Short story competition accounts for 2017 - 2019

2017

This year, I decided if we're having an intro, we should pay for that as all the other items in the book got paid, and so it was only fair. And then we had an intro last year, so I thought I'd better backdate that as well. And I also equalised the treatment for the cover in that regard. Another thing I'm going to do is pay my accountant to do the trading company accounts out of the competition proceeds. There is a reason behind that, in that the competition is almost the only commercial activity I've done this year. I never allowed for accountant fees in past years, when the company was doing other things at the same time (computer programming contracts). So here goes:

In
Entry fees: £2718.84
(445 entries @£7.50 after Submittable commision & dollar conversion)
Books sold: approx £120
(Net on approx 120 books sold, after cost, p&p.)

Out
Prizes: £1225
Commissioned texts and cover. £300
Adverts on Google Adwords: £50
Adverts on Facebook: £90
Supplies: £25 (approx.)
Book setup: £53 ($75)
Ingram catalog fee: £8.50 ($12 p.a. fee)
Books gratis, including prizes (23 x approx £5 inc p&p): £115

Web server (Webfusion): £233
Company accounts 2016/7: £654 (inc VAT - we're not VAT registered)
(I haven't counted this in previous years - could have - but I was doing more other things back then. Also I still will have to pay the accountant for 2017/8 - and I'm going to lose out on that, and I haven't shown that here, as it "hasn't happened yet".)

Totals:
+2838.84
-2753.50
-----------
=85.34

I'm quitting while I'm ahead!

2018

Hiatus - no competition, no book

2019

A new book but no competition, no entry fees, just open and free submission. No sponsorship or advertising materialised, which might have helped with costs. Book published at a considerable loss, very few sales.

Steve M

Update:

2022: We're back with a new short story competition for inclusion in New Short Stories 12.