What do I need to start a printing company?

How do I start a book publishing company?

• I want to start an independent book publishing company specalizing in fiction. I plan to print, promote and distribute novels (not a self-publishing company or vanity press but a bonafide small publisher who publishes other writers' work). Supplied I can locate the talent (i.e. the writers and their manuscripts) what steps do I need to make to be successful? What legal mumbo-jumbo steps do I need to take? How do I learn the best ways to go about printing runs, promotion and distrubution? Thanks.

• Answer:

  Greetings! To start a book publishing company in general, you will need to know basic business facts. A great place online to get an idea of the many areas involved in owning your own business may be found at Thinking Like An Entrepreneur. The site features many lengthy excerpts from a book of the same name by Peter I. Hupalo. Interestingly, there is a link on their main page to a "coming soon" title - How To Start And Run A Small Book Publishing Company: A Small Business Guide To Self Publishing And Independent Publishing. On the book publishing link page, it states the book will be released in July 2002. The information included is stated as: Inventory Accounting In The Book Trade Just-In-Time Inventory Management Turn-Key Fulfillment Solutions Tax Deductible Costs In Publishing The Basics Of Sales And Use Tax Profitable Book Pricing Standard Terms In The Book Industry Working With Distributors And Wholesalers Cover Design And Book Layout Book Promotion And Marketing How To Select Profitable Authors To Publish The Printing Process The Power Of A Strong Backlist How To Value A Copyright And Much More! I also checked for other books concerning book publishing and located one at Amazon titled Make Money Self-Publishing : Learn How from Fourteen Successful Small Publishers by Suzanne P. Thomas. In it, 14 micro-publishers are queried concerning their success. I viewed much of the text and it seemed quite comprehensive and it included both self-publishing and publishing the work of other writers. I believe it would be a good reference tool. The book was listed at $19.95 at Amazon. Below I included the Amazon link to the sample pages from the book which also includes the index. I searched for who owned the domain and it was the author, so you may want to contact him to see when the book will be out: Registrant: HCM Publishing P.O. box 18093 West Saint Paul, MN 55118 US Domain Name: THINKINGLIKE.COM Administrative Contact: Hupalo, Peter [email protected] P.O. box 18093 West Saint Paul, MN 55118 US 651-222-4791 There is also an association of American Publishers and I think it would behoove you to join that organization for networking and learning more about the industry from people already involved in it. They offer conferences and much news about the industry. As far as legal mumbo-jumbo, it would depend in which state you resided as to what would be needed to set up a corporation but many people now use an LLC, a limited liability corporation. You can find out about that by visiting a lawyer. Information on starting a small business with some legal info is located at http://www.4inc.com/llcfaq.htm I hope this information is of assistance in your quest. Should you need more clarification, please ask. SEARCH TERMS AND LINKS "how to start a small book publishing company" key phrase on Google search ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=how+to+start+a+small+book+publishing+company&btnG=Google+Search Thinking Like An Entrepreneur http://www.thinkinglike.com/Small-Business-Book/Small-Business-BK-TOC.html How To Start And Run A Small Book Publishing Company...[coming soon] http://www.thinkinglike.com/self-publishing/Self-Publishing-Index.html WhoIs - domain name owner search http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Make Money Self-Publishing : Learn How from Fourteen Successful Small Publishers by Suzanne P. Thomas http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966469127/qid=1027175794/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8068555-8908816#product-details sample text from Make Money Self-Publishing : Learn How from Fourteen Successful Small Publishers by Suzanne P. Thomas [index is present there, too] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0966469127/reader/8/ref=lib_dp_TT01/002-8068555-8908816#reader-link Association of American Publishers (AAP) http://www.publishers.org/ AAP links in book publishing http://www.publishers.org/home/links.htm Publishers Weekly (from AAP links) http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?publication=publishersweekly "starting an LLC" search phrase at Google ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=starting+an+LLC Questions about starting an LLC http://www.4inc.com/llcfaq.htm