Tag: authors

Paycheck Protection Act & Sole Proprietors (Artists and Authors Edition)

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You may or may not know that the Fyeah Asexual blog is largely run by disabled mods. I write books, and another mod has an etsy store. While that’s not a complete picture, it does make me wonder about this the congressionally approved relief loans.

Many authors are sole proprietorships, and plenty of people who do business alone can apply for these loans starting today (April 10th). But authors and various other freelancers get their pay in funny ways so here’s a post of my understanding of what it means for possibly you, or maybe a struggling friend right now.

Key Points

  • While focusing on businesses with staff under 500 people, self-employees people count starting today (April 10th). It gives people up tp $10,000 dollars in forgivable loans to pay wages.
  • Loans over $10,000 have a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1%. (Probably not relevant for you, but good to know for context of the bill itself.)
  • Borrowers must submit proof money i being used to cover pay. You’ll need payroll processor records, payroll tax filings, Form 1099-Misc, income and expenses from the sole proprietorship or bank records. (Most artists and authors have the last 3 in some form.)
  • The loan you can get forgiven seems to be 2.5 times your average monthly payroll. If you are dirt poor and not making much you can have your pennies multiplied by 2.5. (Hey! More money is more money.) You sadly cannot use the whole $10,000 to pay yourself minimum wage until it’s out and have it forgiven.
  • If a business laid off staff, they have until June 30th to rehire them.
  • 75+% of the business loan most be used for payroll. 25%- can be for any other expense.
  • It’s been suggested you apply at a bank you already are at, but not an absolute necessarity. It’s also a first come first serve process so if you think this is something that can help you apply today. [Here’s a list of banks you can apply with.]
  • You can apply if you were a business founded as early as February 2020.
  • I am not a loan professional, this is simply my understanding based on a business background and an author life. My sources are Investopedia’s article here, and CNBC article here.

Personally, I don’t think this is a fit for my situation but I wanted to make the details clear for anyone who thinks its a fit for their situation. The kofi is here if you want to support the blog directly.

Mission Statement Change

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Some big changes are going to how we run as a blog.

I’ve been thinking about publishing as an end destination. But in my experience, it’s the journey that frustrates authors. Makes conditions in which they end up quitting the thing they love. And I’ve been looking to change that. Create a paradigm shift.

Working as a team is my go-to. That’s probably no surprise if you look at my novels, or at the Fuck Yeah Asexual blog, or Creative Aces Publishing. But the tricky thing with partnerships is people aren’t always as committed as you. Often times it’s not even through their fault. We are all complicated people trying to make good for ourselves within systems that are broken.

But I’m still here. And I’ve been looking for an answer for at least a year now. I’d get an idea, and think, this is the one. But then it wasn’t quite right. So I’d start another thing. And the problem with these ideas is that my passion keeps getting fragmented. New trees planted, but the forest becomes lost.

Today, I aim to fix that. Over the next month you’ll see a rebranding of Creative Aces Publishing and what it’s mission statement is. In part, because I realized I don’t want a company, I want commune. An author collective where we help each other create books. Aces, disabled people, any voice that is being ignored under capitalism.

Instead of exclusively taking a book from query to release. I want to help authors however they need. To gain the ability to take on projects I’m passionate about even if they don’t publish with us. There’s a lot to publishing, and I want to be there for as many or as few steps as the author needs. Still at no cost to them.

The inspiration for this publishing shakeup can be traced back to a quote painted on a wall in my old art class. “Art is the triumph over chaos.” Those words have been with me since high school. Each time I narrowed my focus I got further and further away from that quote. At the risk of sounding cheesy, in 2020, I have a new clarity that the answer I’ve been looking for has been with me the whole time.

That is why I’m consolidating all projects dealing with books under the Art Over Chaos banner. The divides between personal author blogging, the Fyeah book features, and the publishing itself will dissolve so more art can be created and celebrated.

What it means for this blog: Instead of simply a personal author blog with some crossposts about books, it’s going to become a hub for publishing, authors, and book blogging. Only the following months the theme will change and it will offer so much more than before. Thank you for coming with me on this journey, and I hope we can work on something together soon!