{"id":8,"date":"2013-09-05T18:06:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T18:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2015-01-04T17:09:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T01:09:39","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Fellow Authors,
\nI’m EM Lynley. That’s my pseudonym. Like you I had a lot of tax questions when I first started getting paid for ye writing. I know exactly what you’re wondering, because I already asked the same questions and now I’ve got answers. Six years ago I took a 3-month long tax preparer class at H&R Block, to make sure I had the right answers to my own questions about writer-specific tax issues.<\/p>\n

I started writing seriously in 2007 and in 2008 I had my first short story published in an anthology. I was thrilled! I loved writing and I was over the moon a publisher liked what I wrote enough to pay me for it! And the people started buying it.<\/p>\n

And in January I got a little thing called a 1099 and I was clueless how to handle my new income when I did my taxes for 2008. I read books and websites, and frankly, I was still confused. I only had one story (plus another novel contracted) but what did the IRS expect of me. Did I need to do a Schedule C? What if I did it wrong?<\/p>\n

That first year I guessed about a lot of things and held my breath when I submitted the return. Then I got serious and signed up for a tax preparer class. I checked out two different companies and settled on H&R Block. The course was over 90 hours, so I learned a lot. I still work for them every tax season and over the years I’ve increased my knowledge of exactly what authors–published and unpublished–need to know to file their taxes, and hopefully to get all of the deductions you deserve.<\/p>\n

I teach online courses and I’ve put everything I know into a book, Tax Tips for Authors. <\/em><\/strong>You can buy it at Amazon<\/a>, Smashwords<\/a>, OmniLit<\/a>, and other distributors.<\/p>\n

I’ve now written and had fifteen novels published or contracted, along with over a dozen novellas, short stories, and I’ve edited four anthologies. That means I have even more experience with nearly every question or situation you face. I still prepare taxes every year for my clients, and take IRS-mandated continuing education to make sure my tax knowledge is up to date.<\/p>\n

Feel free to ask a question using the contact form<\/a>. Sign up for my tax tips newsletter, designed just for authors\u00a0 (mailings once or twice a month). The form is in the right sidebar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello Fellow Authors, I’m EM Lynley. That’s my pseudonym. Like you I had a lot of tax questions when I first started getting paid for ye writing. I know exactly what you’re wondering, because I already asked the same questions and now I’ve got answers. Six years ago I took a 3-month long tax preparer<\/p>\n<\/i>Details<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3TDjA-8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52,"url":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/about\/tax-tips-classes-mfrw-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":0},"title":"Tax Tips Courses for Authors — MFRW Member Special","author":"EM Lynley","date":"December 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m EM Lynley, a long-time (lurking) member of MFRW. I\u2019m both a published author and a licensed tax preparer in California. (My qualifications) Every spring I run a special online tax tips class for US writers on preparing their tax returns. I constantly have people saying \u201cI wish I knew\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"coverTaxTips_thumb_EM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/coverTaxTips_thumb_EM.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/2015-tax-workshops\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":1},"title":"2015 Tax Workshops for Authors — Registration","author":"EM Lynley","date":"January 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Writers, are you stymied by Schedule C and self-employment tax? Not sure you\u2019re getting all the deductions you deserve, or uncertain precisely what the IRS allows?","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taxes-creativecommons.jpg?fit=640%2C427&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taxes-creativecommons.jpg?fit=640%2C427&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taxes-creativecommons.jpg?fit=640%2C427&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2,"url":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/sign-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":2},"title":"Newsletter Sign-Up","author":"EM Lynley","date":"September 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"FREE Tax Tips for Authors Newsletter Please sign up for my monthly Tax Tips for Authors Newsletter. I'll be sending useful tax information designed specifically for writers, whether you are with a publisher or self-publish. Don't let Schedule C scare you and make sure you take all the deductions you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32,"url":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/ask-a-tax-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":3},"title":"Ask a Tax Question","author":"EM Lynley","date":"September 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have a tax question you'd like me to answer on the blog or in the newsletter, please submit this form. I will not reveal names, identities or specific financial information. I will email you the answer and post an answer on the site.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"cropped-Flying-dollar-bills690.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/cropped-Flying-dollar-bills690-300x43.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/cropped-Flying-dollar-bills690-300x43.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/cropped-Flying-dollar-bills690-300x43.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87,"url":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/tax-workshops-for-authors-registration\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":4},"title":"Tax Workshops for Authors — Registration","author":"EM Lynley","date":"February 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Please email em@emlynley.com if you have any trouble with the shopping cart or payment system. Payments are processed through PayPal. \u00a0 [wp_eStore_cart_fancy1] --------------------------------------------- \u00a0 [wp_eStore_fancy1 id=2]","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/offsite_event.php?id=6014249567004&value=0.01¤cy=USD","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/taxtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}