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Publishing E-books anonymously

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Alex_Lockheed

Wizard
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Posts
7
Hi everyone,

I'm interested to know if anyone is aware of an erotica publisher that requires only the absolute minimal details from an author - ideally who just require (for example) a paypal address for royalties to be paid, but no further identifying details such as legal name and registered physical address.

I'm very keen to keep my writing life separate from my real life, so the maximum degree of privacy is ideal for me. Obviously I can keep posting on this site without having to reveal my actual details, but at some point I'd like to move to publishing work for money.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
SmashWords requires a name (which you can make up) and an e-mail (that must be the one associated with the PayPal you want to use).

That's as anonymous as it gets, I think...
 
Alex asked for an arrangement through a publisher. I have such an arrangement, so it can be done. The publishing house I do it with and received royalties, though. only does GM and bi. If Alex does those . . . Another two publishing houses I've used do it for me too, but I don't take profit from them, so that makes anonymity easy.
 
Later: I checked your file, Alex. If this is the genre you'd like to publish, BarbarianSpy might be interested in publishing you. I don't know if the publisher would want to take you on, but that genre is within its catalog. You could either submit through the publisher's Web site or PM me and I'd give you an e-mail address. (In either case I'd let the publisher know I gave you the information.) You'd best lay out the deal you want up front. The publisher is in Australia; pays me through PayPal to a cutout account that's separate from my true name--the payout also is from a mainstream publishing house the publisher also owns. I have a writing/editing business and just report the income through that. No problems for seven years doing it that way.
 
StrangeLife said:
SmashWords requires a name (which you can make up) and an e-mail (that must be the one associated with the PayPal you want to use).

That's as anonymous as it gets, I think...
Click to expand...

Actually, you will have to provide either a SSN or EIN for tax purposes. They do send a 1099 to the IRS. No SSN or EIN, no sales.

Self-publishing sites like Smashwords or Amazon require tax information from the author, along with your real name, address, phone# (all of which is kept private).

As for publishers...please refer to the post above mine.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I think a publisher is the way to go and Barbarianspy sounds interesting; however, I have some entirely non-erotic stuff that might be suitable for smashwords where my privacy is less of a concern. I'd have to look at what they accommodate tax-wise though. I'm from the UK, so I have a National Insurance number rather than an SSN/EIN.

If anyone has any more suggestions for the erotic stuff, that would be great. The areas that interest me are pretty broad: transsexual stories, BDSM, lesbian, gay male, straight sex, sci fi. Some stories might be suitable for one publisher, but other stories might be suited to another.
 
Alex_Lockheed said:
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I think a publisher is the way to go and Barbarianspy sounds interesting; however, I have some entirely non-erotic stuff that might be suitable for smashwords where my privacy is less of a concern. I'd have to look at what they accommodate tax-wise though. I'm from the UK, so I have a National Insurance number rather than an SSN/EIN.

If anyone has any more suggestions for the erotic stuff, that would be great. The areas that interest me are pretty broad: transsexual stories, BDSM, lesbian, gay male, straight sex, sci fi. Some stories might be suitable for one publisher, but other stories might be suited to another.
Click to expand...

Just a note that BarbarianSpy is part of a bundle of publishing houses. It has a mainstream house that publishes some of my nonerotica in a couple of pen names--and my financial accounts are all bundled, reported, and paid out under this nonertoica house.
 
Zeb_Carter said:
Actually, you will have to provide either a SSN or EIN for tax purposes. They do send a 1099 to the IRS. No SSN or EIN, no sales.
Click to expand...


Guess Zuckerberg is right. Privacy is truly dead. :(




On the other hand, this totally provides a business opportunity for a renegade publishing house... :)

image.jpg
 
Get an EIN under a DBA such as "alex publications" or whatever. Set up a paypal account under that name.

When you set up an account at amazon you are not required to gove your real name just your business name and as long as the EIN is attached to it there are no hassles.

End of the day at that point only your accountant and the IRS know who is behind that DBA and the IRS could give two shits as long as taxes are paid.

