Just curious what others are doing with this. This coming year, I'm going to be going full throttle into writing books, indie publishing, querying books to publishing houses, and likely offering up proofing/editing services where I can.After watching some friends venture into the self-published writing scene, I'm very aware of how the first few months or even years can be low-profit. Income seems to have what I've dubbed a "three/four book hump" where the first releases often make very little money but the third or fourth in a series has an income surge that justifies the quiet opening act. Obviously, some authors are lucky enough to make bank right out of the gate, but I'd rather prepare for a more average scenario.None of them even thought about looking into getting an LLC until they started getting more money. However, I see that entire window of liability and scream internally. What would any of them have done if someone decided to send lawyers after them on some frivolous claim?I also just read about the whole "Omegaverse Fiction Lawsuit" debacle and while hilarious, it was also eye-opening to see how easily some authors can have their entire lives destroyed by rival authors throwing litigation around like the players in the aforementioned lawsuit. I imagine DMCA can act as a middleman to protect an uninsured indie author provided they just comply with any takedown orders.I just can't help but wonder about worst-case scenarios, though, where a fraudulent DMCA or plagiarism claim got thrown at some indie author who simply didn't have the money to defend themselves in court (and genuinely wasn't even plagiarizing anything.) What then? Lose their house?Another fear that comes to mind is if someone claims that your work of fiction is injuring them in some way, what then? I'm really just talking about frivolous suits here and luck simply not favoring the honest party.Is the only option to just drop $800 for that LLC protection and hope you make it back or is there some protection I don't know about that's intended for indie creators who are just starting out and can't yet say if they're even going to break $800 in the first quarter?Similarly, I've been doing illustration and design work under the table for a couple of years now and recently stopped out of fear of working without an LLC. Again, for fears of people gaming the system in a way that really just screws people who aren't doing anything wrong but don't have the money or insurance to defend themselves. I wouldn't know how to protect myself other than just arguing facts the best I can.I'd love to just get an LLC and have that liability protection for both my writing and design/illustration endeavors but is there an option they have for people who are so new to operating as a business that they can't yet say how much they bring in annually?Sorry this is so long, I just figured I'd try to be as specific as possible in case LLCs work differently depending on what type of business you operate (and what types of threats they'd potentially have to defend your assets against.) see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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