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Matthew McConaughey (U-571) and Christian Bale (SHAFT) star in an explosive action-packed adventure with bone-charring special effects that will have you glued to your seat! When workers in a London tunneling project awaken an unearthly fire-breathing beast from centuries of slumber, all hell breaks loose. Twelve-year-old Quinn (Bale) sees his mother, one of the workers, die trying to escape this new terror. Twenty years later as a "fire chief," he tries to keep a group of refugees alive with fierce dragons dominating the air, burning the land and feeding on the ash. Unexpectedly, Van Zan (McConaughey), a hotshot American militia leader, shows up with a ragtag group of slayers on a perilous crusade to hunt down and destroy the beasts. Tempers flare when there is a struggle for leadership -- until both men realize only one species is getting out of this alive.
Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
MPAA rating : s_medPG13 PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
Product Dimensions : 7.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 4.16 Ounces
Item model number : MFR786936191417#VG
Director : Rob Bowman
Media Format : Multiple Formats, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Run time : 1 hour and 42 minutes
Release date : November 19, 2002
Actors : Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco, Benny Nieves, Alexander Siddig
Subtitles: : Spanish
Language : English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Unqualified
Studio : TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
ASIN : B00006JDVV
Writers : Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, Matt Greenberg, Zak Penn
Number of discs : 1
Best Sellers Rank: #20,003 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
#325 in Fantasy DVDs
#496 in Science Fiction DVDs
#1,722 in Mystery & Thrillers (Movies & TV)
sea_nettles
5.0 out of 5 stars 2020 and England is still homogeneous - awesome to watch just for that
A film that was made not too long ago with an AMAZING mostly male cast. The one female lead is the woman Alex -- a helicopter pilot, and is believable as one - and still looks like a woman. She was written well - as were all the characters. Love watching Matthew's character in action. Seriously epic. Never get tired of watching this film. Christian Bale does well, as he usually does. And now that it's about 2020 in real time, and we can see what has really happened to England - and London - in that dragons were never the danger but rather a loss of confidence in who we are as native Europeans - this film becomes even better. It'd never be made today.... or if it were, it'd never be cast like this. So enjoy! *And if you want to see films with a more ethnically diverse cast - those obviously exist for you to watch.
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent bookworms will like this one. Good science fiction story about a world disaster not brought about by man.
Woe is me. Negative reviewers that just don't get it. First, the time frame: Post catastrophic future after all of the dragons have been exterminated and England is in ruins. One or more have survived under ground, thus a gloomier time ahead for humans who have made it this far. Second, the lack of action: It's called build up to the action or suspense. You won't see a lot of action in Alfred Hitchcock films either.
Lastly: It is a fantasy film - for those of you who believe that humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time, I'm sorry, despite "The Flintstones", they did not. So far as we know there are not, nor has there ever been dragons. So, the script is an invention from the writers.
The critics panned the movie as they thought the whole premise was fantasy. Clue: it is!
My opinion of the film: Well, the dragons are so realistic that most of the theater audience gasped and ducked throughout the movie. The fire so realistic that I feared catching fire. The dragon's roars sent chills through my body at times. Great film! See it for yourself and ignore the reviewers here that just didn't get it.
Brian J Curry
5.0 out of 5 stars A great family tradition
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2019
When I was too young to work, my parents would give us money to get our siblings Christmas presents. My brother got this movie for me. It was clear that he bought it used and pocketed the rest of the money for himself. As a joke, the next Christmas, I re-wrapped the DVD and have it back to him as a gift. We both laughed hysterically. Over the years, we've regifted this movie to each other several times. And each time, it's been hilarious. About 8-10 years or so had gone by without a copy of Reign of Fire exchanging hands, and I decided to up the anty a bit by getting him the blu-ray version. Not only did I get this hilarious gift for him, but the padded envelope that it came in was clearly crushed by something in the shipping process, and when I received it, the case was broken in several places, making this gift even more hilarious. When my brother opened the gift, he was not disappointed. I pointed out the fact that it came in the mail with the case already broken, and he nearly lost his mind in the hilarity. A great tradition if there ever was one.
The movie isn't bad.
5.0 out of 5 stars ay, there be dragons!
Dragons! I first saw this film at a drive-in theater (when retro drive-ins started coming back into vogue) and loved it from the start. This is a non-US Blu-Ray release with no restrictions, so it plays fine on all US Blu-Ray systems (as far as I know... I have a standard player). If the question is, "How much fun can you have watching a movie?" my answer is "Watch 'Reign Of Fire' and find out!". Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, and great-looking dragons from a time when CGI was not quite so advanced (making this even more impressive). For me, this is a classic.
J. Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars Seriously UnderRated
I fell in love with this movie when I saw it in theaters. Finally a modern day Dragon movie, without the bs celebrity voiceovers that shows them for the fearful bause they are. Very interesting and plausible history and approach. And you've got Gerard Butler as the lovable friend, Christian Bale leader of the resistance and Matthew Mcconaughey as a Viking. I mean come on!
John A. Peck
5.0 out of 5 stars Ever Wonder How to Die like a Man?
Ever wonder how to die like a man? Watch Van Zan's death. Great movie. When the English characters complain that "There's only one thing worse than dragons... Americans." We all threw up our hands and shouted "YEAAAAAAAAAH!" Great movie for Americans! ;-)
Jake Friesen
5.0 out of 5 stars I thought this movie was an enjoyable fusion of DRAGONSLAYER and the TERMINATOR series with a dash of ALIEN.
I first heard about this film in a book about movies I used to check out from my local library very frequently. I had to rent the movie through an interlibrary loan though because as with CLIFFHANGER and LAST ACTION HERO, my local library didn't have it in stock. The movie tells the story of a militia fighting dragons in post-apocalyptic Great Britain. The action was definitely top-notch in my book and enough to rival DRAGONSLAYER and DRAGONHEART, both of which feature dragons, just like this film. The special effects were decent enough to make one disappointed that this movie didn't get an Oscar nomination for best visual effects. The acting was very good. Christian Bale did a very good job as Quinn, the leader of the human militia. In fact, I enjoyed Bale in this film, THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy and TERMINATOR SALVATION more then I did in AMERICAN HUSTLE, THE FIGHTER or OUT OF THE FURNACE. Matthew McConaughey was a pretty decent rival to Bale as an American soldier whose own unit has been fighting dragons in the states. I thought Gerard Butler was pretty enjoyable as Bales' right hand man. Oh, and by the way, let me tell you right now that the dragons in this movie are more like Godzilla, King Kong or the dinosaurs in the JURASSIC PARK series then Draco, the talking dragon from DRAGONHEART.
SD-SU
5.0 out of 5 stars A post apocalyptic, dragon, sci fi, action movie? HELL YES!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014
RoF is one of those movies that make you wonder how it got made. A post apocalyptic, dragon, sci fi, action movie? Hell yes!! And it stars three of the biggest leading men in Hollywood--Matthew McConaughy, Christian Bale, and Gerard Butler? Rock on!! The story is somewhat ridiculous--that has to be said. But the acting is superb. The men carry the show even when they're over-the-top, especially McConaughy's insane Captain Ahab-esque soldier/barbarian. But this is the type of movie that forgives and even encourages over-the-top. I've been re-watching this flick for over 10 years, and never get bored of it. Because sometimes you just want to watch great actors in silly movies about guns and dragons.
Timelord - 007
3.0 out of 5 stars Enter The Dragons.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2019
Reign Of Fire (2002).
Genre: Action/Adventure.
Certificate: 12/PG-13
Running Time: 98 Minutes.
Pointless Trivia.
1)Matthew McConaughey's character appears 30 minutes into the film & apparently stayed in character throughout filming (bet he was fun to be around).
2)The play Quinn & Creedy perform for the children is the film Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
3)Director Rob Bowman directing credits include many X-Files episodes including the feature film & Daredevil spin off movie Elektra.
4) Budget $60 million - Box Office Gross US $82.15 million.
5) Matthew McConaughey gets top billing despite only featuring in a supporting role as the movie main focus dwells on the Quinn (Christian Bales) character.
Synopsis.
In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber killing her & is set free upon the world.
20 years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast & its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn is responsible for warding off the beasts & keeping a community alive as they live out a meagre existence until the arrival of a hotshot American named Van Zan who claims he can kill the beasts & save mankind in a way Quinn's never seen done.
Timelord Thoughts.
'Reign Of Fire' in my opinion is a very underrated & often overlooked action movie starring Christian (Batman) Bale, Matthew McConaughey's & Gerard Butler which sees mankind become virtually extinct as fire breathing dragons now dominate the world & have virtually reduced planet Earth to a cinder.
The movie opens in present-day London with a young Quinn witnessing the rebirth of the race of dragons, who supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs & now set about ravaging the world once again, skip forward 20 yrs & the remnants of humanity cower in enclaves while fire-breathing dragons prowl the barren wasteland while Quinn (Christian Bale) now commands a castle in Northumberland, trying to preserve the last remnants of humanity.
Enter dragonslayer Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) a battle scarred warrior intent on tracking down & destroying the dragon king who quickly clashes with Quinns way of running things, can these two radically different men put aside there differences & work together in slaying the dragon king?
Christian Bale gives a excellent performance as Quinn, the films main hero who tries to protect his community the best way he knows how & brings heart, emotion & even hope to the Quinn character despite witnessing the death of his mother, Quinn genuinely cares for his community which makes for a refreshing change from the usual cliché dark, depressing moody survivor route that many post apocalypse movies go down.
Matthew McConaughey adds a dark layer of intensity in his slightly OTT performance as Van Zan, a shaved head, brawny tattooed arms bad ass who is the complete opposite to Quinn, Zan is a battle scarred warrior obsessed with hunting down & killing the dragon lord & will kill anyone who stands in his way, the chemistry between Bale & McConaughey is good & the film does well balancing out two different points of view & builds to a very physical intense fight scene between these two characters.
Lending acting support is former Bond girl Izabella Scorupco as Alex Jensen, Van Zan's helicopter pilot who quickly develops feelings for Quinn, Alice Krige cameos in a small role as young Quinn's mum while Gerard Butler does well as Creedy, Quinns best friend & right hand man, Rob Bowmans direction is solid & he certainly knows how to build up suspense & create interesting character drama, the dragon CGI effects are convincingly good & there appearances make for some intense action scenes that spectacularly entertain.
Flaws?, only a couple, Van Zans character isn't nearly as well fleshed out like Quinn & for the most part all we actually see is a borderline lunatic who wants to kill dragons even at the cost of human life, it would've been better for the character had we had a bit more backstory to what has pushed Van Zan over the edge & while we do get a few hints it's never really expanded upon & while the action sequences are good were once again limited to PG-13 violence which means the film is toned down to what gore can be seen, this film would've fared better as a R' rated movie as the overall tone is dark & bleak so why not go make a film for mature audiences for a change instead of pampering to the teen adolescent market.
Overall, 'Reign Of Fire' is a firestorm of entertaining action/adventure which is surprisingly emotional driven by good performances from the cast, Rob Bowmans direction packs a punch with his excellently directed dragon attack sequences from that still hold up today & while it's not quite the spectacle it could've been it's emotional impact & superior acting makes it stand out among other action films of this genre & one that I recommend checking out.
Spike Owen
4.0 out of 5 stars I lead....You follow.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2011
Reign of Fire is directed by Rob Bowman and collectively written by Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka and Matt Greenberg. It stars Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco and Gerard Butler. Cinematography is by Adrian Biddle. Story is set in Apocalyptic England 2020, and fire breathing dragons rule the skies as mankind threatens to become extinct. But in the North a small community of humans, led by Quinn (Bale), do their best to survive. Into their lives comes Dragon Slayer, Denton Van Zan (McConaughey) and his small band of American soldiers, it upsets the equilibrium of the community, but if they can pull together? Then maybe there is hope for mankind to once again thrive.....
It's one of those films that has a reputation, or internet rating, that's difficult to pin down as to how true to form they are. Reign of Fire without a doubt has a premise that's actually better than the film ultimately is. There is scope there for a big budgeted sequel/prequel or certainly for another big summer popcorn blockbuster where dragons rule the Earth. Bowman's film, I believe, was let down badly by the publicity junket that accompanied it. The trailers promised untold delights of dragons fighting mankind, dueling with helicopters and laying siege to man at his most vulnerable. The posters suggested a sky lit up by fire as London comes under attack by a number of winged beasties, the artwork stunning in its presentation. Sadly, as those who have seen the film can attest, neither promise is met, thus expectation levels were never going to be met. So is the low internet rating, and indifferent critical opinions, calling it on its own terms?
Entering with a low expectation does help one to enjoy the film more on a first viewing, definitely, but a repeat viewing also improves the film no end on account of just enjoying the look, feel and characterisations at work. Yes we are still hungry for more dragon attacks, in fact just one sequence of an army of dragons attacking would have been nice, but this is still a gritty little fantasy working well within its budgetary restrictions. The lead players are good value, Bale is grizzled and buffed, putting some quality emotional pathos into Quinn in the process, while McConaughey is on full tilt overdrive excess as the battle hardened Van Zan. You can call it ham or cheese if you like, but McConaughey is having a good time, and the film, and its delicious premise, calls for such a fun and blunderbuss character. While Scorupco and Butler hold their respective ends up well enough. There's a lack of depth in the community characters, so a problem there as it renders the film practically a three pronged piece, while as bizarre as it may sound, the dragons too have no background for us to be involved with as they go about their search for human food.
What action is here, and there's enough to appease the average thrill seeker, is well put together by Bowman (X-Files film and series). Again it helps to realise the budget afforded the film severely restricts the options, but he does well in the singular dragon/man confrontations, with a great finale between our heroes and old daddy dragon well worth the price of a rental. While one extended sequence involving "Ark Angel" soldiers freefalling from the sky is an adrenalin fuelled crowd pleaser. The look, too, is good value, where Adrian Biddle washes out the colours from the photography to create the classic apocalyptic look; where this of course then benefits the shots of the dragon's fire breath, scorching the screen to dazzle the eyes. Clearly it could have been better, but it still comes out far better than many other bigger budgeted action/fantasy movies. Set expectation level at medium, or give the film another chance, and you may find it gets in and does a good job of entertaining you for just over an hour and half. 7/10
Mark, London
4.0 out of 5 stars I'm glad I ignored the negative reviews
I had this in my Amazon basket for ages before ordering it. Firstly, the Blu-ray presentation: good sharp 1080p24 picture with the post apocalyptic bleak grey theme coming across well with good contrast and framing. The sound is dynamic and the speech easily heard although you have to manually select the lossless LPCM 5.1 soundtrack as it defaults to plain old low quality lossy Dolby Digital which I find on any movie is great for booming bass but can make the dialogue muddy unless you enable dynamic range compression which is just not needed with the lossless 5.1 LPCM so make sure you select that in the setup menu first!
Regarding the film itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I usually like Christian Bale's character acting and again he puts himself into it fully as a slightly detached battle weary father figure for a community of would be survivors. I didn't relate to Matthew McNoughty's character but it fitted well into the film. There was a good balance of character portrayal to bring you into the bleak outlook these people face and thankfully this was not a movie with dragons flying around everywhere simply because they could and because all the CGI design and texture mapping had been done. They were instead used sparingly to drive the story on. Although most complaints in these reviews are about a lack of dragons, I think that if there were many more scenes of swooping dragon flight or fire breathing to satisfy those wanting inane CGI, the film would get even more negative reviews because of it. If you want frantic action of men fighting "monsters" with great CGI rapid sequence effects to feast your eyes / distract you from the plot then I would recommend any of the Transformers movies instead!!
alanscape
5.0 out of 5 stars Much under-rated...
I consider this to be one of the best films of its type ever produced... the effects are excellent and the 'extras' are interesting and informative.... not 'padding' at all.
It's true that the story-line isn't exactly mind-numbingly convoluted but it's believable in a way.
No 'message for mankind' here, just good clean(ish) fun.
Strassman612
5.0 out of 5 stars Packed action movie!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2020
Haven't seen this Movie in a really long time. So good to watch this movie again.
As per usual this package arrived ahead of schedule thank you for this!
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An 18-hole public course. Season runs year 'round. Green fees for non-members. Mon. - Fri. $22 for 18 holes, $15 for nine holes; weekends $22 for 18 holes $15 for nine holes. Clubs and carts for rent. Driving range and practice green.


