Publishing School: Creating a business entity for your publishing project

Put on your business suit and start selling yourself as the owner of a thriving book publishing enterprise

The reality of publishing your own books may set in when you realize that you are not only an author but also the owner of your own publishing business. You can use this to draw other authors to your business or to establish an impressive array of books on a certain topic or a variety of books aimed at a specific market.

The first step to take in going into business for yourself as a writer...

Name it!

Give your new company a name that sounds like success.

Many of our authores like to include a word such as "books," "publishing," "publisher," or "press"to define their company as a publishing firm. Some examples:

Your name plus "Press" or "Publishing" or "Books" (Rothwell Publishing)

A name that reflects your publishing mission (Healthy Heart Books)

A name reflecting your geographic scope without limiting your company to a specific city or region, unless that reflects the subject matter of your books (Three Rivers Publishers)

A name with a mood your books portray (Dark Matters Press)

To reduce the risk of legal snarls you can encounter if you choose a name someone else is already using, do a preliminary search on the Web, pay a visit to the United States Patent and Trademark Office--or find a legal firm that specializes in trademark searches and applications. It will cost you about $350 for a complete trademark search. A trademark application costs $150 plus $245 for each category you use for filing your trademark. One source we found on the Web is Thompson & Thompson.

Some self-publishing authors ignore the trademark issue on the assumption that their book has such limited circulation it is highly unlikely to trouble anyone and that the most severe penalty an author would have to pay would probably be to obey a "cease-and-desist" order issued by the court. We don't give legal advice; we just pass on to you what we've heard.

And what about your book?

Tell us about it.

We'd love to hear from you. Call us any time at 800 359-9503. Or send us email (hodi@mindspring.com).