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Is it advantageous for authors to work as an LLC? If I'm going to be writing a lot of books, it seems to make sense to work with publishers from an LLC and get some protection from spurious lawsuits. (Of course, this doesn't protect someone from plagiarism.) I'm in the USA.

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  • Good question, I was wondering about it myself.
    – Sayaman
    Jul 8, 2022 at 23:45
  • What do you intend to shield yourself from by using a LLC? Lawsuits? Debt? Taxes?
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Jul 14, 2022 at 18:18
  • What is the jurisdiction? USA? India? European Union? Mars?
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Jul 14, 2022 at 18:19
  • Polling is off-topic here. writing.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask
    – levininja
    Jul 14, 2022 at 18:56
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    I’m voting to close this question because it's asking for a poll of what others are doing.
    – levininja
    Jul 14, 2022 at 18:57

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If an author does something which gives some other person grounds for a lawsuit, an LLC will not in general offer any protection to the author. For example, if a work is held to be defamatory, or an infringement of copyright, the author could be personally liable for damages, and an LLC would not avoid that.

An LLC can help with tax issues in some cases. That depends on the details of the author's situation, including which country the author is in.

Many people starting or running a small business use an LLC structure. As I understand it, the main benefit of this is that it can limit liability for debts. If a person runni8gn a business takes on debt for business expenses and the business is unable to to earn enough to pay that debt, the owner can shut down the business and take it through bankruptcy without needing to go through a personal bankruptcy. This is not always possible, it depends on the details of the local bankruptcy laws.

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  • So you don't see any positives except limiting liability?
    – Steve
    Jul 8, 2022 at 20:30
  • @Steve Yes, debt liability, not tort liability, and possibly tax issues. There might be other benefits, but if so I don't see what they might be. Several prominent writes did do this, (including Asimov) but I suspect that was largely a tax matter.
    – David Siegel
    Jul 8, 2022 at 20:38
  • You can shield yourself from legal liability by using anonimizing LLCs. People do that for rental properties all the time. You need to register in some state that offers anonymity, like Wyoming, though. A dedicated lawyer will pierce this, but the cost is prohibitive for most of the legal actions.
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Jul 14, 2022 at 18:19

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