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The Landing's History is Fascinating to Explore
Located in one of New Zealand's most culturally and historically significant areas, The Landing is home to many special places of interest. Here we share some of the locations in and near The Landing which can be enjoyed and learned about next time you visit.
RANGIHOUA HERITAGE PARK AND THE MARSDEN CROSS
Sitting alongside The Landing is Rangihoua Heritage Park, a site that commemorates the coming together of Maori and Pakeha cultures. Their cultural union was somewhat personified by an historic sermon, delivered here by Reverend Samuel Marsden on Christmas Day 1814. This was the first Christian sermon given in New Zealand; a service attended by Maori and Europeans, with local Maori chief Ruatara interpreting.
Rangihoua Heritage Park's most significant landmarks are Rore Kahu (soaring eagle), a stunning structure which celebrates the area's historical importance, and The Marsden Cross, a monument erected 100 years after Marsden's sermon. A gentle round-trip walk, featuring informational displays, can be enjoyed between the two.
Rangihoua Heritage Park was officially opened in December 2014, 200 years after that historic service. The Landing contributes to the care of the park in various ways, as we consider it a site of significance and one that is an intrinsic part of The Landing's story.
WAITANGI MUSEUM
Waitangi Museum and Treaty Grounds comprise a stunning, contemporary museum that charts the history of the signing of New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed between European and Maori in 1840. The museum is at Waitangi – a short boat ride away, or 50 minutes by car.
THE NORFOLK PINE
This 150-foot Norfolk pine stands tall at The Landing, and (legend has it) was planted in 1817 to mark the birth of Hannah King Hansen, the first European child to be born and live permanently in New Zealand. She was the oldest of 11 children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Hansen, some of the first European settlers on the land.
TE PAHI'S ISLANDS
This small cluster of islands lies directly in front of The Landing. Here, the prominent chief Te Pahi lived and was attacked, along with 60 of his people, by European settlers in 1809; an attack which led to Te Pahi's death.
One of these islands, Motuapo Island, is privately owned and part of the The Landing property, while the others are owned by New Zealand's Department of Conservation. The Landing visitors can swim, kayak or paddleboard out to the islands and explore them if they wish.
PAPUKE POINT
Papuke translates from Maori as "Pa (village or settlement) on the point". Papuke was a site used by Maori chiefs to survey the bay and monitor incoming threats. The ground has been shaped to provide fortification from enemies – the formation can still be seen today.
WAIROA BAY LOOKOUT
Providing what is arguably the property's best view of the Bay of Islands is the Wairoa Bay lookout point. The site is home to a Norfolk Pine tree, which features on navigational charts and was planted for Tracey Mountain, a descendant of Walter Mountain. Just before the tree is another point of interest: the visible remains of "rua" or ancient storage pits. These terraced dugouts were used by Maori to store kumara and other valuable produce, far from the dangers of shore raids.
CHAMPAGNE SEAT
Just an easy stroll from The Boathouse, the Champagne Seat is so nicknamed because it's the perfect place to wander, drink in hand, to watch dusk gather over the Bay of Islands. The view south takes in Te Pahi's islands, the Black Rocks beyond and the mainland in the distance.
THE CROSS IN THE LAND
Visible on a gentle hill on the property is a symbol of The Landing's past: two paths that cross, forming a low X shape. These paths were used by Maori and Pakeha respectively, as they travelled to and from the shore to their homes, and the cross has come to represent the crossing of their cultures.
THE VILLAGE GREEN
In 1814, New Zealand's first mission station was established on land adjacent to The Landing. A few years later it was moved to this site, today called the Village Green, which was better suited to cultivation. Excavation in 2002 revealed treasures including agricultural implements, unbroken liquor bottles and the oldest coin found in New Zealand.
THE HANSEN GRAVE
One of the area's earliest settler family were the Hansens. John Hansen died at Te Puna in 1910 and was buried beside his wife and his two sons, who had drowned nearby in 1886. A plaque marks their resting place, protected by a fence erected by The Landing, just behind The Boathouse.
Kauri Cliffs – one of the world's best golf courses – is just a five-minute helicopter flight away, or a 50-minute drive.
A 30 minute drive from The Landing, Kerikeri is a bustling community with a weekend market where you'll find stunning local produce and crafts.
Other activities that are available and can be arranged from The Landing include dolphin and whale-watching tours, horse riding and shooting at range nearby. Activities accessible by helicopter include beach quad biking, and visiting glow-worm caves and the ancient kauri forests at Hokianga
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I can't tell you how to make it a bestseller, but I can tell you what not to do.
At this writing, I am 73. I retired at 65 and thought I could spend my best years reading all the books I never had time to read before. That lasted a couple of months before I decided I wasn't going to find that many books that I truly enjoyed. The answer – why not write what I wanted to read? I'd played around with writing while working my day job and had a few manuscripts completed. That's when I heard about a website that let authors upload their books for free! I love free. They promised reviews and a rankings according to how many people bought the book.
Here's the thing – I couldn't spell and didn't care. Grammar? What's that?
Rule #1 – invest in a good proofreader.
Bad reviews kill sales and are hard to overcome.
I uploaded the book and the first person to take a look said my blurb, that little thing on the back of paperbacks that tempt people to buy, was one of the worst he'd ever seen. I was crushed, went outside, screamed, pulled my hair out, and…it occurred to me he might be right. He was right and I am eternally grateful for his blunt honesty.
I fixed the blurb as best I could and that book, spelling and grammar problems and all, made it to the top ten bestseller list. I was in my glory days!
Suddenly, the whole site just disappeared.
Rule #2 – see how write a blurb later in this book.
I consider myself more of an optimist than a pessimist, and even with bad reviews, I was encouraged. I thought I could write a book other people might actually read. I pause here to say that practically everyone wants to write a book, everyone has a story to tell, but actually sitting down and writing it is something else again. Most of them never will. They spend approximately one hour staring at a blank word document on their PC, and then get up and walk away. That's a good thing – it eliminates a lot of my competition.
Anyway, I got hooked on reading historical romances and thought why not? So I wrote a little short story called Anna and posted it on my free website. I love free. Around the same time, I found another website that would let me post my short story on it with a link to my website. I wrote another short story, and another, and…well, I got a lot of good reviews and a lot of bad ones. I still couldn't spell and still didn't care much. Writers are not supposed to be bothered with such unimportant details. No one was more surprised than me when I started getting 10,000 hits on my stories a month. Not only that, they wanted more, more, more. By the time I stopped posting them on my website for everyone to read free, I'd written 20 short stories covering several generations of the MacGreagor Scottish clan.
I was a big hit! I thought all was well.
Rule #3. Choose your genre carefully.
If your book takes off and you are fortunate enough to attract some fans, they will expect more of the same. I'm still writing historical romance ten long years after that first little story, although I've also written a few mysteries. Building a following for my mysteries has been an ongoing struggle. My fans only want historical and finding a new set of fans is not easy.
By then, I discovered a couple of online booksellers were offering to let authors, any authors, all authors, upload their books and sell them through their sites – and they were paying too, some paying authors 65% and some as much as 70% of the list price.
I could not wait to try that out! I turned my little stories into five volumes and went for it.
Can you believe it? Readers started complaining about the books. They said I couldn't spell and my grammar was a disaster. I was crushed. I went outside, screamed, pulled my hair out and…knew they were right.
To date, those first five books have been edited and reedited countless times with the last one just this year (2018). Hopefully, they are completely without error now. What's interesting is that some people were bold enough to let me know about certain errors through the "contact Marti" page on my website.
I've only used one actual editor. They tend to want to change your sentences around. For example, I wrote: "She should not have done that, she knew." The editor changed it to "She knew she should not have done that." I still don't understand the difference except that the first is my style and the second is hers.
A good proofreader is worth his or her weight in gold. They can find missing words, wrong words that sound the same but are spelled differently, and point out grammar and punctuation problems. I don't want someone rewriting my books, but maybe that's just me. Hey, maybe that why I'm not a bestselling author. I hadn't thought of that.
Rule #4: Never get mad at someone who is trying to help you.
Set aside your personal feelings and consider what the next reader will think if you don't fix your book. Be aware that the reading public fears letting us know about errors because too many authors rip them a new one when they try to help. This applies to online reviews as well. NEVER respond to an online review. It just makes you look petty and ungrateful.
Reviews – hate 'em or love 'em. Anything below four stars can spell disaster. Five stars indicates that the book is good, but maybe not a classic. Five stars doesn't mean it's a classic, just that the reader liked and maybe even loved it. Reviews are promotion in their own right and can sink or make a book into a bestseller. I am now the proud author of over fifty books. Even so, I have never made it to the bestseller lists. Oh well.
Still thinking of writing a book? Okay, I'll tell you how I do it?
Nonfiction is easier because you have a predetermined timeline to work with. In fiction, you have to make one up. There are two methods – write an outline first, or just let it rip. I'm a let it rip author. I create two characters, give them a problem I don't know how to solve, and let them talk it out. I create the who, what, where, when and most of all why, throw in a few descriptions of the people, add sight, sound, smell, etc., and pop in a few more characters to either help or hinder the main characters. Then I add a sub-plot and have the two plots un-expectantly come together in the end.
Even after you've written the book and had it proofread, you're still not done. Now you have to format. I learned to do this early on and never regretted it. After all, I'm the queen of error repair. These days I format the book before I even begin writing. It's easy. I started out using a word.doc and since all the booksellers accept a .doc and .docx when uploading, I never saw a reason to pay for one of those fancy book-writing programs. I already had Word on my computer, so I could format my book for free. Under Paragraph, choose align left, Indent 3, Line space – 1 ½ and check that little box that says "don't add space between paragraphs.
If you pay someone to do it, you'll be dependent on them for all your books and it can get expensive.
Rule #6: If you're going to write, learn to read.
