Doing Business as Shiva Puri Press

For reasons too complex and nuanced to get into here, I have been advised to publish Azriel Dancer under a “fictitious” business name.  I’ll be “doing business as” Shiva Puri Press.  Those of you who have read Azriel Dancer will understand the reference.

Someday you might want to “do business as” somebody or something other than your own name.

How do you do it?  The “doing business as” procedure?

Go to the Recorder in the county you call home.

Fill out a one-page application.  Takes about five minutes.

Pay the clerk.  In Nevada County, California the fee is $26.

The clerk gives you three copies of the Fictitious Business Name Statement, one for you, one for your bank (to open a business account), and one for the approved newspaper(s) specifically listed on the Instruction Sheet.

Go see (or contact online or whatever works best in your county) the classified ad agent at the “approved” newspaper.  Give him/her the form.  He/she will know exactly what it is.  Pay him/her/it or them.  In Nevada County, California, the ads cost me $116.

The newspaper will run the “doing business as” notice once a week for four consecutive weeks.  This is mandatory, no bull, no way around it.

After the fourth and final posting, the newspaper will send a receipt and note of completion back to the County Recorder.  Ta da!  You are now a sole-proprietor business.

Are we having fun?