Doing the Books

It’s official. The very first thing I will do if Candlemark & Gleam ever turns a profit is to hire a bookkeeper.

I hate doing the books. I really, really do. I hate tracking sales and inventory, I hate logging expenses, I hate figuring out how to generate clear, concise, comprehensible royalty reports that include information on where things are sold and where the numbers are coming from.

Transparency is critical in running a business, especially one where other people grant you the rights to their hard work, and it involves a lot of trust, and a lot of expectations to live up to. I’m wholeheartedly dedicated to making sure that I represent my authors as well as I can, that I edit their work well and present it beautifully and that I also make damn sure that they understand what’s going on behind the scenes at every stage of the game – even when it comes to the books. Especially when it comes to the books.

But damn, I hate doing the books.

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  • http://groovesinorbit.dreamwidth.org/ Patti

    You have so much on your plate, a bookkeeper makes complete sense. What’s driving you nuts, though? (and you can contact me by email if you want to chat about stuff.)

  • http://www.candlemarkandgleam.com Candlemark & Gleam

    Someday, I’ll have the money for a bookkeeper…

    The thing that’s driving me battiest is just keeping on top of it. I’ve been awful about that. And I really need to get better at Excel spreadsheets for doing royalty reports – Peachtree isn’t set up to handle that, and I can’t shell out $500 for publishing-accounting software right now, so I’m doing it in Excel and I’m a complete Excel novice.

  • http://groovesinorbit.dreamwidth.org/ Patti

    I’m awful about that, too. I rarely have the books up to date when they should be, although I’m better this year than a lot of years.

    I’m not a genius with Excel, but I’d be happy to help. Email me about what you’re trying to do, and I’ll see what I can come up with for advice.

  • http://www.candlemarkandgleam.com Candlemark & Gleam

    It would be so much easier to take care of things if I were smart enough to schedule a once-a-month bookkeeping spree. But even though I know this, I never do. Sigh.

    And thanks, I’ll email ya!

  • Draven Ames

    Ironic. You make books and hate doing the books. Hopefully you start making a profit then! Thanks for stopping by the blog again. What new and exciting authors do you have coming out? Have you had much luck finding the authors you want?

    Draven Ames

  • http://www.candlemarkandgleam.com Candlemark & Gleam

    There’s such a huge difference between making books and doing accounting, though! :-p

    I’m really excited about Broken, which is coming out on the 25th – Susan Bigelow is a great author with a really strong, dynamic voice, and I’m already looking forward to editing the sequel, Fly Into Fire.

    After that, we’ve got Hickey of the Beast by Isabel Kunkle, another really amazing talent. Then there’s Pilgrim of the Sky by Natania Barron, who’s simply amazing. Honestly, I could not be happier with the quality of authors coming to Candlemark & Gleam, and I’m really excited to get to share their work with the world.