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How do imprints work?

Hiya,

We were wondering if anyone here has any experience with imprints, namely the ones that are offshoots of a parent company? Is that right, that imprints are indeed separate business entities (i.e., Orange Books Inc., only produces books on oranges but wants to put out books about apples, so they form Apple Books Inc., to get into this market)? How does this work logistically, and, for that matter, with tax law?

Furthermore, are "co-publishing ventures" similar or one-of-the-same with imprints? Is this considered a business model or just a per book contract arrangement?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tony Burton on May 7, 2012 at 9:16am

My company (Wolfmont LLC) has three imprints: Wolfmont Press, Honey Locust Press, and Denouement Press. For tax purposes, all that money goes into the same pot, and it is all treated as one source of income.

Logistically, the only issue I have had is when people want to write checks to the different imprints, instead of to the parent company (Wolfmont LLC.) I found a bank that will accept checks written to any of the different imprints now, but it took a bit of searching. Some banks are very strict: SunTrust wanted me to open a separate account for each imprint, as well as for Wolfmont LLC. Idiotic. (And yes, I do have a notice on my invoices that says "Make all checks payable to Wolfmont LLC," but it seems that a lot of my customers don't read past the amount they owe me.)

As for a "co-publishing venture," that is just another term for a subsidy publishing arrangement, where the publishing company is sharing the financial risk with the author. You could consider it a business model, if that is the only kind of publishing you are going to do, but you could also look at it as a per-book contract arrangement.

Permalink Reply by Hippoville Publishing on May 7, 2012 at 10:30am

Thanks for your quick and informative reply, Tony. Well that would simplify matters for me. Can I ask then if your three imprints are separate legal entities or just DBA names under protection from the parent LLC?

Permalink Reply by Tony Burton on May 7, 2012 at 1:50pm

They are all DBAs under the umbrella of my LLC.

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