19. TAXES AND WRITE-OFFS This is a counterintuitive way to make money on your book that far too few business owners use—and you can use in addition to any of the above strategies. If you are using your book as a legitimate marketing tool to promote a business, the out-of-pocket costs of production are 100 percent deductible. That means everything you spend money on that is part of creating the book can be deducted, like: • book cover design • layout design • all printing costs • editing and proofreading • Any professional services you use to help create it • etc., etc., etc. It’s all 100 percent deductible as business marketing expenses. Just like you can deduct what you spend on Facebook ads and website designers, a book falls into the same category. Note: I am talking about tax laws in America. Though this is what my CPA and many other tax lawyers have told me, you should never take legal advice from someone who does not know the laws of your specific jurisdiction. Not only that, I live in Texas—it’s legal to shoot wild hogs with machine guns from helicopters here. We’re different. 20. BOOK SALES I said earlier that book sales are not the best way to make money. I never said you can’t make ANY money from them. Once you have a book that appeals to a specific crowd, there are lots of ways to help spur book sales: 1. Facebook ads can often convert into book sales. hOW TO MAkE MONEy WiTh yOUr BOOk · 397