Death by 1,040 tax paper cuts.

I was so excited in December when it was clear that, after years of struggling since 2007, I was finally going to break out of the IRS definition of 'hobby' and into the realm of legitimacy that the tax code offers 'real' authors. . .

That's right, this year I go from an EZ to a 1040 long and get to attach a Schedule C, Schedule SE, form 6251, and form 1116. All because I earned $235 more than is allowed under 'Hobby'!

OMG, this shit isn't even written in English! It seems intentionally confusing and is a shining example of why big government IS THE PROBLEM, not the answer.

After a bottle of aspirin (and two of wine) I have decided that I'm not going to put myself through this nightmare again, if I can help it, especially not for just a few hundred dollars. This much teeth pulling and brain strain might have been worth it if I was making thousands (I'm not and probably never will), but certainly isn't justified for this paltry amount.

That said, there are only two solutions to this problem. Either I have to radically increase my deductible expenses, ie buy printers, new laptop, etc, or I have to move most of my books to the free side.

So starting today, I'm making the first three books in the series free, Art, Patent, and Hell. Hopefully that will get me get back down to Hobby again so I don't get punished next April with another avalanche of confounding forms.