Value of creating your own publishing company

When you decide to self-publish your book, you face two choices: Either you can allow the on-demand printing house to be your publisher or you can be your own publisher and essentially contract the on-demand company to be your printer and distributor.

Either approach is fine, but depending on your long-term writing goals, you may want to give serious consideration to creating your own publishing company. That’s right – you, too, soon may be a CEO and company president (and to think, you just wanted to write a book about vampires)!

Advantages of creating your own publishing company include:
• Avoiding the appearance of being a self-published book – You do this purely for publicity purposes. Many mainstream media will not give your book any attention if it’s self-published, and they can tell it is when “Kindle Direct Publishing” and “Lulu.com” appear on the copyright page. But how are they to know that “Spring Valley Publishing Inc.” or “Dream Achieved Publishing Co.” is really just a front for your self-published book?
• Improved marketing – Having all of your writings in a single catalog at one publishing company can make promoting and selling you books easier. Says Norman Stevens, founder and owner of Storey County Publishing Company, “It’s really just a way to promote my books through a publishing company rather than setting up a new website for every book I write.”
• Creating future earning opportunities – If you write a series of books around a single topic or theme, especially if its nonfiction, you’re creating a franchise that then can be sold … and why not sell your rights to the series concept “How to Fix (fill in blank) with a Hammer” for hundreds of thousands (maybe millions!) of dollars once it becomes successful? You always can move on to a series of books about “How to Invest Your Wealth.” 
• Greater control of your writings – Since you’re both the publisher and the writer, you can do whatever you like with your works and potentially garner higher royalties. That’s why successful songwriters and filmmakers often create their own publishing companies.

Still, creating your own publishing company does come with some disadvantages:
• Cost of creating a business – At least at first, you’re going to spend all of your book royalties (and money from your day job) covering a variety of expenses that come with establishing your own business, specifically state/local licensing and registration as well as state and federal taxes. You’re also going to at least need some accounting software and probably some classes on starting and running a business (Where you’ll discuss such issues as whether or not to be a sole proprietor, LLC, or a corporation.).
• Time of creating a business – If you start your own publishing company, you’ve become an entrepreneur. This likely means a lot of extra work for no long-term gain or benefit (especially if just publishing a single volume), and that’s a distraction from your writing. After all, the reason you’re self-publishing is to become a published writer, not the next Donald Trump.

Should you decided to create your own publishing company, you likely will still use an on-demand publisher to print your book. You get to list your publishing company’s name on the title page and book cover, though.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks: