Timing is Everything?

April seems to be my busiest month of the year, and most American citizens can guess why; no, I'm not talking about Easter, or my Mother's birthday. It's tax time.

Each year at this time, when I suddenly seem to have more work and less time than ever, I sit down and spend a ridiculous amount of time doing my own taxes, and then checking each figure, crossing every t, etc. etc.

Sure, you're asking yourself, "Hey, why does Mr. Bigshot Cartoonist do his own taxes?". Well, Smartypants, I'll tell you. Doing my own taxes keeps me on top of my business, and frankly helps me to run that business more successfuly. This year alone, I've learned a lot of ways to run my business better, and I have been forced to look at how I have been running it, and what I could be doing better.

"We want examples!", you say. Well, for one, the very definition of Small Business is vital, and very important. Small Businesses get decent tax deductions, while hobbies do not. To be taken seriously as a Small Business, you have to prove that you're doing what you do for profit, not just for the fun of it. So... even though I absolutely love my job, I do my best to profit from it. Heck, I can't afford to do my job if I'm not bringing in money to pay the bills.

One way the IRS determines Small Biz vs Hobby is this; advertising expenses. See? Advertising expenses are deductible, and by doing my own taxes, I can see what I am missing by not advertising. Also, by paying for advertising, you are demonstrating a desire to reach a bigger audience, and therefore increase profits. Now, let's be honest. When YOU are your business, it's nice to put the money you make into your pocket. It's NOT nice to see how much it actually costs to advertise, and so you may put it off, but let's face it; the greatest book, or cartoon, or whatever is only going to collect dust unless people actually know it exists, so a business really cannot thrive unless the miracle of word-of-mouth advertising is enough to get the word out there. And even that takes advertising.

So there... that's just one example of how a biz owner can benefit by doing his own taxes, and learning how to run that biz better.


However, the title of today's blog is "Timing is Everything?", so why am I blabbing about taxes and advertising? Well, for one, my new book 3 Knights in India is now available for sale! But how many of my readers are aware of that fact? I need to get a Press Release put together (which is the best form of advertising) and I need to get books printed, and sent to reviewers, and find ways to advertise and get the word out. Oh yeah, I should also be doing some Cartooning, too, huh?

Timing, though. I gotta get those taxes done! I happen to excel in multitasking, so I am actually writing the Press Release as we speak I write this. However, I'm going to be out of the office quite a bit in the next month, so sending out Press Releases and stuff really isn't a good idea, if I'm not going to be available for comment!

So what's a boy to do? I always seem to be in this position each April.

And what's worse?

It's still only March!

Ay yay yay.... JOHN :0)

Hurrah!

Some most excellent news from the HappyGlyphs Studios today!

First off, I received the final proofs for the 3 Knights in India Graphic Novel, and they're fantastic! I say final proofs, because when I received the first proof, I liked it so much that I went back and added a few extras to the book (as well as making about 2 dozen corrections! Proofread, then proofread again!)

So today's announcement? 3 Knights in India will be brought to you by the very fine folks at Lulu.com. I shopped around, and believe me, I feel this is the best company for self-publishers. The quality of the books is very nice, and the price is very reasonable... I'm honestly at least 99% happy with everything so far.

My Lulu.com storefront address is http://www.lulu.com/knightndayemail. The storefront is important because of my next bit of news; I am rereleasing my first book, "Take Me Away From All This!!", available soon from Lulu.com.

"Take Me Away From All This!!" is the first Knight and Day Comic Strip Collection, and deals with the ups and downs of newlywedded life. There's a lot of great slice of life moments, and includes my first travel comics, as Steve and Amy go to England and France, and Oz the Ice Cream Man goes to Thailand. The events of this book take place eight years before 3 Knights in India, and you will be able to find more about this at Lulu.com as soon as I get the proofs back and approve the book for sale.

I will say this, though; I hate to do this to you guys who have been around a while, and purchased the first Edition of "Take Me Away From All This!!", but the new book will be a SECOND EDITION. First of all, the book has been digitally remastered because I really wasn't happy with the first book's production value, since the art was printed greyscale, and was slightly pixalated in places. I anticipate great quality in the new version. Also, this is a Second Edition because I couldn't help myself, and I went and added about 14 new comic strips that are not in the first edition. These comics appeared at the website sometime before I began 3 Knights in India, and make a nice addition to an already great book.

Both books will not be available at www.HappyGlyphs.com until late April, for those of you who wish to get autographed books, or pick up the new Inquiring Minds comic at the same time. There are lots of reasons for this, so I won't go into that right now.

All you need to know is that HappyGlyphs Comics will soon have all of our books available again, and that 3 Knights in India is on sale now at
:0)

Thank you for your support, JOHN :0)

Top 1000 books

I just came across this very interesting list of the top 1000 books held by libraries { that are members of the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).} One thousand books seemed like a mighty big number until I scrolled through the list and realized just how many of these books I have actually read in my lifetime. I have definitely read most of the top 130 or so, and hold many in our own home library. Honestly, any educated person should have read at least 100 of these books, and your average voracious reader has probably polished off at least half.

Since this is a comic strip blog, let me then say how surprised I was by how many of these books are children's books and comic strip collections. (I was truly shocked to see that Garfield was one of the highest ranked books, but that's another column. And no, I won't be bashing Garfield... I actually think the first book is very funny. I'm just surprised that it ranked higher than Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts.) Anyway, the point was children's books and comic strips.

One can joke about the decline of Literacy in America, but those would be fighting words :0) The truth is, comic strips are the natural child of the illustrated novel, and in particular illustrated children's books. And let's be honest... using the words "Children's books" is a rough categorization. Alice in Wonderland has great appeal to children because of the silliness of the situations and language, but truly there is a lot here going on on the adult level. Aesops Fables as well still has a lot to teach us grown-ups, but- hey, why am I defending the art form I truly love? Comics and children's literature need no defense, and besides, who says a great book has to educate us, or make us think?

As long as we enjoy a book on some level, then the author has accomplished something magical, especially if that book can reach so many people that nearly every library has a copy of it. It seems obvious, then, that most of these books must have something going for them, so I for one am going to scroll the list for one I haven't read yet, and check it out.

And although this isn't National Library day, or National Cartoonist's day, or anything like it, I will leave you with this; Why don't you check out the list as well, and find something good to read?

And if you want something really different, check out my personal favorite books. Oh, the list isn't complete, but this is a good list of books that have influenced me, or that I found exceptional.

Let me know if you find anything good to read, huh?

Cheers, JOHN :0)