Thinking of taking a home office as a tax deduction? Not so fast, says ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block. Just because you can walk 20 feet from your bedroom to your work area and conduct business in your bathrobe doesn’t mean the nook with the computer qualifies as a bona fide office. Excerpted from the Summer 2011 issue.
All About Freelancing archive
An appeals court has (for a second time) tried to reject settlement of a long-running U.S. Copyright class action suit over unauthorized use of freelance magazine articles in data bases. Meanwhile, if you have written for Canadian magazines or newspapers, you should check out terms of a Canadian class-action settlement for similar unauthorized use of freelance articles. For details, see this update from NASW member Jeff Hecht.
This series from the Online Journalism Review (part one, two, and three) is a primer for journalists on the mysteries of e-book publishing. Starting with selecting a subject and content, it walks through the process of assembling it for publication and selecting vendors. On the same subject, don't miss our marketing and publishing resource (NASW members only).
In this hour-long podcast, tax expert and regular ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block offers tips for staying on the taxman's good side without cheating yourself in the process. Some highlights: How to stay out of trouble as a solo practitioner (7:00); Is taking the home office deduction a red flag for an audit? (10:30); What to do when you use the same computer for business and personal use (16:00); Who gets audited and who doesn't? (22:30).
The controversial Google book settlement has come undone. Although there is talk of trying to revise it or appeal the court ruling against it, it's essentially back to square one for efforts to create a broadly accessible digital public library. An update from NASW's Jeff Hecht of his December 2008 guide to the now-rejected pact.
A federal judge in New York has set aside the latest version of Google's class action settlement with the Authors Guild over the search giant's scanning and archiving of some 12 million books, many still under copyright. For discussion of what happens now, see this analysis on the Scholarly Kitchen blog, with a list of links to other coverage of the ruling, and a longer review on The Laboratorium.
A half-dozen articles with tax-season tips for freelance writers and others, from attorney, author and frequent ScienceWriters contributor Julian Block, They include Red flags for audits, Don't overpay Social Security, and Common tax issues faced by freelancers.
Stephanie Chasteen, a science education and communication consultant, was getting a PhD in physics when she realized she was more interested in learning about science than actually doing it. Time for a career change. Stephanie discusses how she launched a "do-it-yourself" program to learn science writing while still working on her PhD.
Think back to the last time you went to a party where you didn't know many people. Did you have a good time? Make some new connections? If so, then you probably didn't just stand in one spot and expect people to approach you for conversation — you mingled. Dave Taylor and Amy Gahran explain how online mingling — through commenting — can enhance your freelance career.