Selling and Reselling

by Mike Sedge

Selling what you have already sold is what foreign marketing is all about. Once you start, you’ll discover, as I have, that you can decrease your workload and increase your profits. Selling abroad opens your eyes to new ideas and techniques in the writing business. But you should never forget that it is a business, requiring special attention in the areas of recordkeeping, communications, and banking.

I receive a great deal of assignments from editors in Europe and Asia not only because I am a fair writer and photographer, but because I am almost always available for spur-of-the-moment, tight-deadline work. More than that, however, I make it easy for editors to contact me. On my extended desk, where I am writing these words, is a dedicated fax machine and two computers—one exclusively dedicated to e-mail. I also have a printer, standard telephone, and a cellular phone. So there is no excuse for an editor not being able to reach me, night or day, in any time zone of the world. Just to be certain, I also have a personal toll-free number from the USA to Southern Italy, where I live.

As a “business,” I was able to write off the expense of all my equipment at tax time. When I have an exceptionally good year—and need tax deductions—I will review my office equipment to see if additions (like a photocopy machine) are necessary or if an upgrade in hardware is justified. For this reason, and the fact that online editors were asking for digital image submissions, I added a scanner not long ago.

Such decisions are all part of the “business” of being an international writer. When I produce an editorial package—i.e., not merely text that can be transmitted by fax or e-mail—for a client, I always send it by courier. For one thing, using Federal Express, UPS, or DHL, I can track my packaging through their Internet systems. This has come in handy several times when editors said they did not receive the materials. I simply look up the waybill number, do a search on the carrier’s Web page, and come up with the date and time delivered as well as the person who signed for the package. With this information, editors have always “found” the “lost” shipment. Using a courier service also gives the client a good feeling about doing business with you. It shows professionalism and a business attitude toward your freelance work.

Invoicing
If you are to be successful businessperson, the first thing you must understand is that the world operates on invoices. In recent years, in fact, I have seen a growing trend among publications, even those that I have worked with for over a decade, of requiring bills for freelance services.

If you want to be paid, you must often forget your dealings with the editor and think about the requirements of the accounting office. The annual Freelance Fees Guide, published by Britain’s National Union of Journalists, suggests that “unless the client you work for operates a system of self-billing, you should invoice promptly for work done: without an invoice, a client may not even know that payment is due.”

This happened to me recently with Holiday magazine. I produced an article and it was accepted. I waited for payment. The article came out, I waited for payment. Thirty days passed, I waited for payment. After sixty days I called the editor. “Oh, Mike. I’m sorry. We must have lost your invoice. If you fax me a copy, I’ll get the payment sent out immediately.”

I now include an invoice with all editorial packages I send out, unless I know for certain that one is not required for payment.

Banking
When you begin selling overseas, you will want to review the check-cashing policies of your bank. In twenty years I have had eleven bank accounts in various countries and for different reasons. One reason I changed financial institutions was because the First National Bank of Tennessee insisted on charging me exaggerated rates for cashing Canadian checks. Opening an account in New York resolved this problem. I’m told this is because the state borders Canada.

What you will want is a bank that charges a minimal fee to cash foreign checks. Because some publications abroad will offer you the option of payment by bank transfer, you may want to ask the charges, if any, for such operations.

Last year I received a $100 transfer from Germany and the U.S. bank took a $25 fee. In the same respect, I transferred $12,000 from my U.S. bank account into my Italian account. On the U.S. side, a $120 fee was charged, and when the money got to Italy, another $90 was subtracted.

Bank fees are one consideration. Naturally, you want the lowest fee possible for foreign check cashing and incoming wire transfers. Another issue will be taxes on foreign-earned income.

Taxes
Tax issues for money earned as a freelancer are far too complex to get into here. I do, however, want to touch on a couple of items. First, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues an official foreign currency conversion rate each year which one can use to calculate exactly how much those German mark, Japanese yen, and British sterling checks are worth in U.S. dollars.

Officially, this is the chart you should use to calculate your foreign earnings. Unless it is an overwhelming amount, however, I have found it just as easy to simply have the bank exchange checks and credit my account—and my income statement—with its figure. After all, that is the actual amount you received from your transactions.

For free help, suggests Julian Block, noted expert and author of several bestselling tax books, there are IRS publications, particularly, Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. It covers how to fill out Form 1040. Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, covers how to fill out Schedule C. Also, Publication 910, Guide to Tax Services, lists the various IRS booklets that are available. You can obtain these publications from any local IRS office, or by calling (800) TAX-FORM.

I also suggest reading Julian Block’s Tax Avoidance Secrets, a 560-page book available for $19.95 if you write to the author (that’s $10 off the bookstore prices), at 3 Washington Square, Larchmont, NY 10538-2032.

As a final note, Block suggests that American writers and photographers doing business overseas also get a copy of IRS Publication 901, which covers international tax treaties. This publication provides measures that will ensure you are not subject to dual taxation by selling your work in certain foreign countries.

Freelancers can also get one-on-one help from writer and licensed tax professional Joseph Anthony. In fact, he will do your taxes for you.

“While I live in Oregon, in my tax business, I handle tax returns for writers and other professionals living everywhere from Maine to California, as well as overseas,” says Anthony.

He can be reached by email (josephanthony@compuserve.com) or by phone at (503) 281-4401. There is no charge for an initial half-hour consultation.

-- MS
©1999 Michael Sedge