My book is selling

22-06-2011 02:56AM

get rid of your books!!
*clutches my collection* :eek:

CD. · 22-06-2011 11:14AM

bluewolf wrote: »

get rid of your books!!
*clutches my collection* :eek:

THIS, a thousand times this!

how could you get RID of books? blasphemers!

On a more serious note, I am not allowed give books to second hand bookshops anymore, my dad has banned my mum and I from doing it, the pair of us always leave with more books than we brought in.

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 11:31AM

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss

) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

22-06-2011 11:32AM

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss ) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

Never read a book twice? Really? I think I have lost count how many times I have re-read so many favourites...

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 11:35AM

You must have loads of free time (or you don't have an addiction to quality television)

FewFew · 22-06-2011 11:36AM

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss ) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

It's not that I read them twice, it's more that they're there as photo albums, I just have to glance at the shelf and smile with memories of how good some of them were

I also tend to lend out a lot of books to friends, so I do try my best to spread the love.

22-06-2011 11:38AM

pickarooney wrote: »

You must have loads of free time (or you don't have an addiction to quality television)

I don't know about free time but I am a total bookworm. I don't watch all that much tv, no

I have books with covers falling apart, they've been re-read so often!
Wheel of Time especially :eek:

That said my sheet music for bach is also falling apart from being used so often, maybe things just fall apart around me :pac:

Fewcifur wrote: »

It's not that I read them twice, it's more that they're there as photo albums, I just have to glance at the shelf and smile with memories of how good some of them were
I also tend to lend out a lot of books to friends, so I do try my best to spread the love.

My autographed copy of a Hamilton book has vanished so I am very rarely lending again!
Yes, I shouldn't have lent an autographed one...

The Mad Hatter · 22-06-2011 11:54AM

bluewolf wrote: »

I have books with covers falling apart, they've been re-read so often!
Wheel of Time especially :eek:

That said my sheet music for bach is also falling apart from being used so often, maybe things just fall apart around me :pac:

I used to live with an author who, when he saw my copy of Lord of the Rings, with the cover fallen off, the pages worn and blotched, and the whole book having fallen into two halves with numerous other pages fallen out and inserted back where they belonged, described it as "a well-loved book."

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 11:55AM

bluewolf wrote: »

My autographed copy of a Hamilton book has vanished so I am very rarely lending again!
Yes, I shouldn't have lent an autographed one...

Probably the one book I regret losing (lending to X, where X is undefined) was an autographed copy of Mr. Nice.

CD. · 22-06-2011 12:16PM

I reread books all the time, don't understand why people wouldn't. people rewatch movies and television shows (i do myself) but not books, it doesn't make sense.

I also find it easy if there's no book that catches my fancy in my to read pile and i'm not in the mood for them then i can fall back on a book i have already read because i know vaguely what it's about.

of course, i read multiple books at the same time, right now i'm reading three and rotating them depending on how tired i am/how i feel at the time etc

I tend to forget details over time so i can reread it again and spend teh entire time trying to figure out the ending or rember it. have a great auditory memory so the same does not happen for TV shows/movies, usually remember them very well.

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 12:25PM

I rarely ever watch a film or TV show twice either. It seems like such a waste of time when there are mountains of films I haven't seen yet.

I'm thinking of splitting this thread as it's gone a bit OT but it's hard to define the exact point it stopped being about Don't Feed the Fairies.

Kinski · 22-06-2011 01:49PM

I suspect that the relationhip a person has with their books says something about how they view literature. The only books I've ever thrown away were ones so bad that I felt they hadn't earned a place in my collection (and even then I've kept some rubbish). If you regard the medium as basically disposable and consider an already-read book as clutter, does that in some sense reflect the value you place on the contents?

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 01:56PM

I doubt it, to be honest. Some people just have more of a hoarding nature than others. It says a lot about their relationship with their mother though, that's for definite.

Thread is officially way OT.

mikom · 22-06-2011 02:02PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Probably the one book I regret losing (lending to X, where X is undefined) was an autographed copy of Mr. Nice.

If you buy a copy direct from Howards personal website he will autograph it and write whatever dedication you request.
Now that's nice.