This is probably the best advice I can give you. The internet is filled with outdated, useless information, some of which is written by people who have never had a bestseller. They might even claim they are bestselling authors under a pseudonym, but they won't tell you the name so you can't check it out. The best thing to do is to join a writer's message board and read, read, read. You can waste a lot of time and money on bad advice.
Rule #7: Pay your taxes.
Think you don't have to pay taxes on that little novel you just published? Wrong!
Naturally, it depends on the country, but in the US after you make a certain amount, you're supposed to pay quarterly estimated taxes. You might need a business license. You might need an accountant, but don't be surprised if an accountant doesn't have a clue as to how to file your taxes. This business is less than ten years old.
Nevertheless, this is a business.
Rule #8: Read! Find out what the tax laws are.
In your state and what you might owe to the Federal government.
Thinking of incorporating? Oh boy, you're not going to find very much real information about how to do that even on the internet. How do you decide between an LLC and an S-corp? I struggled with this question for six months. My accountant, the one I fired, said not to incorporate until after I made $100,000.00. I'm a literal person, so when I hit the mark, I set up an S-Corp. Wrong. I set it up in the middle of the year. Talk about a tax headache. I had to find as sole-proprietor for part of the year and as an S-Corp for the other part. I could fill a book with what I didn't know about setting up a business. I read, I just didn't read enough.
Oh yeah, I hired a certified public accountant who cost me a small fortune, and ended up owing $600.00 back taxes plus a penalty because the accountant did it wrong. I fired that one too. I couldn't do any worse than they did, so I thought I'd just do the taxes myself.
It's never a good idea to let the Feds know you exist. Unfortunately, they already had a line on me from the first screwed up return. That got my Federal taxes in subsequent years red-flagged, or so I believe. Doing a return on my business should have been easy. All I had to do was pay Social Security on my one employee – me. However, it helps if you send the right form to the right department. It took a full year to get that $3,000.00 mess straightened out.
An S-corp is a pass-through entity, which means I could pass some of the income to my shareholders and not pay taxes on that amount myself. The reason I chose and S-corp, was also because I'm, well, old. An S-Corp can be passed down to my daughters after I'm gone instead of making them divide my books between the two of them. I still think that was the right thing to do.
It turned out to be easier to prove who I didn't sell books to than who I did. Thankfully, the reports generated from the sites that sell books on my behalf, show me which country they sold in. One bookseller actually tells me what state, but that's just one out of five booksellers. Three of the five have something in their terms and conditions that confirms they collect sales tax and in which state. My state was one of them. That left just one bookseller. That particular bookseller's report only tells me which country, so unless my state uses a formula such as 50 states = 2% for one state, I'll have to pay on all the US income. I'm waiting to hear the verdict now.
Rule #9: Read, well before it's time to pay.
Find out what the requirements are concerning federal, state, city and local taxes. Download their actual tax form, and find out exactly what is required so you can plan in advance. Or, take your chances with an accountant.
The state might not have noticed me, but I filed under the wrong classification. Oops, maybe doing my own taxes wasn't a smart idea after all. What classification should I have filed under? Retail. What? I'm the retailer and the booksellers are the retailer too? But then, who am I to argue? After all, I might qualify for a small refund. I can only hope.
I moved to a pass-through state.
Rule #10: Watch out for marketing.
As if the above isn't bad enough, here comes the hard part. Writing a book is not enough – you have to market it. Most marketing methods cost money, sometimes as much as $1,000.00 for only the one day your ad will appear. When I first started out, there were lots of places I could promote my books. Now, it's called spam and is extremely forbidden. Authors turned from message boards to social media about the same time everyone else did. Lately, social media no longer lets you promote for free – they'll sell you an ad, however, a very expensive ad.
Rule #11: If you haven't learned to read yet.
You're about to find out how easily it is to become a victim. Ads on social media and other places that sell per click, are tricky. If you're not careful, you could spend as much as $100.00 a day before you realize it.
There are other ways to advertise. There are sites that offer to promote books through newsletters and social media for a fee. Some are cheap, but do not produce the desired results – which of course is selling books. Some are reasonable and do a better job, and some are pricy but return outstanding results. The thing is, the expensive sites can and are very selective about which books they accept. I know authors who have tried for a year and still haven't been accepted.
Rule #12: Your cover art may not be good enough.
I can't tell you how many times I've paid for or created new cover art for my 50+ books. Literally, I can't tell you. If you do a search on my first book which begins with Anna, you'll easily find half a dozen different covers. Sadly, I think the first one was the best, but I listened to people who said they knew what to do, and changed it. I miss that cover with the black horse and the blue/black background.
There are a lot of great cover artists out there, but they don't know your book. That makes it next to impossible to find one that helps depict your particular story. Sometimes you have to settle for "almost." Occasionally, I buy the cover before I write the book so I can make it fit.
Some authors will tell you the cover needs to express the genre, and for the most part they are right. If you write a western, your cover art should tell the reader at first glance to expect a western. Covered wagons are good. The trend for romance – hot and otherwise has been half naked men, but those are experience overload in my opinion. Even so, a man and a woman in an embrace on the cover says romance, a man dressed in black holding a knife says thriller, and a cute duck works for children's books. It's a difficult trend to ignore.
There are plenty of less expensive cover art options out there, you just have to do a search. The price for a pre-made cover ranges from $10.00 to over $400.00 US and beyond. If you want a back cover too, that'll sometimes cost extra.
Why is the cover art so important? Because it is the first thing a reader sees on your product sales page. The second thing is the blurb. I already told you about my blurb disaster and I wish I could stay that was the only one. Unfortunately, I've written blurbs with misspelled words (shocking), missing words, incomplete sentences, and all other possible mistakes. Fortunately, in this real world industry, it's easy to fix mistakes.
Rule #13: How not to write a blurb.
No they won't! They won't even buy your book. It has no reviews and the author has the audacity to tell me, the reader, what I'll love. Worst of all, readers will kill the book with bad reviews if it doesn't live up to the hype. It's the reviewers job to tell other readers that they loved the book and that those who like Steven King will love that one too.
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times – JUST WRITE A GOOD BOOK. Duh, I have yet to meet an author who didn't think they've written a good book and maybe a bestseller. Like I said, writing it is the easy part – selling it is when the real work begins. To sell it, you need not just a good one, but a great blurb.
A blurb is a mini-mystery, no matter the genre. It's the hook. It's the means by which you hope to entice people to read the sample and then buy the book. When the blurb fails to get their attention, then they'll simply go on to the next book.
When an author needs four long paragraphs to tell the reader what the book is about, it means the author doesn't really know. A blurb is not a summary nor a book report.
Rule # 14: Keep your eye on the reader.
He loved her, he left her and then he killed her – or did he?
I don't recommend a one sentence blurb, although I've been tempted to try one. Instead, I use a simple formula: Choose a character, describe his or her problem, and add a hook. Your first chapter should describe what the initial problem is and who the main character is, so you can practically ignore the rest of the book when you're writing the blurb. The hook is a little harder to write.
Oh please, of course she will survive. This is a romance and all romance books have happy endings. Here's the thing. All questions are not hooks but all hooks are questions. You just have to make certain the reader cannot guess the answer. By the way, you only have a few seconds to grab the reader's attention. Lately, authors are using at tag line. I'm not fond of them, which is probably why they sell more books than I do. Take a look at a bestseller list and see which you prefer.
It took months to come up with this blurb and it works. It's an example of my formula – Character, Problem, Hook.
ANNA -- In love with a woman he had only seen once and could not find, the Highlander, Kevin MacGreagor was growing older and needed a wife to give him sons. No other woman pleased him, not even the daughters of other lairds, so he finally settled for Anna sight unseen. But when his men went to meet her guard, she was all alone and badly beaten. Who could have done such a thing and why?
In 1912 Kentucky, Sam Smooth, a Locksmith who was pushing 35 years old wanted a wife. Mary Fields would do if she weren't so tall, Clare Woods might even be pretty if she had all her teeth and Sarah Clink needed more broadcloth to cover her figure than any woman he'd ever seen. Yet finding a wife wasn't his only problem. Old man Sheppard got himself murdered and the nosey Sheriff kept coming around asking questions. Maybe Sam had thought about killing that callous old man, but who hadn't? And now that he was dead, who was that beautiful woman moving into the Sheppard mansion?
Nosey and Callous are power words. Other power words are scandalous, rude, calculating, brash…you get the picture.
Rule # 15: Choosing the wrong author name.
It shouldn't be a problem, but it is. If a name it too common, it will easily blend in with ten other author names. If it's too uncommon, readers probably won't remember it.
I chose to use my own name, but there are other Talbotts that have a business, and I'm related to most of them. They complain that when they search for Talbott, they get several pages of my books. Oops. On the other hand, I chose to use my real name because I thought that even if readers couldn't remember my titles, they might remember "Marti." It works, I think. Just not for my relatives.
Still think you want to write a book?
Okay, here are some things you need to know. Your book is copyrighted the moment you upload/publish it via eBook or paperback. It's pretty hard for someone to later prove that it's their book and not yours once it hits the market. If you plan to write a lot of books, consider if you want to buy your own ISBN numbers. Keep in mind that you need one for your paperback and a different one for your eBook.
Did I do that? Seriously? Of course not and now that I'm still adding to my 50+ book catalog, the cost of buying my own ISBN number is astronomical. Fortunately for me, the booksellers provide free – I love free – ISBN numbers. Unfortunately, having a bunch of different ISBN numbers can be a real nightmare and does limit your ability to get books into bookstores. Want your books in libraries? There are several booksellers that will do that for you.
Book titles are not copyrighted or trademarked except in extreme cases. There's been a huge blowup lately over copyrighting certain words that show up in many book titles. As far as I have heard, the copyrights were not issued. Whew! However, you really wouldn't want your title to be the same as a dozen other books. Do a search to make sure your title is original.
Rule #16: The front matter counts and so does the back.
It took me about three years to get this part right, but that's because this industry is constantly changing. What was right last week may not be considered right next week. That's why you have to constantly keep up-to-date on the changes.
Front matter is what goes on the first few pages of your book. Title – page 1, author's name, © copyright mark – page 2, blurb and/or author's note – page 3, Table of contents (required by most booksellers) – page 4, Chapter 1 – page 5. Don't add blank pages. It's irritating.
Why put the blurb in the front matter? Because readers are sometimes binge buyers and weeks later won't remember why they bought the book. Sticking the blurb up front refreshes their memory. If they don't read the book and delete it instead, you've still made a sale, but you won't get a review. Reviews, sadly, are needed to get the book promoters interested in accepting your book.
If anyone could screw up the back matter, it would be me.
In the eBooks, you can add links to your other books in the back. You can't put links to other stores, however, just links to your book at that specific store. I sell through five different stores, so you can imagine what it was like changing/adding links to the previous books each time I released a new one. That's five changes to each book and uploading a new version to five different places.
A couple of years ago, I got a little smarter, not much, but a little. Instead, I wrote a paragraph inviting them to find my other books on my website. That idea worked and also let me see how many readers were visiting my website, and which books they seemed interested in. My new back matter is just a simple paragraph with links to my website.
All of the booksellers let me use it in the back of my books. It saves me a ton of work and time.
Rule # 17: The trouble with free books.
Deciding whether to give a book away free is one of those questions that has no real conclusive answer. I have four books that I give away free. They are the first in each of four series and they are a marketing tool. If they like the free book, they'll usually buy all the rest.
The problem is two-fold – some readers think free equals low quality. Okay, so mine were in the beginning, but they aren't now. Other readers will only buy free books and never buy the rest of the series, so I've lost money. On the other hand, they probably wouldn't have bought them even priced as low as $.99. If one-third of those who download a free book goes on to buy the next, I count giving the first one away a success.
Do I make or lose money? I have no idea. I'm mathematically challenged.
I certainly don't regret giving free books to people such as senior citizens who can't afford them. Call it my little contribution to the elderly, especially since I am one.
That brings me to pricing.
Rule #34: How low could I go? 34?
Early in my career, along came this blog writer guy who told authors that $2.99 was the sweet spot, so everyone and their uncle priced their books at $2.99. In my opinion, he started the crack in a fault line that was sure to break sooner or later. Readers came to expect good books for only $2.99. I remember screaming, outside of course, "RAISE YOUR PRICES!" No one was listening, or so I thought. Funny thing is, he must have heard me because he raised his prices to $3.99. The problem was, that old post about the sweet spot is still there and authors are still falling for it.
There is no sweet spot. There is only try and see.
I sold a lot of books at $4.99 until I took a long hard look at the bestselling list in historical romance. Sure, the traditional publisher were way over-priced, but the Independent authors were making a killing at $3.99 and mine stopped selling at the higher price. So, I lowered mine. Not sure that was smart, but there is no real way of knowing for certain. Some readers won't pay nearly $5 for a book that is under 300 pages and when I'm done with a story, I'm done.
I had fun writing this. Hope you enjoyed reading it. All opinions are mine and not meant to always be taken literally.
Yes, Marti - I very much enjoyed reading it - thanks for taking the time.
I'd add one thing -- if you're writing something set in a time or place other than your own, do your research. Historical fiction is full of pitfalls for the unwary, from use of language to attitudes to inaccurate settings. And if you get something wrong, be assured your readers will find it.
Not only the points you mention, but attitudes. I find that too many writers of English historical fiction have no clue about our traditions nor the very important different classes, remnants of which still exist today. An eighteenth century English duke would never allow his brother to marry an American shop girl and even if such an unlikely thing happened, the monarch would never allow it. Even today, no one in the line of succession is allowed to marry without the permission of the reigning monarch as well as parliament. That's just an example; there are hundreds of others.
Even after you've written the book and had it proofread, you're still not done. Now you have to format. Not true. If you know what you are doing, you set the formatting before you have typed a single letter.
UK history is interesting, that's for sure. I've found that no matter how much research I do, someone will know something different. That's Okay, it doesn't bother me. I stay well away from writing about actual historical events - too tedious. There is a great deal of conflict over early American history too and writing about American Indians is normally forbidden unless you are one. Plenty of insults to go around if you write historical anything. On the other hand, it's called fiction for a reason. I doubt anyone can get it right all the time.
Readers of historical fiction are also readers of historical non=fiction and most know who was king when and what one had to do to get something. You can't expect to avoid historical facts and get away with it; otherwise, what makes it historical?
If you are going to write a story set in the 1340s, it has to have a backdrop of the black death. If you are going to write a story set during the reign of Bloody Mary, you cannot ignore the religious turbulence that queen was causing. She was the reason we still have a law precluding any Catholic from the line of succession. I know James II was the last Catholic king, but he did little except declare his faith which set alarm bells ringing so they turfed him out and his daughter made that law.
You have to know all these things and if you find them tedious, why are you writing historical romance? Why not contemporary romance?
For historical fiction, research is everything, but you don't need to make it read like a text book, just have the facts right. Women didn't wear knickers until the late 18th century or possibly even later. They hadn't been invented and were not considered necessary. So if you have a story set in the sixteenth century where the female is putting on her knickers, it's poorly researched. That's the sort of thing that can let a writer down. I read one once where the earl had a realm, a kingdom and a throne. Shame, because it was an engaging, though unlikely, tale and very well written. Why spoil it with poor research?
I wouldn't dream of writing about American history because I know nothing about it and I'm not interested enough to learn. I wish more writers felt the same about English history.
You might need an accountant, but don't be surprised if an accountant doesn't have a clue as to how to file your taxes. This business is less than ten years old.
A. Self-publishing is far older than ten years old. I started self publishing in 2004, and at that point I already knew a lot of people (mostly non-fiction) who had self published.
B. Any accountant should be able to handle self-employment income. Doesn't matter if it is from self-publishing or lawn mowing or dog walking. If I go to someone with my 1099s and expense records and they DON'T know what to do, I go elsewhere.
It really is not that hard. People make it hard because they think it must be complicated. It is a matter of keeping track of how much revenue comes in versus how much your expenses are going out. Just like every other business. It gets complicated usually because people try to get cute or "get over" on their taxes.
"Oh, I am writing a book set in Hawaii, so I will take a Hawaiian vacation and write it off as a business expense!"
Well, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! Because unless you have several years of showing a profit through your business AND you can demonstrate that you were actively trying to make a profit, the IRS is probably going to deny your deduction.
"I wrote a fantasy novel. So now I can write off ALL of my fantasy novel purchases as research!"
Um, again. It ain't that easy. Because, again, the point of a business is to make a profit. You need to actually MAKE A PROFIT in order to make sure your business is treated as a business and not hobby income.
But the point is, there is nothing unique per se about publishing income. It is still either A. self-employment income (if you are a sole proprietor) or B. Business income (if you are an LCC or some other structured company).
Things may have changed since I filed an LLC (circa 2006 for an unrelated and unrealized venture) but my understanding from that time was you could "write things off" if you didn't turn a profit, but you also had to demonstrate you were making your best effort at being profitable.
After all, how many years was Amazon not profitable? I assume they got to write things off on their taxes and not considered a "hobby".
I wouldn't dream of writing about American history because I know nothing about it and I'm not interested enough to learn.
As an American, I can sum up our history for you.
"Hey, that looks cool. It's mine now."
USA: "Hey bro, you need help?"
Other countries: "No, we're good. We just need to-"
I've been reporting sole proprietor income for close to half a century. Never been audited. The first rule is to declare all income. It does help to have some, but making a profit is not necessary in the eyes of the IRS. From time to time, the IRS has sued various people who consistently have failed to make a profit. The courts have ruled against the IRS, as long as the person has demonstrated a sincere and consistent effort to make a profit. This means treating the endeavor as a business. This is not to say that certain IRS agents haven't made life miserable for certain artists. Isolated cases still do occur that frankly read like the old, evil IRS in action. But the trend of court decisions at the highest level is in favor of the artists.
Although the IRS cannot force you to run a successful business, it does ask that you run your business in a businesslike manner. This means taking the time to read the IRS publications about allowable deductions. Creating a business ledger. A spreadsheet, in other words. What could be simpler? Then taking the trouble to categorize your business expenses. Put the ad costs under ad costs and put the research under research. Learn what depreciation is. Keep a mileage log. Simple stuff, really, but many authors can't be bothered during the year, and then they try to reconstruct stuff when tax time rolls around. That's the wrong way to do it.
I credit my mother, who found an issue of Writer's Digest many years ago and went to the trouble of going to the public library and xeroxing each page of an article that laid out a writer's categories of expenses. Before computers, I kept a two-page spreadsheet of my own making, listing all those categories. Back then, I seldom had any ad costs, but I listed that as a category regardless. Today my spreadsheet is electronic and interactive, but it's based on the same categories the IRS laid out many years ago to which my mother alerted me and from which the Schedule C has never deviated. In all this time, the Schedule C has remained the same, which is interesting in and of itself, don't you think? Stands to reason then that when reviewing Schedule Cs, the IRS has a lot of experience with the proportions of dollars spent in one category versus the next based on one's business code.
Yes, you can write off that trip to Hawaii--or the part of it directly related to your writing--but it would be really smart to publish your book set in Hawaii in the same tax year. Or at least write the first draft. Or submit it to a publisher, if that's your thing. The IRS can't disallow a deduction just because it could be considered stupidly expensive. If you waste money on fancy office equipment or overpriced stationery, they're still deductible. Stupid expenses, maybe, but deductible.
