[HNW] 15997 Sibmacher

[Lavolta Press]

Allison263 at aol.com wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> Definitely don't drop this! It sounds like a lot of work, but in the end 
> it's not that much. I have my own business (I'm a freelance writer, 
> editor, and consultant) and I didn't have to go through any of the steps 
> talked about here. 

At least locally, the rules are different for registering a business for 
manufacturing and selling merchandise, and for freelance work/consulting 
are different. I also was a freelance writer and editor, and writing off 
expenses on my taxes, before I had to register a business name for my 
publishing house.

> I'm somewhat mystified at this discussion, because it's not been my 
> experience that an author needs to do all this. With the small print run 
> you're considering, it seems to me that it would be OK to make good 
> copies and then sell them to vendors who would then sell them to the 
> public. 

And do you know for sure whether these entities have registered their 
businesses, and whether they are doing the proper things in regard to 
their sales and income taxes?  Their being in the SCA doesn't mean 
anything to the government.

Anyway, I think you are correct: I was mistaken giving advice in this 
conversation. I'm  career writer, editor, and publisher; I worked for 
other book and magazine publishers for ten years before starting my own 
business.  And when discussing publishing projects now, I'm used to 
being around other professional writers, editors, and publishers.

In the past ten years or so, new technology has spawned a huge increase 
in micropublishing. I'm used to being around first-time, one-book 
publishers who are agonizing over the technical requirements for 
preparing their print jobs for a real printer (not a copy shop), over 
how to prepare bound galleys for the best shot at reviews in _Publishers 
Weekly_ et al, over how to get onto talk shows and what to say there, 
over how to get into chain bookstores, and so forth.

And, a fair number of micropublishers are achieving one or more of the 
above.  My business really got its boost with the first edition of my 
first book, which was stocked by the Barnes & Noble chain; which in turn 
got me, as a publisher of all my books, into the US's leading 
wholesaler; where I've maintained a sales level that's enabled me to 
stay there.  When B & T was stocking that book, I was sending out 
shipments a hundred copies at a time and going "Wow."

So to be honest, hobby publishing isn't something I relate to. I figure 
that you either do your personal best, or you don't publish at all. 
Obviously, some other people's mileage varies; and if you don't really 
care about the quality, distribution, or profits of what you produce, 
then yes, professional advice is unnecessary.

Fran
Lavolta Press
http://www.lavoltapress.com