IWSG July 2026

This month’s question is about what I would change in the publishing industry if I could.

This is a whole can of rage bait that I am not going to open, because I’m stressed out enough as it is.

So. Other writing things. Actually, as I re-read this, it’s more on the business accounting side of the house, but it’s still related to the business of self-publishing.

The sales of the Heritage Blood Saga book 1 (Heralds of Change is totally awesome! Buy it now! Wherever books are sold!) are significantly better than that of the romance novel (not porn! And totally awesome! A Special Blend of Crazy is also available everywhere!). I mean, it’s not nearly enough to call it “a livable income,” or even a “taxable income,” but it does seem to sell better.

I find this interesting. It’s a little early to call it, but it seems Ingram Spark gets a lot more returns of the romance novel than Amazon does. I’m not sure what this means. Is it a print quality issue, or is it an audience issue, or what?

I’m not certain what this fact means as yet, because I’m still a baby author, but still something to keep in the back of the ol’ noggin’.

Tracking sales is another problem.

Last year I spoke of the challenges of trying to figure out how to make tracking spreadsheets for who sold what and how many, so I can have measurable metrics, and easily understood profit/loss stuff for taxes and all that, without having 47 different spreadsheets (1 for each book), every year.

Now that a second book in a different genre has entered the scene, I am having to radically simplify said spreadsheet, but still try to find a way to get meaningful metrics for me to understand.

This is not easy, but I’m still puttering with it. Do I need details down to each and every outlet, or can I just get away with the parent distributors? How do I easily document what books sold and how many, if different books at different prices sold through the same distributor in the compensation period (typically, the month prior). Do I really need to document the price differences on those sales, or can I just stick with a “Total Paid Out” note?

On the plus side, it would appear that I have FINALLY got the difficulties with Ingram Spark not being able to direct deposit my meager earnings. Amazon and D2D are not nearly as fussy about absolute precision on the compensation forms–if one of your names (pseudonym, signature, birth name, legal name, business name, whatever) matches the account numbers you gave, fine; they’ll deposit funds. IS/LS is very picky. If the business name on the bank account you opened is Jane Sally Doe Books, LLC,  and your name (the owner of said account) is Jane Sally Doe, then IS/LS will NOT deposit funds to your bank account if you gave your name to IS/LS as Jane S. Doe, or Jane Doe, or Jane Sally Doe Books. Your documentation for compensation from IS/LS MUST be Jane Sally Doe Books, LLC.

Yes, the comma must be included if it’s on the bank account title.