Whether you plan to write six or sixty magazine articles a year, you will need a way to keep track of what work you have done, what income you have received, and what payments are owed. A lot of magazine writers do this by creating a Word or Excel file, and that's a decent solution if your goals are to be less than a full-time freelance writer. However, if you intend to make magazine writing your business, then you will be better off investing in an accounting software program that creates and keeps track of professional-looking invoices.

Accounting Software

Accounting software has become easier and easier to use over the years. Even if you are a wordsmith who has always been horrible at math, you will likely find today's accounting software more helpful than frustrating to use. Some of the programs that magazine writers favor include Quicken, Peachtree, and Microsoft Money for Small Business. Each is relatively easy to understand and offers the basic functions of creating invoices, tracking income and expenses, monitoring received income, and showing business cash flow in numbers, charts, and graphs.

Keeping track of expenses and receipts is especially important if being a magazine writer is your main source of income, because you will be entitled to multiple deductions at tax time. Most magazine writers hire an accountant, at least in their first year, to help them understand all the write-off possibilities, and a good accounting software program will make it easier for your accountant to find your deductions and list them accurately for the Internal Revenue Service.

Possible Tax Deductions

Here are some of the possible deductions you can take as a magazine writer: