From time to time I receive questions about legal stuff related to self-publishing, and a recent email from a fellow writer made me realize that I haven't yet dedicated a post to this. As I'm neck-deep with deadlines this month and I'll be writing like a shark for most of June because of it, I thought today would be the best time to write a post about it.

• What's the royalty rate of Amazon for self-publishers based in the Philippines?

It used to be that if you can't provide Amazon with a tax identification number issued by the US, you won't be able to take advantage of the tax treaty between PH and US. That means Amazon will automatically withhold 30% from your royalties. If, however, you were able to provide them with an US-issued TIN, then you'll be able to take advantage of the tax treaty and have Amazon only withhold 15% from your royalties.
Due to certain changes with KDP, however, I think you no longer need to provide Amazon with a U.S. issued TIN. I can't help with this, unfortunately, but if you try signing up for a KDP account, you'll be able to see if they still require one or not.

• Does Amazon send royalties by check?

If you cannot provide them with a US bank account for them to deposit your royalties to, then Amazon will send your royalties by check. With the latter, you will need to open a US dollar deposit account. With the former, you can check requirements of US banks that allow individuals to open accounts with them online.
Please keep in mind that Amazon also has the same requirements for affiliate commissions. If you can't provide them with US bank details, they will also mail you a check for this.

• How do you pay your taxes? 

Unfortunately, this matter isn't as cut and dried as we like. A lot of factors have to be considered, such as whether you set up a sole proprietorship as a self-publisher, etc. For this, I strongly recommend you consult an accountant.

• How do I self-publish with other retailers aside from Amazon?

Most other non-Amazon retailers require you to either be a US citizen or have a US-registered corporation before you can self-publish directly with them. This is obviously a deal breaker for most, but don't worry - there's another way to get around it. Simply upload via websites like Smashwords and Draft2Digital. Just remember to send them a completed W8-BEN form so that they'll only withhold 15% of your royalties instead of 30%. 

I think that's it, but in case you have additional questions just drop me a line by email, posting a comment here, or using my website's contact form. Happy self-publishing!

Specifically, there are two---

1. #StrangeLit
I've been invited by Mina V. Esguerra to be one of the resource authors for this class, alongside Kate Evangelista, Budjette Tan, and Paolo Chikiamco. Not sure if there are more but they're the ones I know of so far.
I initially planned talking about a different topic, but in the end, I realized that I would be of better help to the class if I focused on what I know best and what I have most experience with. In other words, ADULT PARANORMAL ROMANCE. Of course, I do also have Evren, which is YA PNR so I'll probably touch on that a little bit, too.
Anyway, the class is free for anyone to join as long as (and I'm quoting this from the form) "you're able to enter a publishing or distribution agreement with the sponsor (to be announced). Those who DO NOT WISH TO ENTER an agreement with the sponsor may still participate but pay a CLASS FEE of P2,000."

2. #HeistClub
To be honest, I really wish I could join this class - I want more crime in my biker books hehe - but I'm afraid of not being able to stick to it till the end, considering all my pending WIPs. I also have a feeling readers would kill me if I spend considerable time away from writing haha. I've got to-be-written sequels that have been in the waiting queue for over a year, so...nope, not for now I guess. >.<
Again, same condition as above regarding class fees.


So that's it. #StrangeLit will take place August 1 to Sept. 5 but sign-ups will only be entertained up to June 30. No exceptions beyond that. Mm, what else? Oh, I think there are optional face-2-face classes, but Mina's kindly let me off the hook so, nope, I won't be able to attend those (sorry!), but I will be around to answer whatever questions participants may have on Twitter or even by email if they want to keep their questions private.

Oh, and speaking of questions - in case you're interested and you already have a question in mind OR you want me to cover a particular topic, let me know then? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :) Just post your question using the comment section below or use the contact form. :) 

Ja!

I've been asked several times about why I have so many FREE books (of course, I've also been asked why I don't have ENOUGH books that are free, but that's another story :D).
Anyway, what I'm about to share is nothing new at all. You can check out other veteran indie authors' blog posts and they'll tell you the same thing (and probably even more). I've also discussed this a few times in the past, I think, but in any case, I just thought I should write my own in-depth post about the power of free to show how free books as a marketing tool can also work for Filipino authors like you and me. 
Please note: 
All screenshots below were taken around around 3 to 4AM EST, May 7.
All screenshots are based on Kindle (Amazon) sales. If I can find some free time again, I'll try to share graphs based on B&N and iBooks sales.

