Need help with social media?
You’ve gotten the message that your business needs to master Web 2.0, become active on social media sites like Plaxo and Bebo, start posting on Twitter, syndicate online, produce lenses on Squidoo, author a blog, keep up with Digg and Newsvine. You know it will improve SEO, and monetize your expertise. But how are you supposed to do all that and still run your business? Check it out:
www.Expertizing.com.

Would your company be more profitable if it got out of its own way? Collaborative Networks International is a Boston-based leadership and organizational strategy firm that specializes in developing collaborative leaders and top teams so they can ‘get out of their own way’ and lead. In this economy, a dysfunctional leader or suboptimal team is a liability. Get CollaborativeNetworks.net on the case ASAP, and watch your ROI zoom.

Barbara Weltman

Marcia Yudkin

This week we feature Barbara Weltman’s article on health coverage and Marcia Yudkin on taking your tax-deductible dream trip.

Meg Weaver

Next week, we feature IAW contributor Meg Weaver with a special report on Writing Queries That Sell.

Finding Your Ancestors in Court Records

Diane Rapaport is an award-winning author, historian, and attorney who brings colonial history to life and helps trace New England heritage through court records.

Book Diane Rapaport as a speaker for your next meeting or conference.

Email Diane Rapaport

Be our featured speaker

Gari Stein is an educator and grandmother. She is passionate, inspiring and committed to helping adults find their comfort level in teaching music and the arts.

Book Gari Stein as a speaker for your next meeting or conference.

E-mail Gari Stein

Be our featured expert

Elma Shaw is a writer, filmmaker, publisher, and founder of the Liberia Hope Fund. She currently divides her time between Liberia and Washington, DC. She is the author of Redemption Road: The Quest for Peaqce and Justice in Liberia.

Read more

Be our featured author

Vegan Success
Susan Daffron & James H. Byrd

“What if you could create mouthwatering vegan dishes every night? The type of real food that is great for your body and good for your soul. If you're hungry and want to eat now, this is the book for you!”

Read more

Book Susan Daffron as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Feature your book here

Unboxing the Cozy Mystery
Gayle Trent

“What a character!

Characters are what take cozy mysteries “out of the box.” Cozy writers use hobbies, professions and even obsessions to make their characters unique.”

Read more

Book Gayle Trent as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Feature your article here

Culture and Society / USA

— Andrea Campbell

Valuable scientific research about our lives, our behavior and the behavior of the people around us, based on thousands of research studies and presented in easy-to-read, look-yourself-up style is the basis for this book.

Read Andrea Campbell's query

Feature your query here

Attend a talk with IAW Director Fern Reiss:
If you'd like to hear Fern in person in 2009, she will be speaking at:

• Keynote, Colorado Independent Publishers, Denver (25-28 March)
• American Society for Journalists and Authors, New York (24-26 April)
• Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Conference, New York (17-19 May)
• Independent Book Publishers’  University, New York (26-28 May)
• Book Expo America, New York (28,31 May)
• Private consults, Europe (July & August)
• Publishing Game Workshop, Jerusalem (July 28 and August 4)

Please contact us to book her for your event or conference, or to book a private consultation on writing, publishing, or publicity while she's speaking in your town.

Follow Fern online:

• Twitter
• Facebook Writing & Publishing

If you need some personal input on your writing, publishing, or publicity dilemma, consider a consultation with IAW Director Fern Reiss. Fern consults to clients all over the world via telephone; the charge is $300/ €200 per hour or $1500 / €1000 for six sessions for publishing consultation and $1500 / €1000 per hour (non-profits: $1200 / €800) for Expertizing consulting. Sign up at PublishingGame.com/
consulting.htm or www.Expertizing.com.

17 March, 2009

Welcome to our new members in Liberia, India, Sweden, and the United States.

This week we have Barbara Weltman’s article on health coverage and Marcia Yudkin on taking your tax-deductible dream trip. 