When SW or anyone else pays you they send you the 1099's bit it is to your business name and there is no mention of what you are selling, its just listed as a payment.
 
lovecraft68 said:
Get an EIN under a DBA such as "alex publications" or whatever. Set up a paypal account under that name.

When you set up an account at amazon you are not required to gove your real name just your business name and as long as the EIN is attached to it there are no hassles.

End of the day at that point only your accountant and the IRS know who is behind that DBA and the IRS could give two shits as long as taxes are paid.

When SW or anyone else pays you they send you the 1099's bit it is to your business name and there is no mention of what you are selling, its just listed as a payment.
Click to expand...

But what prevents an internet-only company with no aspirations of branching out to the ever diminishing printed books market from operating completely outside the system? The only critical factor is fund transfer since most schemes are US based, but there are ways of getting around that.

I find it strange that nobody has attempted this...
 
StrangeLife said:
But what prevents an internet-only company with no aspirations of branching out to the ever diminishing printed books market from operating completely outside the system? The only critical factor is fund transfer since most schemes are US based, but there are ways of getting around that.

I find it strange that nobody has attempted this...
Click to expand...

Try getting a credit card processor to accept erotica and come back. That is the main hangup and (yes put on the tin hat) many CC processors are under amazon's thumb and if you are competing with them, good luck getting through.

There is someone big in erotica publishing who is hoping to launch a huge(and with no limits other than 18+) erotica site this year. He's been working on it for two years most of which time was spent haggling with the CC processors and finally threatening a collusion suit to get one to accept him.

For those who know her ask Selena Kitt about hassles with CC and pay pal. She was forced to take many of her own books down from her own site because of Paypal and their censorship game.
 
lovecraft68 said:
Try getting a credit card processor to accept erotica and come back. That is the main hangup and (yes put on the tin hat) many CC processors are under amazon's thumb and if you are competing with them, good luck getting through.

There is someone big in erotica publishing who is hoping to launch a huge(and with no limits other than 18+) erotica site this year. He's been working on it for two years most of which time was spent haggling with the CC processors and finally threatening a collusion suit to get one to accept him.

For those who know her ask Selena Kitt about hassles with CC and pay pal. She was forced to take many of her own books down from her own site because of Paypal and their censorship game.
Click to expand...


Yes, I figured that payment processing is the main stumbling stone. But there might be a lesson to be learned from the phone app world - more specifically the third party payment apps.

They all work the same way - you register a credit card and a bank account with the app. Whenever you pay somebody, your credit card is charged and the money deposited in the recipients bank account and vice versa when you are the one getting paid. Neither your bank nor your credit card provider have any way of knowing what you have actually paid or been paid for.

The obvious weaknesses are trust in the third party (the app) and international payments, but the principle is sound and cuts the payment processor out of the loop...
 
StrangeLife said:
Yes, I figured that payment processing is the main stumbling stone. But there might be a lesson to be learned from the phone app world - more specifically the third party payment apps.

They all work the same way - you register a credit card and a bank account with the app. Whenever you pay somebody, your credit card is charged and the money deposited in the recipients bank account and vice versa when you are the one getting paid. Neither your bank nor your credit card provider have any way of knowing what you have actually paid or been paid for.

The obvious weaknesses are trust in the third party (the app) and international payments, but the principle is sound and cuts the payment processor out of the loop...
Click to expand...

The alleged issue with erotica and CC is chargebacks. You know wifey finds a charge for "Bound for my daddy" on the CC and confronts hubby who claims he never bought that and calls the CC in righteous indignation and gets his money back....
..
 
StrangeLife said:
Guess Zuckerberg is right. Privacy is truly dead. :(




On the other hand, this totally provides a business opportunity for a renegade publishing house... :)

image.jpg
Click to expand...

Not really...you as the publisher would be required to not only collect the information for tax purposes but would have to collect the tax information from the authors and disseminate the 1099 info to not only the author but to the IRS.

Unless of course you are willing to be the brunt of all the wrath from the IRS.