As far as deducting books goes, I see no problem with that, but collectible first editions and the like might be pushing it. Then again, you might be writing a story in which someone collects rare, valuable books, and so a first edition--or even the process of purchasing it--becomes a legitimate research expense.
The IRS can't disallow a deduction just because it could be considered stupidly expensive. If you waste money on fancy office equipment or overpriced stationery, they're still deductible. Stupid expenses, maybe, but deductible.
I create audiobooks. I meet a narrator named John Doe at a convention who I think would be good for my audiobook. John isn't famous or anything, but he has a great voice. I decide I want to impress John Doe and take him to a five star restaurant for a $500 lunch meeting. But my audiobooks have never even made more than $50 a year in revenue, and John Doe isn't going to change that. If the IRS challenges that $500 lunch meeting, I don't really have a leg to stand on. There was no "normal and customary" reason for the expense.
Now let's say I'm at a convention and meet Tom Hiddleston. And for reasons that only need to make sense for purposes of this example, he expresses interest in narrating one of my books. I decide I want to impress Tom and take him to a him to a five star restaurant for a $500 lunch meeting. Tom agrees to narrate the book, and his name recognition alone is going to sell thousands of copies. That $500 lunch meeting turns into $100,000 in revenue from audiobook sales. In relation to the revenue generated, the expense is "normal and customary."
The chance of a person getting audited is low, because the IRS is incredibly understaffed and will generally put its resources into "big fish." But it does happen, and I know people who have been burned by trying to take excessive deductions in relation to their actual revenue. This is particularly true if you are publishing in relation to a pre-existing hobby. I know game designers who have been burned because they deducted all their gaming stuff and then had the IRS declare them a hobbyist instead of a business.
Then again, you might be writing a story in which someone collects rare, valuable books, and so a first edition--or even the process of purchasing it--becomes a legitimate research expense.
I don't need to physically shoot someone to understand the process of shooting a person! I write books about vampires, I don't need to drink blood to do that. This is a stretch to justify an expense that isn't needed. And, again, I'm not saying there is NEVER a scenario where the expense is valid. I'm saying the expense needs to be "normal and customary" in relation to the expected gain. That is the ultimate evidence that you are trying to run your business for profit.
I don't want to get into one of those "Someone is wrong on the Internet" debates, but the fact is that people make stupid mistakes all the time in relation to businesses they're trying to build, and making those mistakes doesn't automatically turn them into hobbyists even in the IRS's eyes. They rent office or shop space that is too expensive for the amount of business they bring in. They buy furniture for the office, or racks for the shop, or tools, and so on. The stationery thing is actually a con some people get suckered into. And most new businesses fail, as we all know. That doesn't automatically turn those businesses into hobbies.
To bring it home to self-publishing authors, some people hire book packaging companies or developmental editors or "have their manuscripts accepted" by vanity publishers whose services cost them thousands of dollars that the revenue generated does not specifically or even eventually justify. These people can't be defined as hobbyists merely because their costs are more than their income. They're doing this to make a profit. Maybe they're naive, or inept, or simply victims. Even the example of the person who spends too much on lunch with the potential narrator is one of an honest business mistake--bad thinking, but not hobbyist thinking. Magical thinking, perhaps, but entrepreneurs all tend to be magical thinkers.
The IRS has gone after some of these people in the past, and may go after some in the future, but in general the IRS prefers to go after people who have a significant amount of money involved. People who own racehorses, for instance, or someone who forgot to take capital gains over 30 years and now owes $20,000 in back taxes. The IRS doesn't currently have the manpower to routinely do the terrifying, punitive audits of small fry for which it has long been notorious. On the other hand, none of us wants to be the modern exception.
I totally agree that if a person makes a habit of luxury spending on a so-called business that is habitually losing money, the IRS may come after them and the person may not be able to justify the expenses. I've done the tax returns of people who do things like network marketing or flea market selling as a hobby, and there are telltale aspects to their returns that define hobbies rather than failing businesses. I've also done the tax returns of numerous people who are in business to make a profit and simply do not realize that they aren't--until I have to talk to them about self-employment taxes. There are all kinds of small and home businesses that fall into this category, including pizza delivery guys who can't do the math regarding their car costs versus their tips. And that new category--Uber and Lyft drivers. Yikes.
Bottom line, it all has to be done with the expectation of making a profit, and that expectation should be reasonable. But beginners often do not know what is reasonable or what is normal and customary or even what is likely. They just don't. They should err on the side of caution, but the fact is that they don't always do so. In the internet age, it's hard to justify the entire trip to Hawaii, but certainly some part of it could be deductible. Same thing with the purchase of the collector's edition book. Buy the book, write about it, and then sell the book on eBay and declare the sales income. Better yet, interview someone whose hobby is buying such books and someone else who publishes those books, and there's no research cost except a cheap lunch or two, if that.
I personally would fight the IRS if it attempted to define what is normal and customary for my business. When I started self-publishing my novels, an established indie author told me to my face that I wouldn't succeed with my books unless I spent at least $500 per cover design. So where does the IRS get off telling me I'm a hobbyist if I spend $2,000 on a Damonza cover and that I'm running a business if I spend only $50 on a pre-made? Interesting question. Today, knowing where to get information, I am aware that there are many excellent cover designs available for less than $500. But I didn't know that in 2014, and not knowing everything doesn't make me a hobbyist.
The IRS can try anything it wants. I remember how some romance writers decades ago literally had to bring in their published books to prove they weren't just housewives with a hobby. The IRS didn't win those audits, and the courts have not sustained the IRS's efforts to prove that all home business are hobbies. The IRS would dearly love to, though, and terror works very well to keep us in line.
I think we are talking across each other. I'm not arguing about people making stupid decisions. I'm talking about the notion that "I CAN DEDUCT EVERYTHING NOW I AM A PUBLISHER." I often come across people who try to justify personal purchases as "I can deduct this now as a business expense." That behavior specifically is what I am talking about. If you spend $3000 on a alienware computer for your business instead of $700 on a generic HP, I'm not saying the IRS is going to object to the more expensive computer purchase if you are using the computer for business use.
But the IRS COULD say, "How much time do you actually use the computer for WORK instead of PERSONAL? Well, that is the percentage of the computer you can deduct. (Section 179 of the tax code).
If you get a cell phone just for business use, you can deduct it for business. But if you buy an expensive personal phone under the pretense that you are just going to write it off, the IRS can limit you to only the percentage of the time you use the phone for work related stuff.
I'm not even disagreeing about being able to deduct some of the expenses for the Hawaii trip. But you can't deduct anything involving your spouse or kids, for example.
My only point was that it is important to think about deductions insofar as "how does this purchase help my business?" versus "How can I justify using this purchase I was gonna make anyway as a business deduction?
I'm not trying to be nitpicky--much--but I think it might be more reasonable to date the start of self-publishing from the point at which it became a major phenomenon rather than the work of a few (in the great scheme of things) pioneering outliers.
From that standpoint, I'd date it at the start of KDP in 2007. True, some people (like you!) were enterprising enough to figure out that a person could open a publisher account with Amazon before that time or found some other way to self-publish, but it wasn't until KDP that it became a mass movement. It isn't hard to find examples from far earlier than 2004 of individual self publishing, though in some cases conditions were so different that trying to divide works into traditionally published and self-published may not really make sense. Indeed, Poets & Writers argues that "Writers have been self-publishing since the beginning of written words." https://www.pw.org/content/notable_moments_in_selfpublishing_history_a_timeline (Ironically, their timeline doesn't even mention KDP as a milestone.) It is true that poets were often self-publishing their chapbooks a century or more ago (and one of my poet friends tells me they still do). One could find other exceptional cases. But it's hard to argue that self-publishing got going as a mass phenomenon prior to KDP.
By the way, although I am nitpicking the history a little, I'm not disagreeing with the points you're making about taxes. You're definitely right on all those points. The comparative recency of the movement doesn't mean that people shouldn't be able to figure out how to do the taxes correctly.
Julie, none of this is directed at you, just piggybacking off your comment.
This was my understanding when I bought a laptop for writing early last year. Apart from the whole lack of money, I wanted to get a fast computer with an awesome graphics card. I ended up buying a low-end machine that is a great word-processor. Graphics card is low end and no bells or whistles. But you know what, that machine is for business and in the very unlikely event I get audited, I can defend the full purchase price.
I've traveled for business once since I started writing. I set up a visit with the curator of the Alamo (an old acquaintance) where we talked about craft (he's published) and history. I deducted most of the trip. My wife was with me, and we treated all of her costs as personal, deducting none of it.
I typically spend around an hour a month reconciling transations for the business and my rule of thumb is this, "Do I think this is a legitimate business expense and can I reasonably explain it to an auditor." If I can, I include it (or a portion of it). For example, I use Netflix and Hulu for research. My wife uses it for entertainment. Guess which of us watch the most... I deduct a small fraction of the expense as research and eat the rest of it as personal.
The more clever one is with your taxes, the more likely an auditor will decide you're not clever enough by half. They've likely seen it all and know where they'll draw the line.
I'd probably use this standard whether I treated writing as a hobby or as a business. To my way of thinking, the distinction in the tax code is that as a business I can, from time to time, take a loss on my taxes, while as a hobbyist, I can't.
We do need to pull some people down from their clouds. Ideally, our contributions to this thread have made some indies think twice about how they define the reasonable parameters of this business.


