J.D. Kaplan asked Nick Marsden:

Hey, Nick. You mentioned your imprint in a thread somewhere and rather than hijack that thread I wondered if you'd be willing to describe the process you went through to create and protect your imprint? My wife and I are both interested in doing the same thing but I've been having a difficult time figuring out how to do that...

Nick Marsden Thanks for the question,
I started just by coming up with a name and a logo, then re-publishing all my books with Pencastle Publishing as the publisher. It's easy for Amazon. All I had to do was change the publisher name in the metadata on their site.

I created all new covers and included the logo on the spine of the print books, and put the Pencastle name on the copyright page.

Then the logo is trademarked by submitting an application to the Trademark organization, USPTO in the States (http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-appli...).

Everything else is just running a small business. Getting whatever business licenses are required in your area/country and whatnot. It's different everywhere. Even in the states is varies from state to state and even city to city. I'd recommend getting a PO box somewhere that is advantageous (cheap license fees, taxes, etc.) and parking your business there since almost all of this is done online, I don't think it matters where your mailing address is, as long as you can pick up your mail.

I'd recommend getting a book on running a freelance small business and researching the business laws in your area.

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