Of course you don't pay, your website will be shutdown and they hunt for you will begin.

All the places you publish those books to will be sending tax information about you (well actually your publishing company) to the IRS who will expect further information about who you are make those payout too.

Good luck. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Alex_Lockheed said:
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I think a publisher is the way to go and Barbarianspy sounds interesting; however, I have some entirely non-erotic stuff that might be suitable for smashwords where my privacy is less of a concern. I'd have to look at what they accommodate tax-wise though. I'm from the UK, so I have a National Insurance number rather than an SSN/EIN.

If anyone has any more suggestions for the erotic stuff, that would be great. The areas that interest me are pretty broad: transsexual stories, BDSM, lesbian, gay male, straight sex, sci fi. Some stories might be suitable for one publisher, but other stories might be suited to another.
Click to expand...

I publish on Amazon and Smash from the UK, and for Amazon in particular had to send in emails stating I am registered for tax here and will pay all my tax here (unlike Starf*cks) etc etc.

I use my own name and email and have never had a privacy issue, although I am not that troubled about it. I just want my daughter not to be embarrassed at school by it being widely known Mum writes werewolf smut.

Yes, yes, I realise that's something she ought to be proud of! My friend who is a barrister openly boasts that she has a friend who writes werewolf smut. However you know kids :rolleyes:, it's bad enough that I put salad in her packed lunch, although because I am an Alpha mum all the kids pretend to admire the salad, and the school just said: "we think you only do it for research purposes," when I tried to get out of being a school governor on the grounds that I write smut.
 
Zeb_Carter said:
Of course you don't pay, your website will be shutdown and they hunt for you will begin.
Click to expand...

But if I register my domain with a registrar in Malaysia and don't provide a physical US postal address, how will they know where I am located and thus whether or not I am even taxable? Once we figure out how to solve the payment issues I don't see any way they could get to me.

The major challenge would be gaining the trust of the writers. Amazon is nothing if not trusted. You may not like them, but you know who they are and what they stand for. Trusting some yoyo with an over-seas domain is a lot harder...
 
NaokoSmith said:
I just want my daughter not to be embarrassed at school by it being widely known Mum writes werewolf smut.

Yes, yes, I realise that's something she ought to be proud of! My friend who is a barrister openly boasts that she has a friend who writes werewolf smut. However you know kids :rolleyes:, it's bad enough that I put salad in her packed lunch, although because I am an Alpha mum all the kids pretend to admire the salad, and the school just said: "we think you only do it for research purposes," when I tried to get out of being a school governor on the grounds that I write smut.
Click to expand...

Twilight has made werewolves cool... or rather kewl among young girls. Your daughter would probably be like, "My mom is totally like Stephenie Meyer, except with less money and actual writing talent..."

;)

hqdefault.jpg
 
StrangeLife said:
Twilight has made werewolves cool... or rather kewl among young girls. Your daughter would probably be like, "My mom is totally like Stephenie Meyer, except with less money and actual writing talent..."

;)

Where did you get that photo of me??!!!

Put it away before the rest of the school governors' board see it! They will all be shuffling up to me afterwards and whispering to ask if they can borrow my ears. :mad:

;):D

(Acksherly my daughter is still young enough to be embarrassed by snogging in films, so the prospect of telling her friends that her mum writes about secks (ewww ewww ewww!) is still in the far distance, LOL.)
Click to expand...
 
StrangeLife said:
But if I register my domain with a registrar in Malaysia and don't provide a physical US postal address, how will they know where I am located and thus whether or not I am even taxable? Once we figure out how to solve the payment issues I don't see any way they could get to me.

The major challenge would be gaining the trust of the writers. Amazon is nothing if not trusted. You may not like them, but you know who they are and what they stand for. Trusting some yoyo with an over-seas domain is a lot harder...
Click to expand...

That'll probably be okay as long as you only do business with Malaysian online ebook sellers. Amazon and Smashwords and their like will want that tax information from you before they list any of the books you publish.
 
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