Writing Cues, 21 Jul 2021

In 2021, I set out to discuss a range of things affecting not just new authors, but those leaping into the unknown.

For many authors, attending signings, offering special pre orders and so on, can be daunting. There’s so much to consider…

• Are we planning on shipping books? If so, what is the best way?
• Do we plan on invoicing?

Now, this is merely a brief look into ways we can get books (and while I’m mainly focused on paperbacks, this will possibly be applicable to ebooks…) into readers hands.

There are a ton of payment systems now in the marketplace. For most authors, what we do use are classified as micropayment systems.

Bantvāl What is a micropayment system?

According to Wikipedia “A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. ” 1.

In the Marketplace

I personally have accounts with PayPal, Stripe, Square among a few others. They allow me to take payments at signings in real time. I don’t really like to use Paypal due to the fee structure. If you want to know more, take a look here: The Square Reader and Paypal Here vs Stripe but they aren’t the only way to accept money from readers. There’s plenty of systems out there, and a quick google will give you an idea… I’m not going to go into specifics here, because they all have positives and negatives, and I strongly urge you to do your research well before making firm decisions.

I could write a novel about this subject, but in order to keep today’s Writing Cues brief, I wanted to simply talk about cash.

Sounds so simple, right? But the thing is, lots of authors leave this kind of planning to the last minute. Now, for the most part, it should be simple. You turn up, you accept the cash and you go home.

What do you do if the reader runs out of cash?

Have you made a list of all the nearby ATM’s? (I find this particularly helpful. Especially if you’re near the back of the room…)

What about have you got the right kind of change for accepting cash payments?

Can you ‘break’ a $100 note or a $50? How will you handle coin? 

Now, one of my biggest bugbears about a certain event (and I won’t say which one) is when you have an event, you accept payments and the organisers insist that you have receipts… (psst… Did you know attending signing events, the actual sale is considered to be equivalent to a market stall?)

My top five planning tips for preparing for an event include:

• Have a small lockable tin to keep your float and cash in
• Before you being, write down exactly what you started with
• If you’re going to pay for lunch and items, keep an itemised list of what you’ve paid for from your float
• Have a ready reckoner of where the best place is to visit an ATM (Have a list of at least 5… The last thing you want is for the only ATM you know about to go down!)
• Consider how much you need in your float and have a variety of notes and coins (My suggestion is at least $100 to start with)