Entrepreneurs: Take a Tax-Deductible Road Trip or Long Vacation
by Marcia Yudkin

Is extensive travel one of your unfulfilled dreams?

For years, my husband and I had talked about taking a grand tour of the U.S. and Canada, visiting well-known cities and viewing glorious landscapes. On March 1, 2003 we left in our car to do just that. At the end of May, we returned home having racked up 20,000 miles, having experienced countless adventures. What’s more, by working just a few hours a day, we earned the same amount as at home and deducted expenses for the entire trip on our tax return. We repeated our feat in the summer and fall of 2007 on a road trip from Massachusetts to Alaska and back.

You too can do this! Here are five ways to turn the long trip you’ve been dreaming about for ages into tax-deductible—and profitable—business travel.

1. Seminars. By announcing my itinerary to subscribers of my weekly newsletter, The Marketing Minute, I received seminar or speaking invitations for Houston and Austin, Texas; San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Seattle, Washington; Langley, British Columbia and several other locations.
   
   Most business organizations plan events several months in advance, so time your trip announcements accordingly. Besides appearing at events sponsored by an established organization, you can line up co-sponsors who know one or more of the areas you’ll be traveling to and who will take charge of your legwork in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
    
2. Client meetings. People I had been working with remotely were thrilled at the opportunity to get together in person when I would be passing through their area. Some of these meetings turned into enjoyable social occasions while others materialized as paid consultations. You’ll need much less lead time to set up these get-togethers than for seminars.
    
3. Research. Haven’t you always wanted to find out how businesses deal with setbacks differently in different parts of the country or the world? If not, then maybe you can formulate another travel-worthy question whose answers relate to your line of business. Upon your return, you can publish a report and voilà, you have a new product and your trip had a legitimate business purpose.
    
4. Focus groups. Convene small groups to feel out the market for possible new ventures from your company. You may need just one business contact in each city where you want to do this. Offer a free lunch or dinner for participants and something more for your contact, and ask him or her to round up colleagues for an interesting colloquy on _____ (describe the topic appealingly). To fend off suspicions that this will be a disguised or explicit sales pitch, promise that the event will include no selling.
    
5. Book tour. Setting up author events is a feasible option if you have at least one published book, even if it came out a couple of years ago. If your book is fiction, the events would normally be readings or book signings, while if your book falls into the nonfiction category, you can either offer a talk about the topic of the book or set up book signings.

Besides all manner of bookstores, including specialty ones like those focusing on mysteries, New Age, Christian or gay and lesbian themes, book events also take place at libraries, museums, community centers, churches and synagogues. As part of selling books during your travels, make sure you contact local media outlets along the way!

Reminder: Be sure to consult a qualified tax advisor to determine whether or not your travels will count as tax deductible.

Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books. She publishes a weekly newsletter on creative marketing, Marketing Minute (www.yudkin.com/marksynd.htm). This article is adapted from the report, “Take Your Business On The Road.” You’ll find more excerpts at www.yudkin.com/ontheroad.htm.

Taking Another Look at Health Savings Accounts
Barbara Weltman

Double-digit increases in premiums for traditional medical coverage make HSAs worthy of consideration. One research database predicts that HSAs are poised for aggressive growth and that 30 million people will be covered by HSAs by 2010. Will they work for you?

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a way for self-employed individuals and small businesses to provide affordable health coverage for themselves and staff. HSAs combine high-deductible health plans, or HDHPs (which are substantially less costly than traditional coverage), with IRA-like savings accounts. Contributions to HSAs are tax deductible, earnings on contributions are tax deferred, and withdrawals to pay medical costs are tax free. Unused amounts continue to grow from year to year. Some dramatic changes in the rules for HSAs make them more attractive than in the past and, according to one source, new plans could explode in the coming years.

