By Any Other Name

It's the small things that take the longest. And here I thought that the writing and editing was the hard part! But there are loads of small things that need to be done prior to publishing a book independently. One of these, on which I've already spent too much time, is coming up with a Fictitious Business Name. I approached it a couple of ways:

I thought about what I wanted the name to imply, so I wrote down some roots, like qual-, cred-, acu-, savv-, meri-, acco- and many, many more. The good ones are already taken (not in my county, so in theory I could use the name, but I didn't want to use the same name as another, existing publisher, even if that business doesn't sell outside of North Dakota, for example).

When the root words didn't get me far, I looked for synonyms (I won't bore you with the list), with results similar to the effort, above.

Then I tried to think of my favorite words; actually, I do have a favorite word, though I can't remember what it is and won't remember I hear it, again, which may or may not be before I have to register a DBA.

Finally, I pulled some words out of the air, or certain words came to me out of the air. "What do you think of Kumquat Press?" I asked my husband as we were driving home from a movie.

As we were stopped at a traffic light at the time, he pointed out the window and said, "Why don't you call it 'Crosswalk Publishing,' or 'Yield Press?') I guess he doesn't find the process or the outcome quite as interesting or important as it is to me but, actually, I like the sound of 'Crosswalk Press,' and it cleared both locally and nationally (while Kumquat Press had already been taken).

I can't say that 'Crosswalk' brings up any positive images except, possibly, being careful, but at least it doesn't have negative implications, as I realized with some of my other names I had considered, like "Soledad Press," named for a local landmark (but there is also a prison named 'Soledad. . . ') I like the name 'Cedar Haven Press,' and it, too, clears locally and nationally, but for some reason it makes me think of old age homes.

So 'Crosswalk' it is.

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