On July 2, the South Bay Creative Writers Group monthly meeting at the Redondo Beach Main Library addresses business considerations for writers, taking a view of authors as stand-alone sole-proprietorships (or alternate legal entities). Whether self- or traditionally-published, responsibility for managing the financial, legal, and promotional aspects of authorship ultimately remains the domain of the writer.
Among the topics to be discussed:
- Distinctions between “hobby” vs. “business;”
- The timeline for establishing yourself as a “business;”
- The business role(s) of the author, agent, publishing house, CPA, etc.;
- Legal entities available to the author (e.g., sole-proprietorship, LLC, S-Corp., etc.);
- Business licenses, DBAs, fictitious business names;
- Privacy & branding considerations;
- Tax and accounting considerations (including deductions for business use of the home, mileage, dues & donations, technology costs, online presence, etc.);
- Registration options for completed manuscripts (and works-in-progress);
- Copyright ownership across multiple platforms and continents;
- Legal issues associated with intellectual property, plagiarism, libel, slander, etc; and
- [Time permitting] Low-cost, high impact marketing strategies.
Guest speaker Bo Folsom (MBA, PMP) brings a wealth of knowledge to the topic, having established three sole-proprietorships himself as well as serving as a consultant and/or board member to a variety of small businesses, non-profits, and aerospace corporations. As the publisher/editor of a monthly newsmagazine covering three states and portions of British Columbia, he managed a direct staff of eight as well as over three dozen contributors. He has also self-published a non-fiction short story (Twenty Years Ago) in advance of its inclusion in a collection of original shorts and is collaborating on a manuscript to be published this Fall.
Excellent!
I look forward to it…