Month: February 2022

Posted on by

Taking Inventory of Books – Indie Author Version

Authors Business Owners

Taking Inventory of books – what does that have to do with being an indie author?

If you’re indie, that means you’re self-publishing. That means you print your own books. That means at the end of the year you have to file taxes–and tell the IRS about your inventory.

Who cares? You do, if you’re an author. And you do, if you’re a reader, because ultimately you pay for all the author’s inventory.

In this blog post, I provide you a spreadsheet template you can use to inventory your products, books or anything else.

Taking Inventory – the interesting part

Authors Business Owners Taking Inventory
Zombie Lady saving money with inventory

The interesting part is that you can save money if you’re an author. And you can pass those savings on to your readers in the form of cheaper books, or better promotions.

And of course, this applies to non-authors too–anyone who sells stuff has to track their inventory.

Another good feature is you’ll have accurate information to give to the taxman. I assume you want to avoid penalties for errors.

For more interest, check out my latest review:

The Dark Forest

The Dark Forest Taking Inventory
Cover

by Liu Cixin (Goodreads Author),

Feb 22, 2022  · it was amazing

bookshelves: dystopian, science-fiction

Author Liu Cixin follows up his first novel, ‘The Three Body Problem’ with another, just as good. Most of the characters from the first novel are dead, except the rude policeman Da Shi. The novel covers two hundred years after the announcement of the coming alien invasion from Proxima Centauri star system.

The novel begins with the four Wallfacers, people chosen to fight the aliens and who are given dictatorial power and resources. The aliens monitor all earth communication and technology development and thwart any progress in physics through directly affecting particle accelerator output. The Wallfacers, keeping their thoughts and plans to themselves, can surprise the aliens.

But that’s just the beginning. Multiple characters leap forward in time through hibernation to two hundred years later. The Wallfacers emerge with no fame or power. Their whole effort has been superseded with spectacular technical advancements. The Earth has built a fleet of two thousand ships, all faster than the invaders’ ships and armed with gamma ray lasers and fusion bombs.

But everything is not as it seems. The fleet advances to intercept an alien probe sent on ahead.

That’s when the action really begins.

You must read this book. It has more twists than the first one.

Andy Zach‘s review

Taking Inventory – the Template

Taking Inventory
Inventory spreadsheet

Here are the fields I have and how I use them:

  • Date – When the transaction takes place. What transactions? Buying, selling, giving away, returning books, and putting them on consignment at stores.
  • Quantity – How many books are involved?
  • Cost per book – When you divide the quantity of books by the purchase price.
  • Shipping cost – The total shipping cost for the order.
  • Sales tax – the total sales tax for the order.
  • The total cost of the order – everything above summed together.
  • Description of the book order, sale, gift, return, or consignment inventory.
  • Discount – any discount you received from the book printer.
  • Cost per book – the total cost divided by the number of books.
  • Print books sold – total quantity sold for that day.
  • Books given – total books given for that day.
  • Consignment inventory – books put on consignment at a store for that day.
  • On hand, ending inventory – the number of books on hand at the end of that day.
  • Ending inventory value – the total value of the remaining books
  • Onhand inventory value change – the change in value from the previous day to this one.

Got questions so far? Then ask me here! Or you can email me at andyzach@admin.

Finally, you can download my spreadsheet right here.

Some Inventory ‘Gotchas’

What can go wrong?

  1. You can lose track/not record your sales.
  2. Or, you can lose track/not record your gifted books.
  3. You can lose track of your consignment inventory
  4. When you reorder books, the prices can and do change. If you don’t reflect that in your spreadsheet, your dollars spent won’t match what you’ve sold and given away.

These are all mistakes I’ve made.

Ya Got Trouble

The solution is to record your sales and gifts immediately and multiple times. When I sell a book, I make a slash in my notebook under “ZT ZD MUM PP Oops SS or VV”, like this:

  • ZT lll
  • ZD ll
  • MUM l
  • PP l
  • Oops ll
  • SS llll
  • VV llll

At the same time, I’ll fill out a receipt for the customer. At the same time, I’ll update my sales spreadsheet when I get a chance. So I have 3 records to cross check myself.

This covers cash sales. For credit card, I use Square which gives another check on my sales.

Taking Inventory – Get a Free Book

I’ve got two ways for you to get a free book right now.

First, tell me your ideas, things I haven’t covered. Click right here.

Secondly, you can get a free book through my book newsletter. Click here.

Life After Life Chronicles
Enjoy all four novels in audiobook, paperback, or Kindle format!
Posted on by

2022 Best Science Stories So Far – and Reviews

Writer's Block: My Experience

2022 Best Science Stories So Far. We’re only five weeks into 2022 and here are some great science stories. Plus, I’ve been piling up reviews I want to share with you.

Let’s begin now!

2022 Best Science Stories – Military SciFi

The first military scifi story with automatic aiming was by Heinlein. He used it on a battleship with all of its cannons and guns controlled by computer.

Speaking of Heinlein, here’s a review of his book, Starship Troopers:

Starship Troopers

2022 Best Science Stories
Click to get

…Thinking he was safer if he moved out of Los Angeles (because at the time it was considered a nuclear target), he moves to Colorado only to find out years later that the military had built NORAD only 7 miles from his home.

So angered by the events around him, he wrote his most controversial novel to date: ‘Starship Troopers’.  Heinlein was very concerned the US would not survive the Cold War and pens the story as an ode to the military. It was based on the premise that citizenship should be earned and that “freedom is founded on each individual taking responsibility for something greater than himself.” Critics argued that the novel glorified military conflict.

In ‘Starship Troopers,’ Heinlein’s military fought the aliens wearing power suits with high tech robotic exoskeletons that granted humans extraordinary strength and ability. Although it was just fantasy when Heinlein wrote about it, the US military is actually developing a version of Heinlein’s suit.  Using robotic and Nano technology, they are working on a suit that will allow the soldier to be a “superman” on the battlefield.

‘Prophets Of Science Fiction: Robert Heinlein’

Let me know if you’ve read Starship Troopers and what you thought of it. Click here and I’ll give you a free book.

Your Next Science Story

Yup, you read that right. The US Air Force has developed a computer which is a pilot’s assistant.

Where did I hear of that before?

Another SciFi Review

latest science news What's New Science 2022 Best Science Stories
Oops! Click to get your copy.

5.0 out of 5 stars

 Short stories to keep you looking for zombies!

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2022

I started by reading this author’s book about the Turkey Apocalypse. I had so much fun (yes, fun, even though the turkeys were out killing everyone and thing in their path!) Then I read about the Undead Mother in law. Even better! Each book gets more accomplished than the next.

This one was a surprise! I thought I had purchased the same book twice (I’ve been known to do that!) However, this is just a group of short stories that are prequels or sequels to the others that fill in some questions I didn’t know I had or start me on a new train of thought. Fun to read! Just make sure you check all wildlife around you for metal caps before you settle in! They’re watching you!


june

More Science Stories Coming Up Next

Regrowing limbs has long been a scifi staple. Looks like we’re making progress!

Then there’s my next science fiction novel, I’m still writing: Secret Supers in Space. I found this article researching Space Camp.

It will be the third novel in my Secret Supers series. Here’s the first:

Interesting Links
Secret Supers – click for free audiobook sample.

Jeremy Gentle fell flat on his face at therapy. That was normal since he had cerebral palsy. But his new superpower wasn’t normal. Then, things got weirder when his best friend Dan Elanga got a different superpower. But Dan was still blind. 

Kayla Verdera and Aubrey Wilcosky, two girls in their middle-school special ed class, discovered they too had new superpowers. Kayla was mute and needed a walker. Aubrey lost two legs and used crutches. But they were as powerful as the boys. What should the four friends do? 

Jeremy knew if the word got out, it’d be a media circus. Then, they started fighting crime as the Secret Supers. Who knew a disability could be a perfect disguise? No one would ever think of disabled kids as superheroes. But they ran into problems they never expected.

ACX audiobook

Did you know I give away free audiobooks to my newsletter readers? Join here to get them.

Posted on by

Writers Get Stuff Done – Andy Zach’s Method

What is novel Writing Like

Writers Get Stuff Done – I’m talking to you: a writer or an aspiring writer. I’m also talking to you if you’re not a writer. I’ll show you how you can get things done, and how to overcome problems getting things done.

