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Here is an article from John Wolf:Aug 2010 Pen Jabs Meeting

Gathering of writers and editors of the Pen Jabs Club at Balboa Park

Erica Miner, Pauline Hagar, Sally Gary, Mary Prokops, me, Linda Meckler, Max Sturman found ourselves under the umbrellas at the Japanese Pavilion in Balboa Park.

Max told us all about his project to educate the youth of America on live save, livetime healing with the correct diet. He has an extensive book collect he has independently published.

We were all so excited to see each other again, we jabbered continuously as various people tried to get a word in edgewise. We managed to do a round-robin discussion of projects. Erica sold all the books she brought to the meeting! Mary is now expanding her memior to be more fiction-like to make the story more exciting. It will be fun to start reading her first drafts.

Sally reviewed Linda's presentation on self-publishing that she presented last Monday at the SD Writers and Editors Guild meeting. It was a well received talk. There is some confusion about licenses and permits. We all need to realized that to sell books to the public a Sellers Permit is required, which obligates you to pay taxes to the State Board of Equalization - downer, but what can you do? The business license is for those that claim to be a publisher and independently print books for sale. That requires a "company name" to be generated and announce to the public via news print. The best way to approach the incorperation is as self-proprietor. Then also get the Seller's Permit.

I have a related story that occurs when I got home to find a bill from the State with a $2.75 pentalty claiming I didn't pay my taxes on time. Bull feathers. I did pay online back on 1 July, but there is a flaw in there system you should be aware of. I call the board to find out what went wrong. They claim my credit card transaction timed out and therefore wasn't completed, but the process takes you back to the taxboard page and prints you out a receipt that says "Payment Amount $0" on the bottom. I assumed I was good, but the catch is you have to have a confirmation number listed or the transaction was never completed or something went wrong. I thought I did everything right! No, I have to pay the pentalty or die. My recourse is to get a lawyer and appeal on the grounds the website was misleading and I was deceived, which I was, but who would want to suffer through the process of dealing with those clever white collar criminals. So I wrote a check. Be forewarned. The taxboard site is tricky and if you don't have a confirmation number when the transaction flips back to the tax site, you have to do it again.