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Also, it's been mentioned in other threads but I don't think it's been mentioned yet in this thread . . .

If you are based in the U.S., you'll need to make sure your website is ADA-accessible.

And, be careful because there are some third-party tools/add-ons/plug-ins that claim to make your website accessible but they don't actually meet the standards.
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https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/for-businesses/remote-seller-faqs/remote-seller-state-guidance
I'm looking here, and if this is current, several states have a 100 or 200 sale threshold, and three states have no threshold (meaning tax has to be collected for every sale).

Also remember that some states allow localities and counties to levy additional. So I'm in California, which means I'd need to collect sales tax, but not just at one rate. I'd need to check specific county and city rates. That would be crazymaking even if I didn't have to pay a penny to any other state. (Assuming, of course, that I actually sold anything on my website.


And note that was all part of the "Streamlined Sales Tax" initiative.  Only in the compromised mind of a halfwit politician can the Internet sales tax system in the U.S. be considered "streamlined."

I already have to keep track of close to 100 sales tax districts in my own state to collect and remit sales tax on in-state sales.  Ugh.
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Quote
https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/for-businesses/remote-seller-faqs/remote-seller-state-guidance
I'm looking here, and if this is current, several states have a 100 or 200 sale threshold, and three states have no threshold (meaning tax has to be collected for every sale).

Also remember that some states allow localities and counties to levy additional. So I'm in California, which means I'd need to collect sales tax, but not just at one rate. I'd need to check specific county and city rates. That would be crazymaking even if I didn't have to pay a penny to any other state. (Assuming, of course, that I actually sold anything on my website.
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Dan, some states count number of purchases.  So if 201 people bought a 99c ebook from the same state...we might have to file state sales tax.  That's the issue that concerns me.

Sorry, forgot about that one.  Didn't have my chart in front of me.  Also, Kansas, unless it has changed recently, has a $1 minimum.

Of course, one option is to set up your website such that it stops accepting orders after 199 (and doesn't accept orders from Alaska and Kansas at all).

On the other hand, for some of us, selling 100 books in a year is unlikely, so we just have to reject orders from Alaska and Kansas.
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Dan, some states count number of purchases.  So if 201 people bought a 99c ebook from the same state...we might have to file state sales tax.  That's the issue that concerns me.

Not that I have 99c ebooks at the moment, but you can see the problems.  I believe a few states dropped that requirement recently, but others still have it.

And international...don't get me started!  I can barely keep track of Europe.  I have no idea what's going on in other countries.  This is one reason I decided to wait on trying merchandise (that and paying taxes to the state where the merch company is based). 

I found out just enough to be worried.  I don't have the time nor inclination to keep track of it all on the off chance I might have a good month (or year) selling directly to readers. 

And it's worth the $10 (minus 20c per sale) to have Story Origin with Lemon Squeezy.  Again, time is money and I don't want to spend it helping readers load their ebook.  And I like my covers!  :dog1:
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For me, the options are Paddle or Lemon Squeezy.  Paddle has some of the features I would like, except that they are not really set up for eBooks.  Lemon Squeezy looks like it might be better for eBooks (even without StoryOrigin), but they don't yet have some of the features I would like.

Lorri earlier posted a link to Lemon Squeezy's roadmap and some of the features I would like are on the list.  So, in 3-6 months, they might possibly have what I want.  In the meantime, I can also keep an eye on Paddle.

For anyone that wants to sell direct today or soon-ish, the decision would be tougher.  But, for those in the U.S., if you are willing to set up things to collect sales tax in your own state, you probably won't have to worry about collecting sales taxes for other states for quite a while, especially if you're only selling a small number of books.  I haven't checked lately so this info may not be current but, last I checked, I think the minimum for collecting sales tax from a particular state was like $10,000 in sales in a year.  (Each state varies; I don't remember which states had a $10k minimum and I think there were a couple that had changed from $10k to $25k.  It's also possible that a state may have lowered the threshold since I last checked.  Regardless, you need to look into that if you plan to sell direct yourself.  The point is that, for most authors, you may not have to worry about sales tax issues right away, except for your own state.)

So, you could sell direct yourself using PayPal, Payhip, Shopify or whatever other service you want that still makes you the merchant of record, making you responsible for sales tax collection, and not have to worry about collecting sales taxes (aside from your own state) until you're selling probably thousands of books to a given state.  And then, if you're watching your sales, you could conceivably switch before you have to start registering to collect sales taxes.

That's something to keep in mind if you want to start selling direct on a soon-ish basis.

Otherwise, you can wait until Lemon Squeezy or Paddle (or whoever that will serve as the merchant of record so you need not worry about sales taxes at all) comes out with the features you want/need.
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Berkley, a division of Penguin Random House, is about to make an open call for novel manuscripts. (It was scheduled to begin today, but it is currently having technical difficulties.)

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We are looking for full-length adult novels in the following genres: romance, women’s fiction, mystery, suspense and thrillers, horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

The window is only open for the first 1,000 applicants. Writers must not currently be agented, though if Berkley decides it's interested, an author can retain an agent at that time. Works which have already been self-published or in which AI was involved in the creation cannot be submitted.

For more details, go to https://sites.prh.com/berkley-open-submissions-2024

(This is one of the tidbits which I got from Substack, which I'm currently trying out. There is more than one Substack that aggregates various publishing opportunities, not only for trad presses but for online literary magazines that might be of interest to short story writers. Some of them even pay!)
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Starting something new is almost always going to take some time. What you're talking about doesn't sound like an unreasonable investment to get direct sales.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: This is just a good site to learn new things!
« Last post by writeway on March 18, 2024, 12:03:38 PM »
This forum was created after Kboards was sold. That used to be the most popular self-publishing forum for years but went downhill after the sale because probably 80% of the authors there left. That used to be the place to be a long time ago. This and Absolute Write seem to be the only non-social media writing forums still around. Most forums died out years ago and authors moved to communities on places like Reddit and FB groups where you get tons of activity and information. Those are the sites where I go to regularly. Threads seems to be a popular place for writers too but I'm not on there. I'm not a social media person. I just use it to keep up with the industry, not personally. I don't come here much. It's a nice forum though but not as active as other places.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Do you purchase your own ebooks?
« Last post by writeway on March 18, 2024, 12:00:04 PM »
No. I've gotten a couple when they were free and downloaded one in KU by mistake.
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