Higher contributions
The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, which was enacted in December 2006, created key changes for HSAs, one of which was to move up the date that contribution limits for the following year must be announced. Here are key changes:

• Contributions can be made up to a fixed amount—in 2008, $2,900 for self-only coverage; $5,800 for family coverage, with an additional “catch-up” contribution of $900 for those age 55 or older by the end of the year; in 2009, $3,000 for self-only coverage; $5,950 for family coverage, with an additional “catch-up” contribution of $1,000 for those age 55 or older by the end of the year;. (Limits are adjusted annually for inflation, as announced June 1 each year.) In the past, contributions could not exceed the amount of the deductible under the HDHP.
• Contributions need not be prorated for part-year participation in the HSA, as long as the HDHP is maintained for a minimum of 12 months.
• IRA funds can be moved to an HSA (within strict limits). IRA distributions to pay medical costs are taxable, while disbursements from an HSA for this purpose are tax free.
• Funds in flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) can be rolled over tax free to HSAs (through January 1, 2012). Maximum transfer: The lesser of the account balance at the time of transfer or on September 12, 2006. Caution: The HDHP must be maintained for at least 12 months following the rollover or the funds become taxable as ordinary income and subject to a 10% penalty.

Note: The minimum deductible for HDHPs in 2008 is $1,100 for self-only coverage, or $2,200 for family coverage; in 2009 it will increase to $1,150 for self-only coverage, or $2,300 for family coverage. This means that allowable contributions are now nearly triple the amount of the deductible, providing more funds to pay other out-of-pocket medical costs on a tax-advantaged basis.

Acceleration of contributions
Contributions to the HSA can be made by a self-employed individual or by the employer, employee, or a combination of both--the party making the contribution gets the deduction. Typically, contributions are stepped in throughout the year. Contributions can be made as late as the due date of the return, without regard to extensions (e.g., April 15, 2009, for 2008 contributions).

Employers can accelerate all of part of contributions for the year on behalf of employees who have incurred medical expenses in excess of the accumulated contributions to date. This helps employees meet unexpected medical costs.

To incorporate this acceleration provision within a company’s HSA, the option must be available on an equal and uniform basis to all eligible employees throughout the year. The employer must set up reasonable uniform methods and requirements for acceleration of contributions and the determination of medical expenses that would warrant acceleration.

HSA resources
To learn more about HSAs and to find financial institutions offering HDHPs and HSAs, see:

• First HSA
• HSAinsider
• HSA for America
• HSAfinder
• IRS Publication 969 Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans (PDF)

Next week: Stay tuned for IAW Contributor Meg Weaver’s special report on Writing Queries That Sell.

Getting People To Your Website: 25 Simple Tips for Top-Notch Search Engine Optimization
by Fern Reiss

If you missed our special report last week it’s not too late. You can still learn straightforward techniques for improving your website's search engine ranking. And, you won't need a computer science degree to get started:

• Choosing keywords so your customers will find you. from the search engines, and understanding what not to do with your keywords
• Enabling your customers to find you even years after the last time they searched for you online
• Making your site friendlier to search engines—and avoiding search engine pitfalls
• Getting lots of other websites to link to yours—and knowing what kinds of links not to get
• Structuring your website for optimal search engine placement
• Tracking your website's visibility (and tracking your competitors, also!)

Members can read the feature right now.

New Members:
If you missed any of the articles, audios, or reports below, you can still read and listen to them in our Member Archive. 

New: Google is offering ‘customized’ advertising based on tracking individual customer’s interests and past viewing histories; they’re expected to follow with customized search engine rankings, so that people’s search engine results will differ based on their histories…Newspapers are also exploring the customization option, and several newspapers are expected to offer custom news as early as this summer… Cable TV is following suit with customization of commercials targeting ethnicity, gender, income, and children…Ten more major US newspapers are likely to go bust in upcoming weeks, possibly including The Boston Globe…MySpace is losing out to Facebook in terms of audience numbers…Thomas Nelson Publishing this week announced free audio and ebook versions with hardcover book purchases…

Members can read more by clicking through to:
PartyLine Media Leads and
Wooden Horse Magazine Update, and
Get the latest updates by following Fern on Twitter.

