Starting My Own Publishing Company

This summer I did something that sounds more impressive than it actually is: I started my own publishing company.

Anyone can start a business–in the legal sense. All I had to do was fill out a form and send it (along with a small fee of course) to the State of Michigan. A few weeks later I got a letter informing me my company was official. Phoenix Forge Press, LLC was born.

As mentioned in another post, I sent out my queries for Angel from the Rust and signed on with a small publishing company called Heroic Books. They loved the story, and their preliminary readers all agreed that Angel from the Rust needed to get out into the world. So my book was put in the hands of a great team who worked on making it the best it could be. Editors perfected the manuscript. An artist created a beautiful cover.

It looked like production was going well. But then, unfortunately, Heroic Books hit some snags and went out of business. Now I find myself in charge of finishing my book’s production.

But why create a publishing company for myself?

Reedsy has an informative video giving great reasons why indie authors should create their own publishing companies. Creating a publishing company and registering it as a business means I can write off my expenses as business expenses. But it does more than that; it puts me in a certain mindset.

Being my own publisher reminds me that writing for me isn’t just a hobby, one I’ll get to when I can. Writing is my job. A fun job, but a job nonetheless. And I work for a company. My company.

Why “Phoenix Forge”?

For a long time, I’ve wanted to create a publishing company that had “Phoenix” in the title. Now seems to be the appropriate time.

Heroic Books, like the horse in its logo, charged into battle and died. Out of the ashes of a dead publishing company comes another–like a Phoenix. (Maybe this sounds too sentimental or over dramatic…but I don’t care.) Life out of the ashes is a beautiful metaphor (it reminds me of Jesus).

I chose to add “Forge” to the title for a few reasons:

• Alliteration – the name rolls of the tongue
• The Phoenix and the forge connect because they are both fiery images.
• Both images point to the fantasy genre, which is what I want my brand’s logo to do. It lets people know what kind of book they’re getting.
• A forge is a place of creativity and hard work. So is the author’s writing desk.

So that’s how I came up with the title.

If you could make your own publishing company (or any creative production company for that matter), what would you call it? Please share your titles in the comments below.