Deduction for Writing a Published Book

Deadeye1985 · ‎December 14, 2024

Hi,

Spent a lot of time this year (and proceeding years) writing a book that is published and being marketed on Amazon. I know that I can deduct the physical expenses (computer, paper, pens) as well as office space and travel related items, but what else?

I invested a lot of time in this project and published the finished copyrighted work which could have possibly been devoted to working and earning money doing other tasks or revenue/income generating items. Can't say the book venture resulted in a profitable and rewarding experience, I don't have the promotional opportunity that FOX news celebs have available, but I did my best with networking and requesting reviews. The main expenditure I had for this endeavor was time for research and writing. It is not a work of fiction but of facts, scientific views and explanations of physical, economic and technological issues.

Unlike a lot of fast-food hamburgers it has a lot of meat compared to the bread...probably why it did not sell better. LOL.

FishingForAnswers

@Deadeye1985 Unfortunately, unless you actually spent money on the data for your research, that's pretty much it.

As I've explained to certain clients before, even if you were to try to claim the value of your time as an expense, you'd still have to claim the value of your time as an income. Expenses always require value to have changed hands in some form, and left hand to right hand does not tend to alter the bottom line.

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FishingForAnswers

@Deadeye1985 Unfortunately, unless you actually spent money on the data for your research, that's pretty much it.

As I've explained to certain clients before, even if you were to try to claim the value of your time as an expense, you'd still have to claim the value of your time as an income. Expenses always require value to have changed hands in some form, and left hand to right hand does not tend to alter the bottom line.

Deadeye1985

Thanks for the reply Fishing, I was afraid I would be out of luck on the tax situation. It would seem that, other than the personal satisfaction derived from the challenge of writing and hopefully receiving meaningful profit from publishing it, there is little to recommend becoming an author.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays!

Deadeye

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Deduction for Writing a Published Book