{"id":3680,"date":"2012-07-09T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allandouglas.com\/blog\/?p=3680"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:41","slug":"how-to-start-a-publishing-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/how-to-start-a-publishing-company\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start a Publishing Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"printing,<\/a>There has been a fair bit of discussion in the forums lately about authors who open a publishing company to self-publish their work.\u00a0 Much of that discussion centers on whether that practice is ethical: is this author trying to deceive the readers into thinking a publishing house picked them up or simply doing business in a business-like manner.\u00a0 I contend the latter. \u00a0I make furniture, no one questions my decision to sell my furniture as a woodworking business.\u00a0 Similarly, as an author who produces and sells books I see nothing wrong with my doing business with book retailers under a publishing business name.\u00a0 Some distributors demand this: they will not deal with the author as the publisher.<\/p>\n

Business Name Game<\/h2>\n

Think carefully about your business name.\u00a0 This name conveys an image to your readers and\/or business affiliates, this is not the place for some cutesy or obnoxious \u201chandle\u201d like you might use for social media or blogging.\u00a0 Once set up, changing your business name is not an easy thing to do.\u00a0 Give it some thought, check to be sure your name is not in use already, and is not so similar to something else that you risk a law suit for infringement.\u00a0 Advice on naming a business and checking for availability is offered by the Small Business Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Business Sense<\/h2>\n

Have you run a successful business before?\u00a0 If not, you will want to schedule a meeting with your local chapter of SCORE (www.score<\/strong>.org\/<\/a>).\u00a0 This organization is comprised of retired business executives who offer advice and guidance to new businesspersons and their insight and advice can be invaluable.\u00a0 Much of the service is free, what isn\u2019t is worth the small investment.\u00a0 They may ask you some hard questions about your plans; your income sources, how much you expect to make, your expenses, your marketing plans, all things that, if you haven\u2019t thought them through already, you need to.<\/p>\n

Business Red Tape<\/h2>\n

Opening a publishing business in the USA is similar to opening any other legitimate business.\u00a0 Start with obtaining an FEIN (Federal Employee Identification Number) even if you do not plan to hire employees.\u00a0 You will use this as your tax ID number so you don\u2019t have to put your personal Social Security number on every piece of business paperwork you send out. That\u2019s just a bad idea for security reasons.\u00a0 This can be done on-line for free at\u00a0http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/Businesses\/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed\/How-to-Apply-for-an-EIN<\/a> .<\/cite><\/p>\n

Next check with your state and see what is needed to register your business license.\u00a0 This will vary by state, but generally can be done on-line and for little or no cost.<\/p>\n

Finally, register with your county for a sales tax license.\u00a0 In some cases this is a mere formality; if for example you plan to produce only eBooks that will be sold through Amazon.com and Smashwords, these distributors will take care of collecting and paying sales taxes.\u00a0 Your sales tax reports to the county will show that you made So-Much in sales income and So-Much of those sales were sales through a retailer.\u00a0 In the end you will owe no taxes on those sales, only on sales you made directly to your readers \u2013 or possibly a small minimum filing fee.\u00a0 In my county we pay $20 a year as a filing fee if our taxes don\u2019t exceed that amount.\u00a0 If you won\u2019t actually end up paying taxes, it may be tempting to skip this formality, but in some districts, conducting business without a license can get you slapped with a heavy fine.\u00a0 It\u2019s better to do it properly.<\/p>\n

Now that you have your documentation in order, open a checking account under your business name, get the debit\/credit card and order checks.<\/p>\n

Getting Down to Business<\/h2>\n

Order business cards and build a web site for your business.<\/p>\n

Next go to www.Bowkers.com<\/a> and buy a block of 10 ISBNs.\u00a0 This will cost you $250.\u00a0 Owning your own ISBNs is the only way you\u2019re going to do business with Lightning Source as a printer, and if you want to get books into bookstores, LS is the printer you need to deal with; Createspace will not get you there because they do not conform to the requirements bookstores demand.<\/p>\n

If you are absolutely certain that you will publish only your own work and only in eBook format, you may dispense with the ISBNs if you wish.\u00a0 EBook distributors will ask for an ISBN, but if you don\u2019t have one, they will assign their own internal tracking number.\u00a0 Print books require an ISBN.<\/p>\n

You will need a system for bookkeeping.\u00a0 There are many bookkeeping software programs available, a little research on The Net will help you find and evaluate them according to your needs and budget.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to use software if you prefer not to: a ledger and a pencil will work if you know a few accounting basics.\u00a0 Or you can hire an accountant to take care of it for you.\u00a0 This is often the best choice, long term, especially if you are not skilled in bookkeeping.\u00a0 In most cases your publishing company will require only a basic set of books to track your expenses, assets and income. If you must track expenses for and pay royalties to authors you\u2019ve published and distributed to many distributors, keeping it all straight can get a bit hairy.<\/p>\n

Other professionals you will want to consider finding and working out a deal with as sub-contractors would be one or more cover artists, a professional grade editor, and if you plan to offer elaborately formatted print books, a book designer.\u00a0 Obviously, if you have proficiency in any of these fields you can do this yourself.<\/p>\n

Beyond Business Basics<\/h2>\n

From here there are many decisions to make:<\/p>\n