: When self publishing, are there benefits to making a company to represent your books? Is that then a publishing house? Is it possible to create a company that acts like a publishing house?

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I am doing exactly that. I created my own publishing company, which to date has published exactly one book. (My first book was published before I created this company, and I'm working on my third now.) The main reason I did this was so I could create my own imprint, i.e. publisher name and logo. It is also helpful -- I'm not sure if it's absolutely necessary -- to register with Bowkers to get ISBNs, and with the Library of Congress to get LOC catalog numbers.

As to tax and legal implications, that depends on the laws of your country and the form of the business. My publishing company is a sole proprietorship, so it makes zero tax or legal difference. If you made it a corporation or a limited liability company, then it would limit your liability if your company runs into financial or legal difficulties. Tax law can get very complicated, but in general, making it a corporation would increase your taxes and increase the amount of paperwork you have to do with the government.

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I think that a company "that acts like a publishing house" but has no other corporate activity is a (small) publishing house.

The one obvious benefit will be if you are successful promoting and selling your own books, then you could take on other authors using the same systems and become a larger publishing house.

Since this question is almost exclusively concerned with legal and financial implications, consult your solicitor and accountant.

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