Searching for Info on how to Start a Publishing Company

SPANnet member Sharon King sent an email to the 101 group with following message:

Hello, group. I am new to SPAN, and I'm searching for the best info on how to start your own publishing company. I've seen articles on eHow and other such sites; and, I'm aware of the need for a business plan, license, tax ID, publishing software, and, of course, money! But, I'm interested in reading some "real life" stories of people (women particularly) who have started their own publishing companies. This is a "retirement dream" of mine, but retirement is coming fast, so I'm starting my research now. I'm targeting a niche group of African American "Baby Boom" age Christian women writers--like me! Thanks for any advice or links I can check.

I thought this was a great question, and in addition to her email, I wanted to start a discussion here. Thank you, Sharon!

Brad Poulson, SPAN

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Permalink Reply by Joel Friedlander on March 15, 2010 at 4:56pm

For people looking for basic education, there's a tremendous amount available where you can find out about ISBNs, barcodes, digital printing, print on demand, and so on. I started a publishing company in 1986 and have been helping launch self publishers since the 1990s. If you go to my blog you'll find over 160 articles on many of these subjects. Here are a few that deal with questions raised on this thread:

How Print-on-Demand Book Distribution Works

How to Read an ISBN

Deciphering the Bookland EAN Barcode

How to Copyright your Book

These resources are free, so take advantage. Each post has many links to other resources, so this is a good way to get a leg up on the homework you need to do to be effective as a publisher. Good luck and keep posting those questions, there are many people on SPANnet with lots of experience!