Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 13:53:38 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: bob wallace Subject: freelancing and taxes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Here's a question primarily for freelancers: What do you do about deducting reference books on your taxes. The deduction for office supplies seems to exclude books, because it's supposed to be only for stuff you'd use up in a year. That certainly isn't the case with reference and style books (CMS for example). Do I have to deduct them over a five-year period the way I do my computer? Thanks in advance. Carol Roberts rw16@cornell.edu ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 13:54:15 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Nancy C. Mulvany" Subject: Rates for Indexing ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Mike writes: I'm a little astonished by the rates you quote, 'cause I don't get anything close to that and I reckon I'm doing pretty well.... About 14 yrs side-time freelance (I've been on the professional staff at the Dallas Public Library for 26 yrs) in copyediting and back-of-the-book indexing, and I'm presently charging $2.50 page -- based on an expectation of turning over 10pp/hr = $25/hr -- for both services. The philosophy books I do for Indiana Univ Pr take longer, the sports biogs I do for Harcourt go much quicker, but that's a fair average. Now, I don't do "technical" works (i.e., engineering, biomedical, etc), but even so, would a "general" indexer in the Bay Area get $40/hr? Really? (That's not sarcasm, Nancy -- I'm asking!) I cannot speak for all Bay Area indexers, or even most of them. However, I can speak for some of them. I'm not sure what a "general" indexer really is -- I'll assume that a "general" indexer is working for the traditional trade book publishing industry. Whereas "technical" indexers are working for specialized book publishers or hardware/software vendors. Are there "general" indexers earning $40.00/hr. in the Bay Area? Yes, there are. Is this typical? Probably not. A few weeks ago I spoke with a "general" indexer who works on books for university presses and the trade publishers. This indexer claims to be earning an average of $5000.00 per month; expects to index 60 books by the end of the year. Work out the math on those figures ... billing at $2.50 per page means that 2,000 pages are indexed a month -- 500 pages a week. At 40 hours a week that comes to $31.25/hour. I have no idea what per page rate this indexer charges. The higher the per page rate, the higher the hourly return. Most of the indexers I know who are charging in the $3.00 per page range are not indexing anywhere near 60 books a year. Their per hour return is probably in the $20.00 to $25.00 per hour range. Let's take a look at what $40.00 per hour really means. First of all, I am talking about a person engaged in the business of freelance indexing on a full-time basis. The $40.00 per hour is the gross amount. To arrive at the net amount for a self-employed person running a business you can cut that figure in half ($20.00 per hour net). How do I arrive at that? First, figure that 30% of the gross amount goes to pay for typical perqs that employees take for granted (health insurance, disability insurance, retirement account funding, withholding taxes/estimated taxes). The other 20% is business overhead (paying telephone costs, printing of stationery, purchasing office furniture, purchasing hardware/software, upgrading hardware/software, service-repair-training for hardware/software, local business taxes, the 15+% we pay for social security, book purchases, professional society memberships, conference fees, all the taxes not covered by estimated payments, etc.). So what does $20.00 per hour amount to? At 40 hours a week and 48 weeks a year (-2 weeks for vacation and -2 weeks for other time off between jobs), it comes to $38,400 per year. I do not think that $38,400 per year is an exorbitant amount of money. Getting back to the gist of Mike's comments -- are most indexers earning $40.00 per hour? No. Should they be earning $40.00 per hour? Yes. Personally I feel that some of the lower paying jobs require at least as much specialized experience as technical documentation. Many full-time indexers are experienced individuals in their 30's to 40's. Expecting to earn $38K or more per year is not unreasonable. Unfortunately, I fear that many indexers earning this amount of money are earning it by charging low rates and doing a high volume of work. The quality of volume-oriented indexing is immediately suspect. -nancy ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 15:21:59 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Jan Wright Subject: Re: freelancing and taxes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- About Books and taxes - I usually take them off in the "Dues, Publications" section. I'll be interested to find out if that's the right place. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 09:20:37 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: King Co Lib System Subject: Re: freelancing and taxes In-Reply-To: <9312151856.AA31743@rs6a.wln.com> ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Expensing a computer or other business equipment in one year rather than depreciating over multiple years always seemed better to me - won't that work for books? Charles Anderson ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 09:21:08 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS Subject: Indexing Courses/Workshops in Europe? ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I'm looking for an English language summer course or workshop in indexing, in Europe. Does anyone know of such a program in England, Scotland, or Wales, for example? Or the name of someone I might contact at IFLA? Thanks! Corinne Smith AUP10acalvacom.fr ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 15:30:54 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Janice Woo Subject: Re: freelancing and taxes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I think figuring out how to handle taxes has to be completely individualized, but my strategy re reference books is to purchase them with the intent to use them for specific projects. When I'm done with that project, I figure the content/worth of that particular reference book has then been used up (i.e. totally depreciated). But I have no idea what the IRS would think of this kind of logic.... ;) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 14:25:49 ECT Reply-To: Michael Kalen Smith Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Michael Kalen Smith Subject: Re: freelancing and taxes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >Here's a question primarily for freelancers: What do you do about deducting >reference books on your taxes. The deduction for office supplies seems to >exclude books, because it's supposed to be only for stuff you'd use up in a >year. That certainly isn't the case with reference and style books (CMS for >example). Do I have to deduct them over a five-year period the way I do my >computer? Thanks in advance. > >Carol Roberts >rw16@cornell.edu I've always treated books as a capital expenditure, which is what Lasser and the other sources I've consulted classify them as. Then I "expense" them, along with other minor equipment, on Schedule C. For that matter, I expensed a new laser printer last year, too, because my wife did much better for the year than she had expected and I wanted to keep both the income taxe and the SE tax under control.... Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Kalen Smith / Dallas, TX Internet: mksmith@taproot.win.net / CompuServe: 73177,366 *** It doesn't TAKE all kinds; we just HAVE all kinds *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 14:26:13 ECT Reply-To: Michael Kalen Smith Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Michael Kalen Smith Subject: Re: freelancing and taxes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >About Books and taxes - >I usually take them off in the "Dues, Publications" section. I'll >be interested to find out if that's the right place. The way I understand it, "publications" means journal subscriptions and such -- not individual books. Which makes sense, since most of your journals probably come as a result of the dues you pay to professional associations. Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Kalen Smith / Dallas, TX Internet: mksmith@taproot.win.net / CompuServe: 73177,366 *** It doesn't TAKE all kinds; we just HAVE all kinds *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 14:26:50 ECT Reply-To: Michael Kalen Smith Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Michael Kalen Smith Subject: Re: Rates for Indexing ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Nancy, that's an interesting break-down of income and outgo. Obviously, If I were doing this full-time, I'd have to raise my rates (as I expect to have to do when I retire from the Dallas Public Library in about 4 yrs). Even though I agree that indexers (not to mention librarians...) OUGHT to get more per hour of labor, I think I'd price myself out of the market if I increased my rates by 2/3, even over a period of time. Also, while Dallas is a big city (2.85 million people compared to S.F.'s 1.65 million), the numbers for 1993 are somewhat different here, and that may put us more on a par. Average family income for the mythical "family of four" is $51,000 nationally, $57,000 in Dallas, $80,000 in S.F. State & local taxes for that family average $970 in Dallas (no state income tax) vs. $4,800 in S.F. The housing index for Dallas is 108 (i.e., 8% above the national average) vs. 372 for S.F. Ditto for coast of health care, groceries, and most other categories.... I might add that as a Grade 12-Step 9 City employee, which is as high as you can get without being "management" -- which I did for a few yrs and hated -- and after 26 yrs, I earn approx $32,000. And that's regarded as a very respectable income for public librarians hereabouts. (My boss's boss, the Head of the Central Library, makes around $40,000.) Though I agree, we can no longer compete with law libraries, engineering libraries, etc, for new MLS grads.... ...That may not all be convincing, but at least I feel a little better! Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Kalen Smith / Dallas, TX Internet: mksmith@taproot.win.net / CompuServe: 73177,366 *** It doesn't TAKE all kinds; we just HAVE all kinds *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 14:27:35 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: bob wallace Subject: common knowledge (was Victor Hugo) ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- My Victor Hugo story posted about a week ago has generated a lively discussion on copyediting-l, although not here. But it raises questions about when to add explanations in an index. That is, in an index to a book intended for a general audience, you would list Thomas Jefferson without any parenthetical comment to identify him, but not so with, say, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, right? So now I am wondering whether there isn't some resource we could use (at least as a rough guideline) to decide which people are famous enough to require no further explanation. OK, I'm going to stick my neck out on a limb (my favorite mixed metaphor). I know Hirsch's _Cultural Literacy_ is controversial and that his list of "What Literate Americans Know" is not exhaustive. But mightn't we use that list as a guideline? Karl Marx is on the list, but Peter Kropotkin is not, which sounds about right to me for a general, general, general audience (not for an audience of, say, political scientists). Would any of you consider using it? Have any of you used it? Suggestions for other such resources? PLEASE, no flames. I'm just asking. Thank you. Carol Roberts, freelance copy editor and indexer rw16@cornell.edu =========================================================================