Now, here's what happened to Book 1 Dear Greek Billionaire when the prequel went free. You'll notice that sales started climbing up May 5. 

And then Book 2 Love, Your Greek Billionaire...

Now, Book 3 Forever & Ever, My Greek Billionaire also went out May 6. We can say, for the sake of argument, it may be the fact that the series is complete that drove sales to Books 1 and 2. 
But that's not the case at all. When I look at my graphs, I saw that my first-day-sales for Books 1 to 3 are virtually the same. If Book 3 is the reason that I have new readers snapping up Books 1 and 2, there should also be a significant increase in the sales of Book 3 (I should also note that, because of the length of my books, a reader can finish all three (or four, including the prequel) in one day).
If I have enough time, I'll try to post another set of screenshots to show the effect of free books on sales past May 6. But for now, I hope we can at least agree that free books CAN drive sales.  

Doing paid marketing for free books is optional. When my book went free on May 4, there were already people who downloaded the prequel without me doing any marketing, enough to get the book to Top 500 overall for free books on Amazon. But I still like paying for advertising because - at this point - I feel my time is better spent writing than doing marketing. But I have done my own marketing in the beginning, with good results, so it can be done. 
Now, because I did pay for advertising, some of you may question whether I was able to recoup the money I spent on advertising. (PREPARE YOURSELF. CALCULATIONS ARE COMING)

Step 1: I calculated the average number of copies sold per day between April 27 to May 3 (last 7 days of sales before the prequel went free on May 4) for DEAR GREEK BILLIONAIRE and got THIS NUMBER.

Step 2: I then calculated returns that can be attributed to the prequel going free.
May 6 Royalties - (THIS NUMBER x Royalty Per Book) = Profit #1.

Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 for LOVE, YOUR GREEK BILLIONAIRE.
May 6 Royalties - (THIS NUMBER x Royalty Per Book) = Profit #2.

Step 4: Calculate how much I still need to earn to recoup my advertising expenses.
Advertising Expenses - (Profit #1 + Profit #2) = Balance

Based on my calculations, I already earned back 57.90% of what I spent on advertising on May 6. 
Based on past experience, I think I need about 2 to 4 days more to earn the back the rest. 
Everything is pure profit after that. :D

One thing I should spell out is that, obviously, all these books are under ROMANCE. Not sure how the numbers would differ for other genres but if you check out Russell Blake and J.A. Konrath's blogs, I think it's safe to say that free books helped them a lot, too. 
Also, it definitely took longer for me to recoup paid advertising expenses in the past. I was a newer author, I had fewer books, and I made a couple of rookie mistakes. So...bottom line, YMMV. 
However, I believe you can improve results on setting your book free with the following:

• If you have a series / serial, set Book 1 or the prequel free.
• Cliffhangers can get you lots of love and hate. I personally love writing them, and though you could get a lot of flak of it, there's also nothing like a cliffhanger that gets readers to one-click faster). In my part, I try to give readers a heads up in advance about it. For The Greek Billionaire and His Secretary, I warned readers that there's heartbreak ahead (they rightfully equated this to cliffhangers) and it will be so until the last book.
• Set the book free once you've completed the entire trilogy (especially if all the books revolve around one couple) or you've written at least 80% of your series (say, Part 4 in a 5-part serial). I learned this from Liliana Rhodes, by the way.
• Make sure you have all the links available in your front and back matter before setting the book free.
• Experiment with covers and blurbs for Book 1. 
• Do marketing (paid or free). There are all sorts of things you can do, and you may have to experiment with each (a.k.a. trial by error) until you find out what works for you.
• If you're writing a series of standalones, you can switch it up. Let's say Book 1's free for a year. You can get it back to paid then make Book 2 free. I learned this from Cora Seton, although I forgot if it was from an article or podcast.
• Some authors give readers an added incentive for clicking the sequel by pricing Book 2 at $.99 then the rest at $2.99 or whatever their regular price is. I haven't done this yet, but I heard from other authors that it worked for them so I thought I should share this tip as well.
• Have it available on as many retailers and websites as possible.

And that's it. I hope this helped! :)