Welcome to the first part in my self-publishing series. In this post, we’ll talk about gathering the tools you’ll need to prepare for self-publishing. This entails gathering all the identifying information for yourself and your book, such as information to feed the IRS, places to stash all the cash you’ll be making from your novels, and obtaining an ISBN number to impress the ladies … I mean retailers.

So let’s get this out of the way (because it’s dull and boring!)

Keep The IRS Happy

Regardless of whether you are a US citizen or a citizen of another country, you must obtain either a Social Security Number (SSN for US citizens) or a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN for non-US citizens). This is because all the eBook retailers are based in the US where you must pay US taxes on the royalties you receive. Amazon, SmashWords, Barnes&Nobel (nook), and CreateSpace will not allow you to publish without one of these two numbers.

… or you’ll be dealing with these guys

If you’re a US citizen, you should already have your Social Security Number (SSN). If not, apply for one.  SSN’s are obtained from the Social Security Agency, and not the IRS.

If you’re not a US citizen, you must apply for a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). TIN’s must be obtained from the IRS, not the Social Security Agency. To apply, go to the IRS website  and search for “TIN”.

Tax Withholding

For US Citizens, the IRS will take about 30% of your royalties as tax. Ouch, I know. The good thing is that all eBook retailers will handle the setup and the tax forms for you. At the end of the tax year, most sites will let you choose whether to receive the necessary form by email or snail mail.

I’ll take that.

For non-US Citizens, some sites will tell you if your country qualifies for tax breaks on your book royalties. This means that instead of the IRS withholding 28-30% of your royalties for tax purposes, you can apply to have a lesser withholding tax applied.

The eBook retailer may walk you through this: you will need to fill out a W-8BEN form, citing the specific article of the tax treaty you’re claiming to reduce your tax. Most sites will fill this out for you automatically. I only know Canada’s tax treaty; your country may have their own, and sites like Smashwords will be kind enough to tell you what you need to file.

Canada’s provision article is: pages 36 and 37 of IRS Publication 901: U.S. Tax Treaties. (as of 2015)

But be sure to double-check the information provided to you on the site, or look up the tax treaty yourself. The IRS loves to change their documentation every year.

Royalties to PayPal

Only Smashwords will allow you to set up PayPal as a payment option. All other sites require banking information to wire you the money. In some cases you can opt to get physical cheques, but the threshold is usually around $75-$100 USD before they will cut you a cheque.

Sssss-mokin!

If you don’t have a PayPal account, all you need is a credit card and an email to sign up. The PayPal threshold is generally smaller, around $10 in earnings must be amassed before a payment is made.

Royalties to a Bank Account

In order to set up wire transfer, you’ll need a whole bunch of numbers and codes to set up your bank account information on all eBook retailer sites. Most banks will give you this info online. If not, call your bank and ask for the following:

• BIC or SWIFT code (11 characters)
• Institution code (3 digits)
• Branch code (5 numbers)
• Your account number where you want the moolah deposited

Keep this info safe and keep it secret. You’ll be entering this information in every site where you want to sell.

ISBN Numbers

Even though most retailers will issue you an ISBN, I would still highly recommend getting your own. The benefits of having your own comes when you want to move to international distribution or to physical distribution, such as getting your books picked up by bookstores and libraries.

Tra-la-la-la. I love books with ISBN numbers.

If you allow the retailer to issue you an ISBN, then the retailer becomes something called the Imprint, or the Trade Name/Publisher. This will have negative side effects when trying to move out of the US and the internet as eBook retailers are not recognized as ISBN agencies. You’ll also appear unprofessional and less legit as an author if you didn’t bother to get this number for yourself.  In the end, you will have to obtain ISBN’s from a valid agency anyway, so you might as well start off right.

Only ISBN’s issued from the US ISBN Agency  or ISBN Canada are recognized in bookstores, and outside of North America. US ISBN’s are around $125 each. Canadian ISBN’s are free for Canadian residents and Canadian citizens. ISBN’s from other sources may be ‘resold’ and therefore are unusable in Amazon and Barnes&Nobel, so beware and do not buy from so-called Discount ISBN sites.

I would recommend getting at least 2 ISBN numbers, as you will need: 1 ISBN for the eBook, 1 ISBN for the physical book.

Gather Your Tools, Brave Author!

So before you move on to the next steps, make sure you have your SSN/TIN, banking info, and ISBNs. It will make the publishing process move along much smoother. There’s already enough to do during publishing that you don’t want to be scrambling for this information at the last minute.

See, the road to becoming an author is not so hard! It’s just  like those old 16-bit RPG’s: Incredibly manual with many silly folk to deal with along the way.

I loved this game!

Which author will you be?