The Mad Hatter · 22-06-2011 02:26PM

Kinski wrote: »

I suspect that the relationhip a person has with their books says something about how they view literature. The only books I've ever thrown away were ones so bad that I felt they hadn't earned a place in my collection (and even then I've kept some rubbish). If you regard the medium as basically disposable and consider an already-read book as clutter, does that in some sense reflect the value you place on the contents?

I don't think so, no.

Pickarooney: your attitude towards rereading/rewatching is one I wish I had. I know I'll never come close to reading, watching and listening to all the books, films, tv shows and music I want to, but I still can't seem to stop myself from sitting down with the comfort and nostalgia of a familiar book.

FewFew · 22-06-2011 02:32PM

I get into major nostalgia mode with Terry Pratchett books. I know I've read them all, but I begin to forget what happened where, plus the chuckles are always fast flowing

Kinski · 22-06-2011 03:20PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I doubt it, to be honest. Some people just have more of a hoarding nature than others. It says a lot about their relationship with their mother though, that's for definite.

I don't think that appealing to the idea of a "hoarding nature" really answers my question, since hoarding something implies that one places value on it (to hoard things which are valueless or useless is considered pathological). I'm asking why some readers wouldn't feel that impulse towards books when so many do. Maybe I'm guilty of fetishizing the book form, of asking the materiality and durability of books themselves to stand-in for the constancy of great writing. However, I can't leave the topic without quoting a few lines from Walter Benjamin's little essay "Unpacking My Library." Of course, I recognise that Benjamin speaks to us from a different time (and he certainly wasn't unpacking a box of Stephen Kings and John Grishams). Given the rise of Kindle, I also think that the potential obsolescence of this piece's titular activity would be a real loss - somehow the idea of scrolling through one's folder of ebooks lacks a little romance.

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories [...] [N]o one has had a greater sense of well-being than the man who has been able to carry on his disreputable existence in the mask of Spitzweg's 'Bookworm.' For inside him there are spirits, or at least little genii, which have seen to it that for a collector - and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be - ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have with objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.

And yes, we are a million miles OT. Congrats Eileen! I'll buy your novel when there's a physical edition!

Aoibheann · 22-06-2011 10:42PM

Eileen - I'll definitely get this and have a read, congrats btw. Delighted that a boardsie is published and hopefully you'll be the first of many!

I'll throw a review up here when I get a chance to read it. Best of luck with the sales!

Also, with regard the off-topic slant to the thread, I absolutely could not bear to part with so many of my books. I have storage boxes full in the attic (no wonder I can't find my favourites half the time!), there are stacks upon stacks of books under my bed, beside my bed, on bookshelves downstairs, in a spare room in my father's house.. I'm fairly sure I could stock a decent-sized library at this point. I'd say I have a problem, but I'm pretty delighted with the situation tbh! :pac:

Antilles · 22-06-2011 10:46PM

Eileen would you consider writing up something for the forum on your book's journey from idea to publication?

donfers · 22-06-2011 10:58PM

I consume my popular media in binges.

I'll buy loads of books, download loads of music or movies and then not get around to reading/listening to/watching them.

I think I like the idea of having certain books. albums, movies on the shelves/computer (especially the critically acclaimed stuff), I'll dip into them, not be immediately bowled over, wonder what all the fuss was about and promise myself I'll get back to it at some point to try to "get" it and appreciate it and in the meantime buy or download whoever the latest darling of the critics is and go through the same process again with that item - so basically all I am doing is builiding a large pile of stuff that everybody says is great but that I don't have the time, insight, intelligence or patience to appreciate but I collect on nonetheless.

Oh and video games are the worst for that binging practice, the amount of half-finished video games I have is embarrassing.

I think the instant gratification, one-click digital era is to blame as there is so much stuff available and it's so easy to get yet because of this self-same digital age we are conditioned to always be hunting for the next piece of information and have the attention span of gnat, thus if i may use an analogy we are being programmed to consume the stuff without actually tasting it before moving on to the next meal.

Let's face it, we are the shuffle generation.

deisedave · 22-06-2011 11:04PM

Anywhere I can torrent this

:D:D O.J. congrats on the sales, Im going to order now.