In this heart-wrenching fantasy, struggling circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) hires former circus star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children to take care of Dumbo, a baby elephant who is mocked for having gigantic ears. However, the sudden discovery that he can fly turns Dumbo from laughingstock to the star of the show, regaining the circus' former glory and captivating ambitious businessman, V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton).
Dumbo's fame skyrockets as he is pulled into the Vandevere's newest attraction, Dreamland, until Holt uncovers the dark secrets lurking within its extravagant exterior.


text:
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Candidates are required to produce original research in the form of a thesis. The expected length of the thesis is around 80,000 - 100,000 words. Areas in which the candidates can specialise include Islamic History and Civilization, History of the Indian Subcontinent, South East Asian History, History of the Far East and European History.
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text:
(Credit: NBC)
'Wizard of Oz' remake in the works from Watchmen director Nicole Kassell
Tom Taylor
@TomTaylorFO
Wed 10th Feb 2021 11.30 GMT
L. Frank Baum's beloved children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has made its mark on the big screen more than a few times, with the latest incarnation being entrusted by New Line Cinema onto Watchmen director Nicole Kassell.
Kassell collected a slew of awards for her work on HBO TV mini-series Watchmen, a revamped take on the classic graphic novel by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colourist John Higgins. Her meticulous world-building work on the project makes her an ideal fit to take the reins in the Land of Oz.
Kassell also comes with big-screen experience having directed The Woodsman in 2004 and A Little Bit of Wonder back in 2011.
The director revealed her involvement in the project in a statement in which she declared, "I am incredibly honoured to join Temple Hill and New Line in bringing this beloved classic to the screen, While the 1939 musical is part of my DNA, I am exhilarated and humbled by the responsibility of re-imagining such a legendary tale. The opportunity to examine the original themes — the quest for courage, love, wisdom and home — feels more timely and urgent than ever."
Before closing the statement with a nice piece of pun work, "These are profoundly iconic shoes to fill, and I am eager to dance alongside these heroes of my childhood as we pave a newly minted yellow brick road."
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900 and inspired 13 follow-up books. It has been adapted numerous times for cinema, but few efforts have come close to rivalling the iconic 1939 Judy Garland musical, there is enough exciting pedigree behind the project this time, however, to suggest that this latest adaptation could be a hit.
As of yet, they're no further details relating to cast and crew with the project still very much in its infancy. Previous draft of the script were worked on by Darren Lemke and the duo of Neil Widener and Gavin James, but whether they have had the final say on this latest incarnation remains to be seen.


