The 4-1-1 on Self Publishing

The 4-1-1 on Self Publishing Pt. 1 – What’s In a Name

If you have ever thought about self-publishing or curious to how the process work, be sure to stop back next month at the same time. Over the next few months, I’ve decided to share with Blogging in Black visitors things I learned during the time I was self-published.
For my post about the Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing and Traditionally Publishing, visit this link:

Today, I will talk about something as simple but hard–naming your self publishing company. (Excerpt from my 4-1-1 on Self-Publishing Workshop)

I. YOUR PUBLISHING COMPANY NAME

Have you chosen a name for your publishing company yet? Try to use a name that you wouldn’t be ashamed of saying OVER and OVER again. I won’t mention any here, but I’m sure we’ve all seen some names and wondered why would someone name their business XYZ.

You want the name to be professional, because remember, this is a business. Some people use their name as part of their publishing company. There’s nothing wrong with it; however I’ve read several books such as Dan Poytner’s Self-Publishing Manual and Mark E. Smith and Sara Freeman Smith’s How to Self-Publish & Market Your Own Book that suggest using something not associated with your name.

You want to give off the impression that another company is actually publishing your book or else some folks may not take your book seriously and overlook it just because of some pre-conceived notion they have with self-published books. Some distributors and readers are hesitant to buy books from “self-published” authors if the package is not professional. It’s sad to say, but true.

Once you decide on your publishing company’s name, you’ll be ready for the next step.

I suggest that you visit the Small Business Association’s web page: http://www.sba.gov.  There are quite a few resources available to you. It will also answer other questions you may have about starting your new publishing company.

II. Sample of a Publishing Company

For today’s post, our publishing company’s name will be SUCCESS INC.

One of the next things we’ll need to do is get a P.O. BOX.  Why aren’t we using our home address?  For security reasons, I suggest you get a P.O. BOX.

If you don’t have a separate phone line for your business, I would suggest doing so. You can do it now or later.

Depending on your city, county (parish) or state’s policies, you will then need to register and apply for your Assumed Name or Doing Business As (DBA) certificate. The cost is normally small, but check first before going down to their office.

Now that we’ve done all that, we can now get our business cards and letterhead for SUCCESS INC.  It’s now OFFICIAL, we’re in business.

Let’s go ahead and request some forms or at least know where they are located when we get ready to fill them out later.

1.    The first thing we want to do is get our ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Log on to: http://www.isbn.org.

The ISBN can now be done electronically, so when you’re ready, you can do it online or print the form and mail it. The cost starts at $225.00.

I would suggest getting the ISBNs as soon as possible. The ISBN is like a social security number. You want to start promoting prior to the book going to print, and the ISBN should be identified with your book as you submit promotional material to the bookstores, book clubs, etc.
 
2.    Wouldn’t it be great to see your book in the library? The libraries require certain information.  Grant it, just because you have a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number (LCCN)/Publishers-Cataloging In Progress (P-CIP) won’t guarantee automatic placement into the library.  You will have 100 percent more of a chance of it being picked up by a library with it, than without it.

 Now that we have our ISBN, we can apply for our LCCN (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number) http://pcn.loc.gov/pcn/ and P-CIP (Publishers-Cataloging In Progress) http://www.loc.gov/loc/infopub/

These can also be done online or via the mail. Please go to the websites when you’re ready for this stage to see what the current requirements are.

3.    Once you get your ISBN, you will also need to fill out an Advance Book Information (ABI) form.  You can find out more by logging on to: http://www.bowker.com. The ABI gives detail information about your book, such as title, size, etc.

4.    Another important thing we need to do is COPYRIGHT our completed book. We will need to fill out Form TX or Short Form TX and follow the instructions. To find the form, go to the copyright office web site at: http://www.copyright.gov/

Please note you will need to put your ISBN, LCCN/P-CIP number and copyright year on the title page of your book.

If you have any questions about this process, please leave them in the comment field. Next month, I’ll be back with more tips on self-publishing.

Shelia M Goss is the national best-selling author of six multi-cultural romance books: Hollywood Deception (2010), His Invisible Wife, My Invisible Husband, Roses are thorns, Paige’s Web, Double Platinum and  and three young adult books: The Lip Gloss Chronicles series: The Ultimate Test, Splitsville, and Paper Thin (January 2010). For more information, visit her website: www.sheliagoss.com or www.thelipglosschronicles.com