Kinski · 22-06-2011 11:17PM

donfers wrote: »

Oh and video games are the worst for that binging practice, the amount of half-finished video games I have is embarrassing.

Ha, I never finish games either. Always get bored before the end. Especially if it's one of those JRPGs that seem to go on forever.

pickarooney · 22-06-2011 11:47PM

I have to make an exception, actually. I just got the programme for the summer open-air free cinema in the park season and there are about 5 films I want to re-watch on it. Or at least lie under the stars drinking beer while half-listening to.

G-Money · 24-06-2011 09:12AM

This might be a stupid question, but how did you get your book published?

EileenG · 24-06-2011 02:22PM

In this case, it was due to the publicity about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

I had entered it (got lots of help polishing my pitch from the boardsies here, thanks guys) and got to the Quarter final. I wasn't shy about telling people that my novel was doing well, and encouraging them to read the excerpt up on Amazon.com. One of the people who read it was involved with an indie publisher, Fantasy Island, and we started talking.

That's the e-book, which is up on Amazon now. The paperback is going to be torture, I know it. From what I gather, it will need about six edits, and months of fighting over the cover.

Oh, does anyone have any experience of filling in tax returns for money earned in America? I'm told that money from Amazon.com will have 30% retained unless I fill in the correct forms, and they're a bitch.

Dublin141 · 24-06-2011 02:47PM

EileenG wrote: »

Oh, does anyone have any experience of filling in tax returns for money earned in America? I'm told that money from Amazon.com will have 30% retained unless I fill in the correct forms, and they're a bitch.

Eileen, as far as I know, you need a headed letter from whoever is paying you. Amazon won't do it, but if your book is uploaded to Smashwords, they will oblige once you've earned ten dollars with them. You fill out a W-7 form then send that, the headed letter and your passport (or a notarised copy from the US embassy in Dublin) to the US embassy in London who deal with tax matters for the UK and Ireland. They send you back your ITIN (and possibly some documentation), and you then fill out a W-8BEN form and send that to the American retailers who are paying you.

The tax treaty reduces the tax you pay to 0%, and it should go smoothly, but it's a bit of hassle. The forms themselves are easy to fill in, it's the other stuff that takes time. You have to chase up Amazon also, I know of a few writers who have done all of the above but because of mistakes on Amazon's part, they are still being charged 30% tax. It can be claimed back at the end of the tax year though.

ETA: Also, check out this thread on Kindleboards where there's mention of a different tax return process that might be easier? There's no resolution on that particular thread, but it might be worth looking into. http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php?topic=50768.0

FewFew · 24-06-2011 02:53PM

Wow, that's a hassle

pickarooney · 24-06-2011 03:17PM

No Artists' exemption there, eh?

EileenG · 24-06-2011 03:21PM

Dublin141 wrote: »

Eileen, as far as I know, you need a headed letter from whoever is paying you. Amazon won't do it, but if your book is uploaded to Smashwords, they will oblige once you've earned ten dollars with them. You fill out a W-7 form then send that, the headed letter and your passport (or a notarised copy from the US embassy in Dublin) to the US embassy in London who deal with tax matters for the UK and Ireland. They send you back your ITIN (and possibly some documentation), and you then fill out a W-8BEN form and send that to the American retailers who are paying you.

The tax treaty reduces the tax you pay to 0%, and it should go smoothly, but it's a bit of hassle. The forms themselves are easy to fill in, it's the other stuff that takes time. You have to chase up Amazon also, I know of a few writers who have done all of the above but because of mistakes on Amazon's part, they are still being charged 30% tax. It can be claimed back at the end of the tax year though.

ETA: Also, check out this thread on Kindleboards where there's mention of a different tax return process that might be easier? There's no resolution on that particular thread, but it might be worth looking into. http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php?topic=50768.0

Yikes, that's not going to be fun. But thanks for all that information.

Dublin141 · 24-06-2011 03:34PM

Yeah, it's not the most thrilling thing in the world.

Here are links in case the details on the embassy's website are clearer.

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irsitin.html
http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irsitinappy.html

My book is selling

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