If the royalty income is due to your own efforts, that is, you
wrote the book, the earnings and expenses are reported to you just as
you said.   You report that income and related expenses on Form 1040
Schedule C and if a profit, probably Schedule SE as well.

Some people receive royalty income because they purchased the
royalty rights or they inherited the rights to the royalty payments,
and the 1099 would look the same.  But in that case the royalty amounts
go on Schedule E and there is no Schedule SE to be concerned with.

Maybe TaxAct puts you through those questions as part of their interview?

No matter.  You need to find a way to get the income you received to
schedule C and expenses go there too.  I'd bet it is smart enough to
then run Schedule C profit through schedule SE all by itself.

One more thing.  If the interview starts to veer off into issues of
gas or oil wells, it might be OK as long as it does not produce a
schedule E.
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ArtKamlet  at  a o l dot c o m  Columbus OH  K2PZH