The Art of Business

By Jamie DeBree 2026/05/16 Talkin' Books, Weekly News

When people find out I have a micro-publishing house, they always say, “Oh, tell me more about that! I’ve always been curious how that works!”

I confess, I’m never really sure how to respond to that, because honestly, the actual business part of it seems pretty straightforward to me, and I spend more than I make (always have, hence my “art” title for this post). I’ve “made” around 64 cents so far this month, which means I’m quite deep in the hole after expenditures, as usual. I have never broken even as far as yearly sales go, but some years I’ve come closer than others. As with most things in life, effort = return. I suppose the smart thing to do would have been to dissolve the business long ago, but…I love having it, and having a publishing name to put on my covers, and knowing that if I do ever put a good effort into it, it’s already well-established and ready to go.

The nuts and bolts seem pretty obvious to me, but I think that’s because I tend to oversimplify things. When I set it up, I checked with my state and local governments first (I have the benefit of working for local government and did even then, so I did know that was the place to start). I did not start an LLC, because it was/is a hobby business, so I chose to register as a sole proprietor, which basically means I’m doing business under a business name, but as myself, and I am personally liable for any losses (which sounds kind of scary, but I don’t have investors or anything, and I’m overall pretty risk-averse, so it’s acceptable to me for now). This is how I “officially” opened my business way back in 2010:

– Registered an Assumed Business Name with the MT Secretary of State’s office.
– Applied for a business license with the City of Billings
– Opened business checking/savings accounts with my bank
– Had someone design a logo pack for me (I really should update that, but I’m nostalgic)
– Set up a website for my business
– Published a few books

That’s it. That was my whole process. Aside from a couple years between 2020 and 2022 when I didn’t realize my name registration had lapsed with the state (which is why you’ll see two separate entries for it if you go look it up on the state’s website), I’ve been legally registered as a business for 14 of the last 16 years, and all of my books are published under the Brazen Snake Books name.

In the beginning, I also published some anthologies, where I invited other authors to submit work, chose the pieces I thought worked best together, paid the authors a one-time fee for non-exclusive, perpetual rights, and published the books. They never sold terribly well, though they do still sell a copy here and there, and I wish I’d been more knowledgeable about so many things back then – I think I could have done a much better job both on the marketing side and the financial transparency side to the authors. But it was a good learning experience, and if I ever do that again, it will be after I retire, when I can devote more time to the whole process, beginning to marketing and beyond.

I also published a few books for friends as well, and while some are still in my catalog, others have moved on, which is perfectly fine. It’s hard enough keeping track of my own accounting, much less royalties owed to others, so I’m happy enough to keep things low-key and very limited. Needless to say, I don’t accept submissions. It truly is just a micro-press umbrella to bring my various genres and pen names together for organizational and bookkeeping purposes.

The other thing it helps with is accounts. Instead of making an account for each name I write under, I can make one account for my business, and use that for all three names I write under. I often do have multiple accounts on things like social media, but for sales sites, my newsletter account, printers, distributors, etc…I just need the one site for all my stuff, under my business name. All neat & tidy. The ISBNs for all my books are registered to the BSB business.

As far as the actual publishing process goes, I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic editor for a best friend, and she’s done all my editing for me in exchange for me editing for her. When I first started the business, I had another writer on board who was also a graphic artist, and she did our covers for awhile. I’ve paid businesses for formatting, and done it myself, and also done covers myself, and while I’m not a great graphic artist, I think I do okay. I’d rather pay someone else to do it, but it’s less expensive to grab some stock art and do the best I can for now, at least for my short stories. I may well bite the bullet and pay an artist for the novel series I plan to launch around Christmas, and I have a particular artist in mind for that.

Formatting is tedious, but I have a lifetime license for Atticus, which does a good job overall, so I’ll use that for now. I also invested in some print templates awhile back that I quite like, and I have business licenses for those so I can use them for as many books as I want, which makes it easy as long as the book fits that layout and font.

When people ask what I plan to do “in retirement”, BSB is my plan. I intend to finally be a full-time writer, which I’ve wanted to do since I was 16 or so, and run my business more like an actual business, with set admin hours and marketing and the whole kit & kaboodle. By my calculations, I have 4-5 more years left with the county, and I should be in a good place to retire from government service, and pursue my dream. It’s gonna be a good time, and I suspect my business will be a lot less “artful” and a lot more deliberate at that point. It’ll be fun.

Until then, I’m happy to have it there as I ramp up publishing within the next couple of years, and just keep it bobbing along, waiting until I can give it the attention it deserves after all these years.

Curious about something I didn’t cover, or need more info about anything above? Feel free to ask. I’m certainly not one to gatekeep much…especially when it comes to knowing how to do “stuff”.

Until next time,

Jamie

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Tagged on: art, books, business, organizing, publishing, writing