I'd like to learn the nitty-gritty of starting a small press publishing outfit. Please recommend any (free) resources or howtos that would let me know what's involved with such an operation.


I would also be involved the book design, if that's what you were wondering. Thanks.

Well you've come to the right place — lost of people here should have good advice for you!

But, I don't know that that any resource is going to tell you more than general start-a-business stuff. This is a good place to start!

Get a business plan together, but don't expect to make money. Do you have any startup money? What jobs will you take on (besides designer)? Who will do the other jobs and can they volunteer or do you have to pay them? Do you have a lawyer or a tax accountant? My email is my profile—feel free to email me.

Make money? Wow... is that why money just keeps going out the door and never knocks?

Free advice? I know there's a cliche here somewhere about 'no such thing'. I don't have any free advice, so I'll start out with cheap.

Cheap advice (books on my short-list for helpful):
The Book Publisher's Handbook by Eric Kampmann
Kirsch's Guide to the Book Contract by Jonathan Kirsch
The Complete Guide to Book Publicity by Jodee Blanco
Book Design and Production by Pete Masterson

Expensive advice (but necessary):
*Hire an attorney to help you write your boilerplate contract that you will use to generate all your contracts. Remember, agents will exponentially increase the time it takes to complete a contract with an author. I'm not going to say anything bad about agents, just that they increase the time investment. Be prepared.
*Talk to an accountant; they typically won't charge for their time up front--they make their money by doing your returns, etc.

Okay, here's some free advice:
Every small press publisher I talked to before starting this venture told me the same thing (for free, so I pass it on for free)...

Don't do it.

If you choose to ignore the free advice, then proceed with the cheap advice next.