I received a 1099-MISC from Amazon for book royalties. This is not a business, it is a hobby for me. It's not a lot of money. If I enter the Amazon 1099-MISC in turbotax, it makes me file a Schedule C and treat it as a business with lots of additional forms and information that I am forced to answer which have nothing to do with my intent. I want to enter it in misc income as a hobby for the amount reported on the 1099-MISC. Do I just not enter the 1099-MISC form in turbotax and report all the income on it as a hobby? Won't the IRS expect to see the 1099-MISC and and me nasty messages claiming I didn't report all my income?
It depends.
Generally, rents and royalties, are entered in the Rent and Royalties section of TurboTax. You will use this section if this a regular recurring Royalty you will be receiving for something that happened in the past. Once you get past the questions on rentals, TurboTax will ask if it is a Royalty. Follow the onscreen prompts from there.
If it is a hobby, where you don't intend to make a living, then you report the income as hobby income. Choose Income & Expenses
Scroll down to Less Common Income and Choose Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C
Then Choose Hobby Income and Expenses
If you are a writer and in the business to make money as an author, you will need to enter the income on Schedule C (in the Self Employed Section of TurboTax) and it will generate a Schedule C, as you described.