My last post went over the basics of how Self-publishing works. But there are a lot of other things you need to make decisions about. Here are some things you need to think about when you start your self-publishing journey.
What’s an ISBN Anyway?
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is the identifier your book will carry in various retail systems. It’s how the system identifies it. You need one for every different physical edition of your book. There’s some bad news here. They’re freaking expensive. $125 for one, $295 for a pack of ten. The source for these is an outfit called Bowker, and they’ve decided to price gouge all of us, at least in the US. In Canada, and several other countries, you can get one from the government for free. It’s important to note that though you CAN have an ISBN for an eBook, you only absolutely need them for your print books. And you need a different number for every edition of your book, i.e., paperback, hardcover, etc.
There’s some good news. Most self-publishing services will give you the ISBNs for free. There is a caveat, if you use the free ISBN, then the service (Amazon or Ingram or whatever) is the publisher of record for that edition. People get confused about this. It does not give them rights over your work, it just says they arranged to have it published. A lot of people really want to have their own name, or the business name, listed as a publisher, and that’s a valid decision. In that case, you need to buy your own ISBNs. You can register them through Bowker and use them with a variety of different realtors, as long as the print edition is identical. This can be something of a pain in the ass to set up, but it’s something a lot of people do. Yes, you can write this expense off your taxes (You can write off a bunch of stuff but I’m not out here giving tax advice)
So, should you buy your own ISBNs? I haven’t, mainly because they’re so expensive and margins are close anyway. I was thinking about it because I really wanted to put a RocketSword books logo on my paperback, and didn’t think I could if I wasn’t the publisher of record. However, you can put whatever logo you want on your books (that you own, don’t get excited), and it can just function as a bran ding thing. So, you can make your own decision on this. I haven’t found it to be worth shelling out hundreds of dollars for.
Do I Need to Copyright My Book?
More good news: merely by publishing or putting your book into an electronic or physical form, your copyright is secured. That means people cannot legally steal it. That’s amazing. However, if someone were to steal your work, you can have it taken down as part of your natural copyright, but you can only sue for monetary damages if you have registered your copyright for the government. This process is kind of complicated, but basically you fill out a form, give them some money, and send copies of your book to the Library of Congress. Google it if you want to know what the current process is. So, while not absolutely required, it can be beneficial to register your copyright if you ever want to sue someone for stealing it.
Let me point out here that I am talking about the situation, specifically in the US. Other nations have similar copyright processes, but assign different rights, and might have different requirements. Research your own locality.
Do I Need to Incorporate
Self-publishers who are serious about the business side of things often suggest incorporating, either as an LLC or an S-Corp (No I don’t know what the differences between those are, I’m speaking in general terms). One highly successful self-publisher I knew said her accountant gave her an income level where she needed to incorporate for tax and liability purposes. Consult your own financial advisor if you’re interested. It is, however, possible to run your self-publishing operation as a business without going through the hassle and expense of incorporating. You can merely have a DBA (Doing Business As) or FBL (Fictitious Business License). You run either of these as a sole proprietor. It can help streamline your business, but doesn’t offer a whole lot of tax benefits, which is why when that becomes a problem, you’re going to want to incorporate. The process and expense of that is different per each state and or national locality. This is something you probably don’t have to worry too much about when you just start out. However, if you ever start making serious money, it’s a good idea to think about. I have an FBL for my own publishing/book sales imprint, which I’m named RocketSword Books. But I am not incorporated because I am nowhere near needing to do that, sales wise. It can be helpful to have a business license to have a business checking/credit card under, as well as to have your tax info set up through, just to keep it from bleeding into your own household finances, if that is a concern.
Do I Need a Pen Name? How Many?
This is a purely personal decision. I don’t have one, and I know many people who don’t. However, if you work as a Christian kindergarten and you write spicy sapphic erotica you probably don’t want that on amazon under your own name. A lot of people find it just makes keeping the process of keeping their different lives separate cleaner. I don’t have any numbers on the percentage of authors who use a pen name. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were north of 50%. Some authors, mainly those in wildly different genres or who write for different audiences, maintain two or more pen names. Some people do it for each genre, no matter how closely related. Others split it by audience, i.e., middle grade and adult.
If you’re not worried about being fired or having your house burned down, you can just use your name. It’s fine. Also, if you write in related genres (such as me, with science fiction and fantasy) you can just publish under your own name and that’s fine. There are some writers who write for wildly different audiences who just put everything under one name. However, if you have a big following reading your chaste Amish romances, and you want to have a try at erotic dark fantasy survival horror, it’s probably best to separate those audiences since they are unlikely to cross over.
So, this is another thing that is entirely up to you. There are good reasons for an against, depending on your situation. You don’t need to have a great reason to want a pen name. If you just really don’t like the way your name looks on a book cover, you can have a pen name. No one is keeping track of this!
There are other issues I could talk about, such as how to get reviews and what sort of editions and formats you need to put your books out in, but this is getting kind of long. More later.