I’ll give you methods that work for me, well enough for me to write and publish seven books. Here they are, if you don’t believe me.

Life After Life Chronicles Writers Get Stuff Done
Enjoy all four novels in audiobook, paperback, or Kindle format!
Andy Zach Newsletter Zombie Detective Audiobook Writers Get Stuff Done
Audiobook cover – click to get your copy
Interesting Links Writers Get Stuff Done
Secret Supers – click for a free audiobook.
2021 Reviews Writers Get Stuff Done
Villain’s Vacation Audio book

If you want my books for free, join my newsletter here.

If you want to ask me a question, go here.

Writers Get Stuff Done – All You Need

Let’s not beat around the bush. Let me give you the three main points, then I’ll address common obstacles.

  1. Write what you love or desperately need to write
  2. Every day, write at the same time and place
  3. Write something every day and measure how much you write.

Why do I give you these three points?

First, you need strong motivation. Doing what you love or yearn to write should be something you want to do more than anything else.

If you don’t have this, stop reading now and figure out what you want to do every day for years.

Second, you need a plan to build a habit. Pick a standard time and place. I start between 9-10 am every day, between Monday and Friday. Pick what works for you. Do this for a month and you’ll have a habit.

If you don’t have a plan to create a habit, you’ll fail. You’ll forget and be interupted. The purpose of this plan is to ensure you schedule everything around it.

Third, you must accomplish something every day. You need positive feedback every day. You wrote one word. Or ten. Or a thousand. Since this is a habit that continues until to complete your writing goal, the number of words a day doesn’t matter, nor the time it takes. It’s all about steady, daily, progress.

It goes without saying you track your daily word count–but I said it anyway. Here’s the spreadsheet I use:

Writers Get Stuff Done
Spreadsheet for tracking progress

You can download it here.

Writers Get Stuff Done – Conquering Obstacles

  1. The main obstacle I face is distraction – the Internet, television, children, spouse. Here’s how to overcome distractions.

Prioritize – A. The one thing you must get done today. Get out of your burning house. Realize your house is burning until you write something.

B. What you should do today. For example, eat something. You can eat after you write something.

C. Everything else is what you could do–like watching the latest episode of your favorite TV/Youtube program. Read a book. But only do this after you write and eat.

Our family is vitally important to our lives. Love them, accept their interruptions, but explain your priorities. After taking care of their needs, ask them to take care of your needs and give you a bubble to work. Your bubble is your planned time and place.

There are a zillion other ways to prioritize. Here’s one:

Use the urgent/important matrix

2. Your Next Obstacle – Research

You need facts even when you write fiction. What’s the speed of an unladen swallow?

The speed of an unladen swallow

Research like this can sidetrack you endlessly. Don’t let it. Write down exactly what you need to know, WHY you need to know it, and HOW it will help the reader. Then go find out those specifc facts. Do this as a SEPARATE task from your writing, preferably BEFORE you start writing.

More general research is like the nature of a scene. Where in central Illinois will turkeys go? Where along the shore of Loch Lomond would there be a bed and breakfast? Those are questions I asked and answered for Zombie Turkeys and My Undead Mother-in-law. Then there was the question of where in Kansas are the underground ICBM sites? I found them and a diagram.

Writers Get Stuff Done
Underground missile silo – Click to get my book

On to the final obstacle next!

3. Your Final Obstacle: Overcoming Interruptions

Stuff happens. Pets and children throw up. You get into a fender bender. A traffic jam delays you. A snowstorm hits. Will these normal events of life stop you?

NO! You have a burning desire to WRITE. You’ve written down you daily goal right by your computer screen. After the interruption, you read it again. You get motivated, picturing your completed book. You realize you only need to write one paragraph, one sentance, to make some progress today. This is your number one priority today. That’s how Writers Get Stuff Done.

So write one sentence. Write one paragraph. Write a page. Before you know it, you’ve written five hundred, a thousand words.

Or seven books.

Writers Get Stuff Done Meet Andy Zach.
Andy Zach meditates upon success. Click to get a signed book.