Before the e-book is on the shelves: Sign a contract with a dealer, apply for ISBN, and reduce or exempt business tax for cultural and artistic undertakings

This is not a teaching text.

On the day I decided to register the company, I put book publishing into the business project. In my heart, I still kept thinking, "A book should be published someday, it should come in handy."

Many published "individuals" put e-books on the shelves on their own by means of the Internet. They need to study the rules and requirements of different platforms, and there are a lot of trivial chores that take time; it is not impossible to study these things. From designing and publishing to finishing EPUB3, those steps should not be difficult to put on the shelves, but for a long time, I didn’t really want to study these trivial matters. Except that I didn’t have time, I always felt that “the times should be Progress has been made to allow individuals to publish, and they can be sent to the shelves, distributed, and published with one click.” This should be the case in the near future!

The year before last, through a friend from the publishing house, I took over the design case of a "distributor", and I asked some questions about "publishing". My ambitions are not great, and I am too lazy to communicate with people, and I have little talent to become the publisher, editor-in-chief, editor-in-chief of a publishing house... I still have a little imagination about "publishing/publishing a book", especially when I see some pretty good content, or when someone asks if they can help with publishing or writing a book, I still hesitate to decide whether to "keep it up". "Really do books, do other people's books.

But I still resisted being the one who "issued books for others and made books with debts". (In the end, you are also very self-aware or not confident that you can do this, that is, there is nothing in your heart that you want to do, so it’s best not to let it go, but you have to do it to the end.)

*Making publishing is poor, really. Unless you have deep pockets or smart eyes, the old joke is this: if you want to kill someone, ask him to run a magazine.

It’s okay to do your own books, without any opinions from other people, you just need to quarrel with your own conflicts every day, and you don’t need to spend any effort to communicate with others, which is more comfortable. Every time I am told that I am a window that requires intermediary communication, no wonder there is no job looking for me, I can only smile bitterly, "communicating the SOP of the work process" is indeed a headache for me (I need an agent, a brain Good helper, window) but there is no problem professionally. When I meet a very professional partner, my profession can still lead others to heaven. (Called a good job partner, fire brigade!)

For a book to be distributed by a dealer, several conditions must be met: the company's dealings with the company, especially the handling of "accounts", have a company that organizes the affairs, and the accounts receivable and payable are all in accordance with the accounting process. (Individual accounts are listed as labor relations in taxation and accounting rules.); Books distributed to dealers need to apply for ISBN. Although the application can be applied in the name of "individual", it is necessary to apply for "reduction and exemption of business tax" at the Ministry of Culture. Still have to use the company line number to apply.

The first few small cookbooks and small photobooks that I made at random did not have ISBNs, so I had to put them on readmoo by myself. I also procrastinated for a long time just to apply for the ISBN. Because it is the first time to apply, you must first apply for an account in the National Library of China (hereinafter referred to as National Map) "E-books and Periodicals Sending, Depositing and Reading Service System". ) can’t apply until the book is ready.

It was not until the content of the entire book was finalized and the copyright page was finalized that I entered the system to apply for an organization account.

I asked a friend of the publishing house how long it takes to apply for an ISBN for a book before it can be written down? About three or five days! friend said.

I applied for this account in the middle of the night. I suddenly felt that I could do this (XDDD), so I opened the page and filled it out. I changed the part that I applied in my personal name back to the name of the studio. Maybe I missed it by mistake. , and some parts of the first application that did not know the details received a phone call from the national map contractor the next day, telling them what was wrong and went online again for correction:

 The copyright page needs to add the issuer, the publisher, and the e-book file format ISBN application document. The publisher attribute needs to be changed from the original individual to the studio title. If there is a "subtitle", it must be filled in together.

After making up the next day, I got the ISBN number. (Thanks to the organizers of Guotu)

Before that, I had signed a contract with the dealer, and I remembered that there was a "reduction and exemption of business tax for cultural and artistic undertakings" that I wanted to study. After I went to the Ministry of Culture, I first applied for an account (it may be a new policy, the planning of the website is still smooth), and finally I need to set the automatic import of "books and materials that have been approved in the national map" or make a phone call to ask the undertaker of the Ministry of Culture. : It turns out that you need to apply for one more "company brand", and then apply for automatic approval. (This part of the Ministry of Culture needs to print out the consent document several times, print it, and take a photo to upload it.)

The process was smooth, thanks to the sponsors of the State Map and the Ministry of Culture. It's been a long time since I had a conversation with a "real person" about unfamiliar and work affairs, and it felt quite unreal, but I was able to successfully complete the details before these e-books were put on the shelves. Thank you very much!

Most of the individuals who came to ask me "I want to make a paper/e-book", many of them hoped "Can you help me send the book to the bookstore" or "put it on the shelves of various e-book platforms".

In the entire publishing industry chain, these two projects are mostly carried out by "distributors", and "publishers" are just "units that get books out" . Go to the community to find the contact information on the copyright page of the book, and ask for the "contribution method") If it is a personal publication, you should do your own research to put the book on the shelves, and discuss with the bookstore about the book, or you should register a company and follow the existing model with distributors. contract. In the end, I also chose to directly ask the dealer to help me put the book on the e-book platform, eliminating the need to study each platform, as well as the subsequent demolition and reconciliation.

I remember that in August and September of the previous year (2020), there was a wave of quarrels in the community about "the author's royalties are too low", and I also wrote a few articles.

Personal publishing is actually not too difficult, but you have to do all the details yourself, from creation, editing, design, typesetting, printing, listing, marketing... It's either money or time , and you will know "Time" by doing it yourself. The true meaning of is money", every process is a professional, if someone thinks your work is very good, and is willing to help publish and distribute "without knowing how much sales will be", it is actually a very lucky thing. (You don't have to be responsible for profit and loss at all, and you don't have to understand all the details! Just create.)

I do everything by myself. To put it bluntly, I don’t have the ability to be seen by the publishing house, but I still want to try it. I will play and see for myself, look at old bloggers, and make untimely travel essays into e-books. No one wants to pay for it!

Picture: 20190329 GO TO Seoul, Canon EOSM50, I like Korea so much!