Can you deduct the cost of your book?

What this guide is, and is not

This is not tax advice. It is a reading guide to IRS publications on US federal income tax, checked October 27, 2026, mostly in their versions for 2025 returns. State rules differ, and every rule below turns on facts this page cannot know, so each section ends with the question to take to your tax professional.

Many articles still cite Publication 535, Business Expenses. The IRS has discontinued it ("the last revision was for 2022") and points readers chiefly to Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS, Guide to business expense resources). We cite the 2022 Publication 535 only where nothing newer covers a point.

Business or hobby: the first question

Everything else depends on this. The Schedule C instructions say an activity "qualifies as a business if your primary purpose for engaging in the activity is for income or profit and you are involved in the activity with continuity and regularity," and that "a sporadic activity, a not-for-profit activity, or a hobby does not qualify as a business" (Instructions for Schedule C).

The IRS lists the factors it weighs, and says "No one factor is more important than another" (IRS Tax Tip 2022-57). For an author, the ones that tend to matter are whether you:

• run the activity "in a businesslike manner" and keep "complete and accurate books and records";
• put in time and effort that show you intend to make it profitable;
• have losses that are "normal for the startup phase" of this kind of business;
• make a profit in some years, or have in similar activities before.

The 2022 Publication 535 adds a presumption: an activity "is presumed carried on for profit if it produced a profit in at least 3 of the last 5 tax years, including the current year," and Form 5213 lets a new activity postpone that test until five years have passed (Publication 535 for 2022, chapter 1).

Hobby income is still reported, on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8j, but Publication 525 says "Losses from a hobby aren't deductible from other income" (Publication 525).

Ask your tax professional: is my book a business, part of an existing business, or a hobby, and what records would support that?

The test every expense has to pass

Publication 334 sets the general rule: "To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your field of business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business." It also warns that where an expense is partly personal, "The personal part is generally not deductible" (Publication 334, chapter 8).

The harder cases have a personal side: a research trip that is also a holiday, or a laptop the family uses.

The rule written for authors

The one place the IRS speaks to authors by name is the uniform capitalization rules of section 263A. Capitalizing a cost means adding it to the value of what you produce instead of deducting it as you go. Publication 538 says the rules cover producing "tangible personal property," which "includes films, sound recordings, video tapes, books, artwork, photographs," and immediately adds: "However, freelance authors, photographers, and artists are exempt from the uniform capitalization rules if they qualify" (Publication 538).

The exemption covers "qualified creative expenses," which Publication 538 defines as expenses of "a freelance (self-employed) writer, photographer, or artist whose personal efforts create (or can reasonably be expected to create) certain properties." A writer is "an individual who creates a literary manuscript." Two limits matter for a book budget:

• Printing is carved out. The Schedule C instructions say the exception "does not apply to any expense related to printing, photographic plates, motion picture films, videotapes, or similar items. These expenses are subject to the capitalization rules."
• Your own personal efforts. The property must be created by your personal efforts. Whether a book written with a ghostwriter or heavy editorial help meets that test is not something the publications answer directly.

There is a second door. Publication 538 also exempts "A small business taxpayer that meets the gross receipts test," and the Schedule C instructions define one as having "average annual gross receipts of $31 million or less for the 3 prior tax years (indexed for inflation)" and not being a tax shelter. Most self-funded authors are far below that.

Ask your tax professional: do I qualify as a small business taxpayer, as a freelance writer under the creative exception, or both, and how should printing and author copies be handled?

Common book costs and where the IRS addresses them

The IRS does not name ISBNs, cover design or ghostwriters. This table maps each cost to the closest IRS text we found: where to look, not what you can claim.

Line numbers from the Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) for 2025 and the form itself. Checked October 27, 2026.

To size these lines for your own book, the costs page lists each with a sourced range, and the calculator adds them up.

Ask your tax professional: which of these lines apply to my book, which must be capitalized or depreciated, and which year each belongs in.

Costs before your business starts

Publication 583 says "Business start-up costs are the expenses you incur before you actually begin business operations," that they "may include costs for advertising, travel, surveys, and training," and that they "are generally capital expenses." Then: "You can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of business start-up costs," reduced "by the amount your start-up or organizational costs exceed $50,000. Any remaining costs must be amortized" (Publication 583). The 2022 Publication 535 gives the amortization period as 180 months.

The arithmetic, if your professional agrees these are start-up costs: on the calculator's $7,970 freelancer example, electing the $5,000 deduction leaves $2,970 to amortize over 180 months, about $16.50 a month. If your writing business was already operating, the normal rules above apply instead.

Ask your tax professional: when did my business begin, and are my pre-publication costs start-up costs or costs of an existing business?

Where royalties and sales go

The Schedule E instructions say royalties from copyrights go on Schedule E, line 4, but "If you are in business as a self-employed writer, inventor, artist, etc., report your royalty income and expenses on Schedule C, not on Schedule E" (Instructions for Schedule E). Payers should send a Form 1099-MISC if you received $10 or more in royalties.

Schedule C income carries self-employment tax. Publication 334 says you generally must pay it and file Schedule SE "if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more," and gives the 2025 rate as 15.3%. Crowdfunding is income too; see the Kickstarter guide, and how to pay for a book for company bulk orders.

Ask your tax professional: Schedule C or Schedule E for my royalties, and do I owe self-employment tax on them?

Records, and what to bring your tax professional

The IRS says "You must keep your records as long as needed to prove the income or deductions on a tax return," and calls the duty to substantiate deductions "the burden of proof" (IRS, Recordkeeping). Businesslike records also bear on the hobby question. For a book, keep:

• a separate account or card for book spending;
• every contract and invoice, and the Forms 1099 you issued and received;
• your budget and sales plan, dated to show when the business began;
• a list of author copies bought, given away and sold.

Then take the questions above to a CPA or enrolled agent, ideally before you spend. If you are deciding whether the book will earn its cost back in sales or in business, the break-even guide works through both.

Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells book writing and publishing services and does not give tax advice. If you are comparing a service with the freelance route, its prices are published, so you can show your tax professional a fixed figure.