Journeying from Writer to Publisher

Lately, I have been establishing my business Ozark Grannies’ Secrets, and have been at the same time working with Kerry Kelley with the first book in our Ozark Grannies’ Secrets series called Gourmet Weeds which is about the native and naturalized plants that you may find in your backyard that you didn’t plant.

Starting a Publishing LLC

Starting an LLC like I have been working on is not as easy to do as the videos that I watched before starting the LLC indicated. It also cost more than I thought. I am just glad that I didn’t go through another company to do this, but it gives me a better understanding of the value of having a publisher. The legal aspects of the business are also daunting.

Working with another author has been an interesting undertaking, and the idea of contracts and how to divide the pay from the business is not as easy as you would think. Knowing who is responsible for what expense, how much to pay the business, and how much to pay each author as well as how to handle sales to retailers are important concerns and need to be determined. The fact that the business is a single proprietor LLC is much easier to handle though than if I would have a partner in the business. Fortunately, I don’t have any employees but myself so I’m not concerned with payroll. However, I will have to deal with 1099 forms for anyone who makes money from the business.

In addition to starting the business, I am also a co-writer in Gourmet Weeds as well as the main editor. We have decided that we are going to go big with this book too. We’re doing everything by the book so that we can send our books to libraries and book-stores. I have been learning all kinds of acronyms like LOC (library of congress) LCCN (library of congress control number), EIN, CIP, and PCIP. I am learning to work with a cover designer (rather than using Kindle and LULU templates). I have also started looking into having other editors work on the book.

The Big Dream

I have an increased appreciation for what publishing companies do. I also have learned the value of having authors who are willing to promote their own books. Right now, we’re using IngramSparks printing and distribution network. I would like to eventually start printing and distributing POD books myself, which also means that I would likely need to have employees and probably take the business from an LLC to some kind of corporation so that I have a business that I can pass on to my children should they choose to accept that challenge.

I know that’s getting ahead of things, but I always have been a big dreamer.

Back to Business

The big dreams are fun, but they only become reality if we do things today that lead to the fulfillment of those dreams. Today, I am writing this blog post so that you, my readers know what I’m doing. I also have a number of forms to fill out regarding the legal aspects of distributing books in different US states. We also have Gourmet Weeds to continue content editing and work on our book marketing plan.

I am learning to take risks and have found that those risks are not as risky as I thought. I have started going for the “no” only to discover that there are a lot more “yeses” out there than I thought.

Next Week’s Surprise

I have a special guest blogger next week! Next week Rose Atkinson-Carter from Reedsy will be visiting to share with us her post Why Imposter Syndrome is a Sign That You Are Growing as a Writer I hope to see you then!