How to register yourself as a publisher

Yippie-yai-yay. You want to register yourself as a publisher. Woohoo. That sounds cool. Getting set up as a publisher is way easier than you might think, and to make it happen, you’ll need to do a few things:

1. Register your business
2. Purchase ISBNs under your business name
3. Update the Title Information Record for your books on Bowker

Okay first things first. Who would want to register themselves as a publisher?

1. People who want to publish more than one book under their own publishing house name
2. People who want to publish and release other people’s books in print.
3. Publishers who want to publish one or more of their own books and want more control.

Keep in mind that many first-time authors want to make things as easy as possible, so they choose to release their self-published collection with the print-on-demand company they’re going with. And that’s totally cool. If you want to sell your book to friends and family, and you don’t mind that the POD company is listed as your publisher (see more details HERE), then you may want to consider not registering a business and instead, just uploading your work on the self-publishing platform of your choice.

Step 1: Register your business

To create a publishing house under a business name, you’ll first need to choose a business name and register your business.

To choose a business name, you’ll want to make sure that you are legally allowed to use the name you want and that the name isn’t already registered by another similar company (you don’t want any lawsuits, right).

Check to see if the business name you want is already registered.

Even if you wan to use your own name, you’ll need to check and make sure that the business name you want isn’t already registered. Here’s how to do that:

Check Trademarks

1. Go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website and select “Search for a trademark.”
2. Type in the name of the business you want to register and/or keywords included in the word you want to use
3. If there is a match, you may want to chat with an attorney or choose another name

Check Doing Business As (DBAs) or Fictitious Business Names (FBN) listings

Some business owners will elect to list themselves as “doing business as,” which means these DBAs might not show up on the USPTO website, but they could still cause you trouble later on. Run a search in your state to check DBAs.

Go to Google.com and type in “your state” + DBAs or “DBA search” + Your state

For more help on registering a business name, check out this great resource by the Small Business Association.

Register through an attorney

One of the safest ways to register a business name is by hiring a business law attorney in your state. They will check to make sure that the business name you want is available for use, and they’ll help you get situated.

Once you find a business name that’s safe and good to use, go ahead and register it in your state.

1. File the form in your state and pay the accompanying fee
2. Follow any state-specific requirements to process your registration (some states require you to publish an announcement in a local paper; other states have different registration requirements. Please verify with your local government association to make sure you’re properly registering.

Step 2: Purchase your ISBN from Bowker

An ISBN is a series of 10 or 13 numbers that identifies the publisher, title identifier, and other details that help people find your book if necessary.

If you will be publishing more than 1 book (or more than 1 book format) you may want to purchase a pack of 10, which will give you a slight discount.

To order ISBNs, follow these notes:

1. Go to the Bowker website
2. Register for an account here

• Select New Bowker Customer
• Enter your First name, Last name, Business Address, Username, Password, and your organization type (you will likely either be a self-publisher or a publisher).
• Enter your company name
• Click I accept — Create My Account!

3. Select Order ISBN

4. Select 10 ISBNs (or a single ISBN)

• Click “Add to Cart”
• Click “Checkout”

Once you have your ISBN, you have to download the barcode:

Go to the My Account dropdown menu on the right side of the navigation bar at the top of the page.

Click My Identifiers.

Click Generate in the Barcode column of the ISBN for which you wish to generate a Barcode.

Enter a price into the field labeled “Publication Price.”

Make certain you have entered the correct price (once the barcode is generated, the price cannot be changed), then click Generate Barcode.

Click Download Barcode (select file type EPS or PDF).

Click Save or Save As and save the barcode to your computer. Do not click Open during the save process.

(Thanks Bowker!)

Step 2.2: Add ISBNs to your book

Add the ISBN number onto the copyright page of your book.

Add the barcode onto the back of your book.

Do this for every book format.

Step 3: Assign title

Once you have your ISBNs and you’ve applied them to your book, you’ll go back to Bowker and do the following.

• Click My Account
• Click on the ISBN tab
• Select Assign Title
• Enter your book details

Remember to assign all titles so each book is properly organized and listed on Books in Print.

Step 4: Celebrate

Congrats. You did it! If you have questions, shoot an email to hello@telltellpoetry.com and I’ll try to help!

DEFINITIONS AND TERMS

Book Format: The format your book is printed in. Soft cover, hard cover, ePub are all examples of formats. Each format you choose will need its own ISBN.

DBA: Doing Business As

FBN: Fictitious Business Name

POD: Print on Demand Platform