No more Kindle publishing

I published a book on Kindle. It took some time to get it right and I had problems with the cover page, but eventually I completed things to my satisfaction and published.

I eagerly waited for the stats regarding how many people were buying the book. The sales were not fantastic, well I didn't expect it to be due to the genre, but eventually I received a cheque from Kindle and banked it.

Then I found out about the US tax side of things and the fact that 30% of the royalties had been taken at source.

The UK has a treaty with the US that means UK citizens don’t have to pay tax to the IRS (you still have to pay tax to HM Revenue & Customs, of course).

But the process is convoluted,full off pitfalls and takes ages before you get results.

In the end I decided that I wouldn't bother with publishing on Kindle or any other US based publisher and will just carry on doing what I have been doing for years, publish on BCTS.

The last straw for me was receiving a 1042-S Foreign Person's US source Income Subject To Withholding Form, which told me that out of $147.80 net earned on Amazon, the US government was going to take 30% and then the UK government was going to take another percentage unless I filled in a form and take it to the US Embassy in London!

I am no J.K.Rowling, so I don't think that I will bother.

So for all you non-US writers out there, think carefully before you decide to publish as the costs in time and money could be considerable before you start receiving a penny (or cent) of earnings.

End of rant (I am a happy person really).

Hugs
Sue