Saturday 5 January 2013

New Beginnings

It's not about resolutions. Personal improvement was never my thing.
Instead, it's about setting goals. Goals with achievable steps along the way. Goals that are reachable.

The big goal is releasing the Ondine books into the USA this year (feels awesome to say that).
I have a lot of homework to do before then.

The main ones being (in no particular order):
Formatting the books
Designing covers
Getting them story edited (3 out of 4 titles done)
Getting them proof-read (ditto)
Promotions (blog tours, giveaways, competitions, fun, silliness etc)

and now a new one on the list:

The First Bank of the United States
Getting a USA bank account.

My wonderful writing friends have discovered that Amazon (and they'll most likely be the biggest platform) only pay into paypal (which I have) or your bank account if you live in the USA.

For everyone else living in a strange place called "The Rest of the World", they send a check (we call them cheques).

A paper cheque, snail-mailed to Australia. That's gotta take a week at least. When presented at the bank, the banks can charge up to $25 to deposit it, and it can take up to 28 days to process.

Whut????????

Obviously, what some writers do is save up their cheques and deposit three at once, which reduces the fee to a single slug of $25.

But still, this is no way to do international business in 2013. The internet is 30 years old. Internet banking has been around for . . . 15 years maybe?

So my BIG goal this year, which was all about the writing and the books and the sharing of the magic, is actually to get a USA bank account. I've emailed my "personal banker" (doesn't that sound like a laff? Me, having a personal banker? Ha!) and we'll see if we can get one opened at ANZ's only branch in the states, which is in New York.

If that doesn't work, I'll scour the interwebs and find a way to get the job done from here.

Failing that, we do have plans to take the boy to Disneyland in . . . November maybe? So I'll physically go into a bank somewhere in Anaheim and open an account.

Which some of my writing friends have done when they've gone to RWA conferences in the USA.

Honestly, I thought I invented a bizarre banking system in Brugel, but reality is always far more warped than my imagination.

Have a wonderful new year full of fabulous reads and no troubles from your bank.

3 comments:

K M Kelly said...

How surprising! In this electronic age it can't be that hard!

Ebony McKenna. said...

It does seem particularly bothersome Kate.
I have writing friends who have books with Harlequin USA and they are also paid by check. It takes 28 days to clear. Publishing can move quickly in some ways, but in others it can be such a dinosaur.

fishgirl182 said...

well i work in the music industry and we will pay everyone by check, too. and it takes a lot longer than 28 days. that does suck though that amazon requires a us bank. booo.