You can get a complimentary copy of Aaron Shepard’s book, Aiming at Amazon. The book explains how to bypass traditional bookstore sales and make money as an author selling exclusively via Amazon. Read the pdf.

Agent in the Hot Seat this month is Rita Rosenkranz, here to tell us what's hot and what's new, and the best way to get that publishing deal…

Members can click here for more.

Whether you’re a business traveler or an armchair traveler, here’s what’s going on in the writing and publishing world for writers in England.

The British book market sold almost 237 million books in 2008. The four largest publishing houses in Britain are Hachette UK, Random House, Penguin, and HarperCollins, followed by Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury, Pearson, OUP, Wiley, and Egmont. Academic and children's books are on the upswing in England. Indy press Canongate grew 155%, but most independent publishers were down.

Members can read more at Spotlight.

(Members: Interested in sharing what’s going on in your part of the world? Become an IAW ambassador.)

Syndicated Articles

Each month, the International Association of Writers sends a newsletter featuring our latest syndicated articles to website editors, email newsletter editors, and newspaper editors worldwide. The list of syndicated articles also runs in several locations on the website, and each week we feature one of the syndicated articles in our newsletter. Here’s how to make the most of your Syndicated Article listing:

• First, select the category carefully. Website, ezine, and newspaper editors are usually looking for articles in specific areas or for specific audiences, so be sure the category you choose accurately describes the article.
• The catchier the title, the more likely an editor is to examine the full article. Usability studies have shown that the first two or three words of the title determine whether users will click through to see the full article—so choose the first few words of your title carefully.
• Your short biography will be displayed in several places on our website, so be sure it is interesting and describes your expertise accurately.
• You can post as many articles as you like for syndication. The more you post, the greater the chance that an editor will find something they’re looking for.
• Remember that in today’s economy, more editors of websites, ezines, and newspapers may be looking for no-cost syndicated articles—so this market is bigger than ever before.

Also, don’t forget that you can upload your pohotograph for your profiles here.

Next week, we’ll look at posting your Agent Query listing.

The more members we have, the more clout we have with journalists, booksellers, literary agents, librarians, etc. Want to help make others aware of the International Association of Writers? Here are some ways you can help:

• Become an Ambassador from your geographic area, or become a web ambassador and mention us on listserves and writing forums online.
• List us as a favorite on Digg.com or Delicious.com.
• Email a friend or colleague to tell them about us.
• Add this to your Facebook or Twitter Status line: “Looking for publicity as a writer or small business? Check out AssociationofWriters.com”.
• Remember—sign up three friends or colleagues, and get a free one-year extension on your membership!

Q: “What will Google customization of search engine results do to traditional SEO tactics (like ranking for incoming links, etc.)?”

A: Since this change is just in its infancy, it's still unclear how Google's customization of search results will affect traditional SEO tactics. SEO experts are anticipating that including things such as video (eg, YouTube) and blogs will boost search results.

Members can post their Talk Out questions here.

“A few days after I posted my speaker profile on the International Association of Writers’ website, I began receiving inquiries from meeting planners who wanted to book me for high-paying speaking gigs. The International Association of Writers rocks!”
— Linda Gradstein, correspondent, National Public Radio

“I’m loving the site—thank you!”
— Kristin J. Eckstein, producer, ArtsImagine.com

Members send your kudos & we'll print them in a future issue.

The 10^th annual Bethesda Literary Festival, 17-19 April, in Bethesda, Maryland, United States.

The London International Book Fair, 20 - 22 April, Earls Court, London.

The largest literature festival in the Nordic countries: The Norwegian Festival of Literature in scenic Lillehammer, about 2 hours drive north of Oslo (26-31 May).

Read the entire Calendar. (Members—post listings at no charge.)

Copyright © 2009 International Association of Writers

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