ into sterling.  That soon takes a chunk out of your hard earned royalties!

I have also sold print books in the USA via Amazon.com thanks to Createspace and as they only have a $10 threshold before they pay into your UK bank account again needed to get it sorted.

One of my authors pointed me in the direction of this excellent blog post by Catherine Ryan Howard which advised that I could obtain an EIN number over the phone.  This is an employer identification number as opposed to the reams of paperwork and red tape required for an individual tax number.

I am assuming that if you’re selling books you have registered as self employed with the HMRC.   Even though you won’t be paying the 30% withholding tax in the USA you will be taxed on the income as part of your UK tax return.

I followed the advice in the blog post step by step and within less than ten minutes had an EIN number, which I then added to the individial W8-BEN forms for Kindle, Smashwords and Createspace and duly posted off. (Note: Express Air Mail takes four days but costs around £5 more per envelope than standard Air Mail which takes five days – guess which one I went for!)

Now I have yet to receive confirmation from the various companies that the paperwork has gone through, and will update the comments/blog accordingly, but what I can tell you is that the process to date has certainly been a lot smoother than the one I had anticipated I would have had to go through!  In the meantime huge thanks to Catherine for compiling her blog post and saving me so much time, money and energy!

(PS I checked the call tariff for my phone provider and found that even the call to the USA was free as it was inclusive on my package!)

 December 2012

I thought it was worth putting an update on here as to how the process has worked.

Createspace worked first time, Smashwords seem to have a problem finding the form to process it, yes we are now in December, six months after it was sent off, and their accounts department are unbelievably slow at responding to queries.

Kindle, despite being part of Amazon operate a totally different system to Createspace and have just sent me my first royalty cheque in US$ less the 30% withheld tax, they had a query on the first form as I put my name and trading as then my business name so I had to send one back showing just my name, which they now appear to have lost.

Lulu despite me thinking they were a UK based company and me being a UK based author also withheld tax on one of my royalty payments so don’t forget to send them the form as well.  They’ve sent through a US address for the form.  I’ve since deleted all my books from Lulu as the royalties were so poor and the print costs too high compared to Createspace.

Fotolia is a stock photography site and actually allowed me to enter all my information online and verified it within minutes.

At the time of writing I’ve just come a cross a way of getting around the Kindle requirement for a US bank account in order to avoid receiving cheques when I finally hit the $100 threshold (they obviously mean $100 after tax has been deducted by the way) and I’ll blog about it as soon as I know that works.

The system above does work, you just have to keep chasing and following through to ensure the W8-BEN has actually been received and processed at the other end.

How have the rest of you got on with this?

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