aschleicher311
01-09-2016, 11:43 PM
Hello!
So, I am in the ground phase of starting a business and I am really struggling with how I should structure it. Here's a little info on my idea: I am an independent author and I use a self-publishing (vanity press style) company to publish my work. I want to utilize a portion of profits from book sales to be gifted to individuals in need. Where I'm struggling is deciding whether this should be structured as a cross-compensation social enterprise or as a non-profit.
Some questions and concerns I keep throwing around are:
o If social enterprise - would my for-profit business be my books/merchandise?
o If social enterprise - Could I legally make a business out of my books/merchandise and not owe anything to the publishing company?
0 If social enterprise - Can I even legally produce merchandise directly derived from my books?
o If I did a separate non-profit, would I then take a cut of profits from book/merchandise sales and donate the rest to my non-profit? I don't even know if that is ethical? I can't afford to not take any profit/salary for myself from the sales of my book!
o If I did a separate non-profit entity, can the non-profit legally be developed based off of one of my books and have no financial or other business-related responsibility to the publishing company?
I'm so lost and can't seem to find focus with this as there are multiple aspects to consider since there is the added entity of the publishing company in the mix.
Any thoughts/experience would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you!!
So, I am in the ground phase of starting a business and I am really struggling with how I should structure it. Here's a little info on my idea: I am an independent author and I use a self-publishing (vanity press style) company to publish my work. I want to utilize a portion of profits from book sales to be gifted to individuals in need. Where I'm struggling is deciding whether this should be structured as a cross-compensation social enterprise or as a non-profit.
Some questions and concerns I keep throwing around are:
o If social enterprise - would my for-profit business be my books/merchandise?
o If social enterprise - Could I legally make a business out of my books/merchandise and not owe anything to the publishing company?
0 If social enterprise - Can I even legally produce merchandise directly derived from my books?
o If I did a separate non-profit, would I then take a cut of profits from book/merchandise sales and donate the rest to my non-profit? I don't even know if that is ethical? I can't afford to not take any profit/salary for myself from the sales of my book!
o If I did a separate non-profit entity, can the non-profit legally be developed based off of one of my books and have no financial or other business-related responsibility to the publishing company?
I'm so lost and can't seem to find focus with this as there are multiple aspects to consider since there is the added entity of the publishing company in the mix.
Any thoughts/experience would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you!!