I've setup my own Publishing Company Now what?

[guest819]

I set up my own publishing house and have my own website and I'm listing my books everywhere showing the publisher as mine. This is ostensibly for tax purposes because corporation tax is lower than personal tax and there are other benefits as well, although I can't think of them right at this second. The main one is that as my own employee, I can keep my income below a certain level to avoid the higher tax rates. Not all months are bountiful, but being able to even out my income over the year helps me control my spending.

I feel that protecting the copyright of my books by placing them in the care of the Company is beneficial in the event of my demise as they're not regarded as personal assets and subject to inheritance tax rules. They belong to the Company and the director/shareholders.

The royalties going into the company, rather than direct to me separates out my spending from funds set aside for future years. It also protects the money from being frozen in the event I die and my family need access to cash. They can also continue the business for as long as there are royalties to come in and take whatever they want as income, or sell the business complete with copyright and assets.

It seems as though I should be doing a lot more with the Company, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what would make sense to do and what wouldn't

Any Ideas?

[Doglover]

It depends whether this is just a cover for you alone, or whether you have plans to publish other authors' books at some point. Are you going to be a vanity publisher, charging for your services and uploading to kdp and wide? Or are you going to offer a contract for a part of the royalty?

[guest819]

It depends whether this is just a cover for you alone, or whether you have plans to publish other authors' books at some point. Are you going to be a vanity publisher, charging for your services and uploading to kdp and wide? Or are you going to offer a contract for a part of the royalty?

I'm not certain on any of that. I wouldn't be a vanity publisher. If I took on other books it would have to be SF because I could cross promote, so probably a %age of the royalty. To be honest, there are a ton of authors out there who have no time to sell themselves. Although I'm not sure anyone would want to trust themselves to an unknown and untested company (although my success with my own books is proven).

What about merchandising, could this work for a publishing company?

[ilamont]

Once you have answered (to yourself) the question that @Doglover posed, it then boils down to running a publishing business -- getting new books out the door and into the hands of readers. Some things to think about:

* What sorts of legal documentation do you need, and who will create it? Author agreements, assignment of copyright, copyright filings and trademark filings are typical. 
* Do you have an accountant to handle taxes? How will you track expenses, revenue coming in, etc.?
* Do you have the right people in place to help with editorial and production? If not, how will you find them?
* What channels do you need in place to sell your books online? Do you need a traditional distributor to get the books into bookstores?
* What sort of marketing and promotional activities will take place?

Good luck with your venture!

[Tom Wood]

... What about merchandising, could this work for a publishing company?

To keep things all-digital, what about selling/licensing 3D models of your characters/spaceships/etc that can be printed in a home 3D printer? What about a phone/desktop/tablet screensaver App that features images of same?