Firstly, the Lancashire Authors’ Association has been in touch to tell me that they are holding another Flash Fiction Competition.
The winning entry will receive £250. Stories must be exactly 100 words, excluding the title.
Entry fee is £2 (or £1 if you happen to be a member of the Lancashire Authors’ Association) and entries can be submitted by post or email up to the closing date of June 30th 2013.
Rules are available here along with last year’s winning 100 word story.
Secondly, I’ve been getting around a bit recently in conjunction with my current obsession with e-publishing. You may have noticed me:
- On Womag’s blog describing how e-publishing is easier than you might think
- On the Writers’ Bureau blog talking about e-book covers
- On Nick Daws blog where I looked at the options when an e-book isn’t selling. I won this appearance on Nick’s blog via his blogging competition which I told you about a few weeks ago and the other part of my prize was a copy of his e-course Blogging for Writers.
Thirdly, I’ve received my very first Amazon royalty payment – 31p! It covers the US site for the last few days of January after the launch of One Day for Me. I was a bit surprised because I thought nothing was paid out until the royalties amounted to $10. Consequently, I haven’t yet got my US tax exemption sorted out – so they’ve taken 13p in tax, otherwise I would’ve had 44p! Take note, e-publishing is not a get rich quick scheme!
Sally Jenkins 
#1 by Julia on April 9, 2013 - 7:58 am
Sally, glad to hear you’re making some money from Amazon. Tall oaks from little acorns grow.
#2 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 6:12 pm
That’s what I’m telling myself, Julia – but it would be nice if the acorns grew quickly!
#3 by Wendy Clarke on April 9, 2013 - 9:04 am
Spend it wisely, Sally! I’m sure there will be more to come. I shall pop over to Writer’s Bureau to read your guest post.
#4 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 6:12 pm
I think I might put it towards a stamp for my next competition entry, Wendy!
#5 by Debbie W on April 9, 2013 - 9:44 am
Thanks for the link, Sally, to the competition. 100 words will be a good challenge in cutting out the non-essentials.
Don’t spend that vast sum from Amazon all at once now!
Kind regards,
Debbie W
http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/
http://www.writingworkshopsandcompetitions.blogspot.co.uk/
#6 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 6:13 pm
Good Luck in the comp., Debbie. I think such short stories are an art form.
#7 by susanjanejones on April 9, 2013 - 9:58 am
You’re getting around Sally, and I’ll catch up on all those interviews when I have more time. The flash competitions sounds good will definitely have a go at that.
#8 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 6:14 pm
Good Luck with the comp, Susan and I hope all goes well now the shop is closed.
#9 by Gail Crane on April 9, 2013 - 11:17 am
Congrats on your Amazon payment, Sally. Pity about the tax though. I’m still waiting for my tax exemption to come through. What a palavaer! (is that how you spell it?).
I’ve been following all your posts on e-publishing with interest. 🙂
#10 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 6:15 pm
I need to find out how to get this tax exemption now, Gail. Glad you’re finding the posts interesting.
#11 by margaretsmuses on April 9, 2013 - 7:31 pm
Hi Sally,
As always I enjoy reading your blogs, they are so informative to a person who is new to writing. i have considered putting my short story for children on Kindle or Smashwords, once I have got my head round all the paraphernalia! but when I saw the bit about tax exemption forms for the USA I came to a dead stop. I haven’t got a clue how to apply for this form or indeed where to apply for one..
I might add that I am considering putting my short story onto e-publishing for free, but I have still to apply for the USA tax exemption form.
If you find time, I would be grateful if you could give me any pointers on this please.
Best Wishes, Margaret Bemrose
On 9 April 2013 07:56, Sally Jenkins – Writer
#12 by Sally Jenkins on April 9, 2013 - 7:53 pm
Margaret – at the moment I don’t know how to do this either! I will have to do some research but as I’m not selling many books in the US I’m not too worried about it at the moment. If you publish on Amazon there’s no imperative to get this tax exemption before publishing – but you can’t have the book available permanently for free. When I apply for my tax exemption I’ll do a blog post about it – sorry I can’t help at the moment.
#13 by Gail Crane on April 10, 2013 - 12:06 pm
Both the Smashwords and Kindle sites have instructions on how to apply for the tax exemption. It involves downloading and printing off a form which you send to either SW or Kin. They send you a letter which you send off to IRS together with some ID. Then you wait to hear from them (that’s the stage I’ve reached). Not too difficult – just a bit tedious.
#14 by Sally Jenkins on April 10, 2013 - 12:10 pm
That’s really useful, Gail. Thank you so much!
#15 by Peter Jones on May 7, 2013 - 7:14 pm
Hi Sally
I’ve never met you but was interested that you have put an external link to my site: Lancashire Authors Association. Please tell me a little more about yourself as I might be able to run a link from our site. You can contact me by clicking on the contact us button on our homepage. I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Peter Jones
#16 by Nigel Stewart on January 27, 2015 - 7:27 pm
Hi Peter,
I’m trying to get in touch with you in connection with ‘What’s Your Story, Chorley?’, but don’t have an email for you; you can find my email address at http://www.creatives-network.co.uk/contact/about_us.htm. I’d like to invite you to consider being a presenter.
Kind regards,
Nigel