Big Brother
Forming your own publishing company requires registration with the state your business intends to operate in.
It’s about as much fun as it sounds.
Since it’s a business you’re starting you need to decide what type you’ll be registering as. There are several options, and I won’t go into them here as I don’t write that type of book, you’ll have to research that yourself.
I chose to file as a sole proprietor. It’s the simplest form and basically says that the business is you and only you. There are tax advantages that vary depending on your choice, but in my opinion, if your goal is to just publish your own books and keep it simple, it’s hard to beat the sole proprietorship.
I live in Florida and was able to do this online. The link was found on the state website without too much searching and I was provided a box to type in my company name to see if some jackass had thought of it first.
Nope. I am the first jackass to come up with the name Tension Bookworks.
Brief Snoopy Dance.
I click onward and am treated to a menu of choices, all of them various business entities I can file under. It even has flashy banners that advertise their low prices. It reminds me of Turbo Tax.
I clicked on the banner that reads “Sole Proprietor, Only $59!” and I’m on my way. There were only seven pages total. I click boxes and fill in forms and everything is going well until page 7.
This is were Big Brother smiled and took a bite out of my ass.
He didn’t actually lie to me on that first page. The price to register www.TensionBookworks.com was truly $59 dollars. He just forgot to mention the $50 fee and the $9.95 charge for shipping and handling.
So let me say that again; $59 for registration and another $50 for a fee? Aren’t they one and the same?
And another thing; since when does it cost $9.95 to mail me a standard-size letter? I need to have a little talk with my mailman Cliff. Maybe it’s coming next-day air on the governors’ personal jet or something?
No wait, says here it takes two weeks to get it to me.
$9.95 / 14 days = .71 cents a day. Still more than a standard stamp. I can do better at the end of my driveway using Cliff.
But what choice do I have? That’s $119 more in the debit column. At least it’s a one-time expense. No wait, it’s only good for five years.
So that’s really only $24 a year I tell myself. At least it sounds better that way.
I also have the deep personal satisfaction of knowing I’m fourteen times more efficient at mailing things than the State of Florida.
Domain Name registration $20
Monthly fee x 3 months $12
Back-up plan $13
36 months of hosting $187
Registration with the State $119
Total $351