Follow These Steps To Start Your Own Publishing Company Business

Establishing your company can be confusing, tedious, and downright painful. Starting your own book publishing company is a profitable business idea. According to a survey, retail book sales exceed $16 billion per year. Whether you plan to sell printed or online e-books, the overall process of starting up a book publishing company is about the same. Follow these steps to start your own book publishing company.

Decide a Niche

Choose a book genre and market segment to target. Decide if you want to publish fiction or non-fiction titles. Narrow the genre and segment as much as possible. For instance, Fairy tales are read by kids in the age group of 6-10. Use this information when you are formulating your overall book-publishing plan.

Business and Marketing Plan

A business plan is the blueprint of any business. Before you open up your publishing company, you should make a few important decisions such as how many books you will publish each year, your budget, Advertising and marketing plans etc. Adequate planning in this phase is crucial in determining whether your venture into publishing is successful.

Company Name

Think carefully about your company name. Name ending with “Publishing” or “Press” provides credibility. However, if you use your name, it may look more like a small operation. Also make sure your company name is not already taken, search the Internet to verify. Register the company name you’ve chosen with the appropriate regional office.

Database

Target and pitch writers from your chosen genre to publish with your company. Create a list of libraries and bookstores both locally and nationwide where your authors can visit at each book release to promote and publicize their books. Prepare a book-publishing contract for your writers outlining each arrangement, including royalty rates, payment frequency, rights, options and manuscript delivery requirements for each book.

Staffing

Staffing is an integral part of setting up a business. Hire good and professional book editor, typesetter, designer and printing company to handle the formatting and production of your manuscripts.

Website

Secure a domain name and establish a web presence in order to sell your books online. Some options for your domain name: the name of your book, the name of your publishing company, or your name. You can purchase multiple domain names and have them all point to your primary one. You can also ask your website developer to provide you with more information.