text:
Opération Valkyrie : La Peur au ventre est un vidéofilm de guerre américain de 2016 réalisé par Claudio Fäh et mettant en vedette Sean Patrick Flanery, Tom Sizemore, Kip Pardue, Stephen Lang et Rutger Hauer.

Synopsis
Alors que l'opération Valkyrie se prépare à l'assassinat d'Adolf Hitler, une équipe des forces spéciales des Alliés se prépare à extraire l'homme destiné à diriger une Allemagne d'après-guerre. Mais après que Valkyrie échoue, tout change. Maintenant, des alliés improbables doivent travailler ensemble pour empêcher un groupe d'officiers nazis de s'enfuir en Argentine et d'établir un Quatrième Reich.

Fiche technique
 Titre original : Beyond Valkyrie: Dawn of the 4th Reich
 Titre français : Opération Valkyrie : La Peur au ventre
 Réalisateur : Claudio Fäh
 Producteurs : Jeffery Beach et Phillip J. Roth
 Directeurs de la photographie : Martin Chichov
 Monteurs : John Gilbert
 Chef décorateur : Kes Bonnet et Jana Grazer
 Casting : Jeff Gerrard et Gillian Hawser
 Sociétés de production :
 Destination Films
 Jumping Horse Film (coproducteur)
 UFO International Productions
 Société de distribution : Sony Pictures Entertainment et les filiales Universal et Sony
 Durée : 100 minutes
 Dates de sortie : 2016 (Direct-to-video)
 Interdit aux moins de 16 ans (15 ans en Australie, Grèce, Corée du Sud)

Distribution
 crédité par ordre du générique
 Sean Patrick Flanery : Evan Blackburn
 Tom Sizemore : sergent-chef O'Malley
 Kip Pardue : Clarence Edward
 Stephen Lang : général
 Rutger Hauer : Oskar Halminski
 Eric Ladin : Robert Sites
 Johannes Herrschmann : Adam von König
 Pasha D. Lychnikoff : major Aleksandr Kulkov
 Tom Padley : Theodore « Dix » Dixon
 Julie Engelbrecht : Elke Schroeder
 Michael Epp : Sturmbannführer Karl Krauss
 Andrew Byron : Yevgeniy Tolstoy
 Martin Bermoser : Hauptscharführer Visser
 Nathan Cooper : l'homme à la radio
 Matt Lindquist : voix hors champ (non crédité)
 Phillip Bulcock : Obersturmführer Herzog
 Ivan Iliev : Bear
 Velizar Peev : Viktor
 Atanas Srebrev : soldat Heller
 Valeri Yordanov : Obersturmführer Rachtman
 Valentin Ganev : évêque Grün
 Yuri Angelov : Gerhard Toht
 Vladimir Kolev : prisonnier de guerre britannique
 Ivan Kavkarov : un sous-marinier
 Ivo Simeonov : un pilote anglais
 Hristo Mitzkov : un nazi en détresse

Anecdotes
 Si l'action se déroule en Prusse orientale, le tournage s'est déroulé en Bulgarie.
 Certains costumes de militaires arboraient des décorations placées n'importe comment. Le grade de sergent-chef n'était pas encore d'actualité pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, ce grade n'est apparu qu'en 1968.

Références

Liens externes

Film tourné en Bulgarie
Film sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale
Film de guerre américain
Film américain sorti en 2016

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Antarra's ramblings
Kala Pani (1980)
Kala Pani is a cheap and cheerful masala movie, which at just over two hours is also somewhat on the short side.
After a luridly coloured title sequence with see-through dancers:
we meet a couple offering a golden crown to the gods as they have been blessed with a son. The father (Ajit) is rather distracted by the sight of all the gold in the temple. That night he plans to rob the temple, but unfortunately his expert lock opener has recently been reformed and is unwilling to rob a temple. After a fight in the rain which takes place to the sound of the temple bells, Banarasi manages to call the police anonymously and L.K., as the father is known, is arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, not just for the robbery but also for teaching children from his orphanage to steal.
The happy family:
No, I won't let you steal here:
Reaping the rewards of his actions (or of not choosing his colleagues more wisely)
After L. K. has been taken to prison, Shanti is hounded by the public as a thief's wife, so she decides to leave the city. By coincidence she ends up on the same train as Banarasi, who is very friendly and takes an instant liking to her little boy though the two don't know each other.
However, more tragedy is about to strike, and in the movie's first offering of cheap special effects there is a tragic train accident.
Shanti is separated from her son, but is also entrusted with the care of a little girl by her dying mother, while Banarasi ends up with the little boy and brings him up, probably assuming that Shanit has died in the train crash. Years pass, and then L.K. is released from prison and bent on avenging himself on Banarasi and his son (not knowing, of course, that that boy is his son). He is also concerned that his wife and son seem tohave disappeared.
Hmm ...
Happy days:
L.K. frames Banarasi for a murder and theft, and he is taken to prison. He tries to teach the son to steal, but he manages to run away. Of course, he is now branded (again) as a thief's son, but he still manages to become a police inspector and we finally learn that he is called Dharamveer (Shashi Kapoor):
As a dutiful son he is still close to his father, who is in prison:
and he is good friends with Abdul, who is a extremely useful source of information (honestly, he always has the right information at the right time):
Dharamveer is new in the area and he is determined to clean up all the illegal activities. As a first step, he arrest a man named Shetty who deals in adulterated alcohol. He also tries to bribe Dharamveer, so he gets a bribenig-charge as well:
An unexpected visitor:
L.K. is now sporting white hair, but has not mended his ways at all. He is now selling statues to foreigners (shock! horror!). As a front, he pretends to be an honest car salesman (well, maybe not the most convincing front). Dharamveer comes to see him to ask him to look out for stolen cars and they share a cigarette together.
Of course, L.K. knows only too well where the stolen cars are, as they are stolen by his associate and son-substitute Shera (Amjad Khan). Shera seems not to be the most accomplished thief ever, being easily stumped by various forms of car security devices:
I am not surprised the car owner left the door unlocked:
Shera is also interested in Geeta (Neetu Singh). Geeta is a very no-nonsense young lady, who stands up for the downtrodden in her neighbourhood, and who has not time for Shera at all; or for drunken husbands who insist that their wives live with them. She is friends with Abdul and she runs a refreshment stall. In her spare time she also manages to be a dutiful daughter.
You, mister, need to sort yourself out:
Is there anybody Abdul doesn't know?
Oh, look who Maa is! (I can't say it's entirely unexpected)
We then are taken to the beach, where we meet a corrupt Constable, who takes money and snacks from all the stall owners and is generally unpleasant. However, on stall owner is new and doesn't know the routine yet, so when he (not unreasonably) demands payment for a drink, he gets taken to the police station. Inspector Dharamveer, however, does not approve of the Constables behaviour and has him temporarily suspended.
Great Sign:
Uh, I think he is angry:
Maa, on her way back from shopping, has her mangelsutra stolen, but of course, Inspector Dharamveer happens to be passing by and returns it to her. She briefly mentions a lost son, presumably for the benefit of viewers with short-term memory problems, but we swiftly move on to our first song, in which Geeta praises the advantages of having a cold drink in hot weather.
Required not yet re-united family meeting:
I am positive this isn't free from artificial colours:
While singing, Geeta notices a policeman who works as a pick-pocket. After the song finishes, she takes him to the police station, where we learn that she has already met Inspector Dharamveer, and that the two are terribly in love with each other, and have not yet managed to convey this to the other. There follows a lot of staring and interior dialogue, before the Inspector is called away on duty.
I am really rather distracted by that sign; Garlic therapy; do I even want to know?
not finding the words:
Abdul the extremely informative has found out that a consignment of drugs is going to be smuggled in a hospital van and after a car chase which swiftly takes us into the middle of nowhere, the driver of the van is arrested. He is then subjected to rather rough interviewing techniques but refuses to divulge his boss's name. However, enlisting the help of the not-so-corrupt anymore Constable, Inspector Dharamveer manages to let the suspect escape and follows him to his boss's lair (well actually more a shed) and of course he is Shera. It follows a fight which goes on ever so slightly longer than necessary (at least for my taste) though it does involve round glass pellets (now why would a group of drug-smuggling car thieves have sacks of the stuff in their lair?)
The two actually make a very cute couple:
Don't trust him:
This is rather fun:
Shera is arrested but not for long, and Inspector Dharamveer is getting a bit depressed about the distinct lack of progress. To take his mind of things and because L.K. requested his presence, he goes to the grand opening of a new hotel in town. which leads as to a dance number featuring Bindu and a very literal interpretation of that moth and flame theme so frequently found in song lyrics. Also, L.K. has come up with a cunning plan to get rid of the inspector by slipping him a lighter armed with a mini-bomb:
Pretty in pink:
People, seriously, what's with the wings:
More tobacco-related bonding:
Back at Geeta's place, Maa as fallen ill and is in need of expensive medication. However, there isn't much money around, and when Geeta asks the smarmy shop-owner for a loan he tries to rape her. Luckily she manages to fight him off (without any male assistance) and when not being able to pay for the medicine necessitates hiding somewhere, she ends up in Dharamveer's jeep. He is quite pleased to see her and offers her a lift home. Luckily (for him, less so for L.K.) Geeta disapproves of his smoking and he is so smitten by her that he is willing to give it up for her.
He then spends the night at her place, looking after Maa, who he recognizes from the mangelsutra incident. He leaves in the morning but not after Shera has planted a bomb in his jeep. Of course, Shera is seen doing this by Abdul the always present, who tries to warn the Inspector and manages to drag him out of the car just in time. The two bond and Abdul declares that he is willing to lay down his life for his friend (oh, that's generally not a good thing to say in the movies).
I am glad it is so clearly marked:
Back at Geeta's, Maa has recovered and is about to offer prayers when she notices that she is out of matches. Dharamveer has left behind is lighter, but luckily Maa isn't familiar with this piece of modern technology, and while she is still puzzling it out, Dharamveer appears, with matches. After the prayers, Maa goes to make some tea, and Dharamveer and Geeta use the opportunity to confess their love for each other, which of course is promptly celebrated with a song (and a very nice song it is):
Thank goodness:
and off we go:
Meanwhile, L.K. and Shera have not been idle. They are planning to rob the house of a rich merchant, whose servant are almost all out to attend a wedding. This requires high tech equipment. While they are at work, Inspector Dharamveer passes by and becomes suspicious. Unfortunately, L.K. manages to fob him off with a tale about his car regularly breaking down, and all the fish in the fishtank thrown over by the one servant who was still in the house, have sacrificed the lives in vain. Again, this goes on a bit longer than is strictly speaking necessary, unless you are a particular fan of watching people ring door-bells.
The owner also seems to rent out his house as film-set:
Hmmm:
High-tech equipment indeed:
All in vain:
Shera has not forgotten Geeta and in fact brings a proposal to her mother, who is horrified at the prospect and throws him out. Unfortunately, Shera is unused to rejection and tries to abduct Geeta. This in turn leads to a shoot-out with Inspector Dharamveer. Shera manages to escape but not before the Inspector recognises L.K.'s car. L.K. manages to get out of the situation, but not without Inspector Dharamveer's suspicions having been roused.
L.K. sporting a questionable fashion choice:
Suspicion:
What will happen next? What will L.K. come up with to get rid of the irritating Inspector? Will Abdul be there to help (and will he make it through the movie)? What happens when Banarasi is released from prison? Will the lost family be ever re-united and how? Whose blood is being splashed so liberally across the windscree?
And will there be even more awesome special effects than this:
Cheap and cheerful really describes this best. The story generally moves along at a decent pace (with one or two exceptions), and while not breaking any new ground presents the usual plot elements in a pleasing and fairly coherent fashion. Geeta is great, she is independent and strong, and doesn't loose all her fighting ability by putting on traditional clothes. Inspector Dharamveer is probably a tougher character than on is used to Shashi playing but he liked him in this more action-oriented part. He also has great chemistry with Neetu. The other's are fine, though we get to see surprisingly little of Maa, which is a shame as she is played by one of my favourite actresses. She is very cute when she is around, and seems surprisingly non-weepy given her lost family. Maybe having Geeta around counteracts all weepy tendencies.
And this post wouldn't be complete without:
Gratuitous Shashi pictures:
Posted by antarra at 11:26
Labels: Neetu Singh, Shashi Kapoor
Bollyviewer said...
I am so glad you reviewed this. Thanks so much! It looks awesome and so do the gratuitous Shashi-pics! :-D And it doesnt even look like Neetu runs off the sets to return years later - that really bothered me in Ek Aur Ekk Gyarah. (Now if only it will hurry up and come to one of my regular movie sources.)
I wonder if this is the only movie where a policeman's suspicions are roused by a chicken leg. Maybe he read that short story about a housewife bludgeoning her husband with a frozen chicken and then cooking it to get rid of the "murder weapon"!
By the way, the actor playing "LK" looks like Ajit in the screen caps, and "Shera" is definitely Amjad Khan, not Ajit.
antarra said...
Bollyviewer -- I corrected the actor's names. I am really rubbish at putting names and faces together; so thanks for putting me right. Usually IMDB helps me out, but not for this one.
Neetu has quite a substantial part here, and he hair stays the same.
Beth Loves Bollywood said...
Disagree about the hair! Maybe it's due to wigs and not her actual length, but in the love song where they're in the field/park, her hair is about a foot shorter than it is in the rest of the film :)
Well, it is in a song, and a fantasy one, too. She doesn't walk into a room with one hairstyle and then has a conversation with someone in a different hairstyle.
So, there may be some hair issues, but not major ones.
hmmhmm said...
Hi dear Antara,
Can you please help me by informing me a very little piece of information that these songs are filmed on whom? If you do it so i'll be really very grateful to you. The songs are-
1.Garmi karti hai nuksan
Singer-Asha Bhosle
2.Song-Haan mere saiyan jee bade
Singer-Anuradha, Hemlata
So please kindly inform me that these songsa re filmed on whom? So i'll be really grateful to you. Thanks for any help by you.
I loved your writing. I m not a very avid blog-reader. I m not sure if people even blog these days. Its 2022. This seems to be from 2009. Anyway, thanks for your funny entertaining review. Probably I wouldnt find the movie half as entertaining as your review. Having grown up watching all these masala potboilers, probably there is nothing that I haven't seen when it comes to 70s n 80s bollywood.
Other people's writings
Apni East India Company
Babasko
Bitten by Bollywood
Doc Bollywood
Filmigeek
Post punk cinema club
Roti, Kapada aur Rum
so they dance
Farz ki Jung (1989)
Obscure Songs for Shashi's birthday
Azaad (1955)
Aadmi
Amar Shakti
Anokha Pyar
Azaad
Bairaag
Bandhan Kuchchey Dhaagon Ka
Bekaraar
Chakkar pe chakkar
Deedar
Dhongee
Dil hai Betaab
Dil Ne Pukara
Farz Ki Jung
Gair Kanooni
Hulchul
Hum To Chale Pardes
Ilzaam
Kala Pani
Kaun Sachcha Kaun Jhoota
Maidan-e-Jung
Mehndi Lagi meri Haath
Naam o Nishan
Nadiya Ke Par
Oonche Log
Pakhandee
Pighalta Aasman
Prem Patra
Pyaar Ki Jeet
Raaz
Rootha na Karoo
Satta Bazaar
Shezada
Uran Khatola
Zameen Aasman
Zarbadast
antarra
Hello reader, a couple of things about me and this blog: I am not the most prolific of posters, two or three posts a month is about the average. I write about movies I enjoyed watching, not all of them featuring Shashi Kapoor (though it seems that way recently, doesn't it), but mostly older ones. This is not the place to look for a review of the latest movie to hit the cinemas. Also, for historical reasons (and due to my technical ineptness) I am known as Gebruss almost everywhere else.


text:
Q: Global/Local namespace issue while updating Tkinter GUI in Python2.7? EDIT:
I have built a User Interface using Tkinter in Python 2.7 and I am also receiving data at the socket with concurrent.futures module. Now I want GUI to update whenever there's a new data at sock.recv() but that is not happening, may be because the global 'val1' is updating in one future thread (that's handling sockets) but not the other thread which is handling the GUI. So the Listbox in GUI containing val1 remains static. It is a very long code so instead of putting the whole code here I'm just adding a pseudo-code to clarify the issue.
from Tkinter import *
import concurrent.futures
....

class UserInterface(Frame):
    def __init__(self, root):
        Frame.__init__(self, root)
        self.root = root

        global var1, var2

        # Rest of the code

        self.update()
        root.mainloop() # I have to do this, otherwise the GUI doesn't show

    def update(self):
        try:
            self.var1 = var1
            self.var2 = var2

            # Inserting/displaying the latest values of var1 and var2 in Listbox defined in the constructor
            # Rest of the update function

            self.root.after(5000, update)
        except:
            pass

def conn_handler(conn, addr):
    global val1, val2
    while True:
        buff= conn.recv(2048)
        data= json.loads(buff.strip('x'))    # 'x' is the EOL character
        val1 = ''.join(data[key1]) # not exactly but something like this
        val2 = ''.join(data[key2]) # and so on

def ui_handler():
    root= Tk()
    my_gui = UserInterface(root)
    # I earlier put my_gui.root.mainloop() here but that doesn't help either

def main():
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(5) as executor:
        sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)

        sock.bind((HOST, PORT))
        while True:
            sock.listen(5)
            conn, addr = sock.accept()
            future1 = executor.submit(conn_handler, conn, addr)
            future2 = executor.submit(ui_handler)
            concurrent.futures.wait([future1, future2])

if __name__=='__main__':
    val1 = {'key1':value1, 'key2':value2, 'key3':value3, 'key4':value4, 'key5':value5}
    val2 = {'key1':value1, 'key2':value2, 'key3':value3, 'key4':value4}
    main()

There is no error in the code when I run it, but it is not doing what I want to be done, that is, to update the GUI every time there is a new data at the receiving socket. Is there some fault in my approach/logic ?
P.S. I'm quite new to Python and programming in general, so please be kind!

A: It might not be the issue of local or global namespaces; it may as well be a simple issue of text box or list box not refreshing. I suggest in every update function, you once delete the earlier values inside the widget and then insert anything new!
In your case, something like this:
self.list_box.delete(0, END)
for i in range(len(values)):
    self.list_box.insert(END, values[i])

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
UK to say no to 20 weeks' maternity leave at full pay
Government set to disagree with European proposals to extend the period of fully paid maternity leave
By Cassandra Kempster-Roberts
The Government looks ready to block European Parliament plans to set up a minimum of 20 weeks' maternity leave at full pay and two weeks paternity leave at full pay, which are to be voted on this week.
Conservative MEPs are preparing to vote against the plans, and Coalition ministers are also rumoured to be worried about the effect the proposed legislation could have on Britain, reports the Telegraph.
The proposed plans would see fully paid maternity leave go up to 20 weeks. Currently in the UK, we can take 52 weeks' maternity leave. We get up to 90% of our average weekly pay for the first six weeks, and the following 33 weeks receive Statutory Maternity Pay, which is £124.88 a week. Dads get up to two weeks' paternity lave, at a minimum of £124 for each week.
The UK's opposition to the proposals is down to two main concerns. Firstly, it's feared the plans could cost the Government and businesses more than £2.5billion a year. Secondly, there are concerns that some companies could start rejecting female job applicants.
What do you think? Is 20 weeks' fully paid leave a great idea, or do you think it'd stop potential employers from hiring you?
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