Authors, ghostwriters, and freelance writers run royalty income and book contracts through an anonymous LLC.
By Shafwan Ahmed, Operations & Fulfillment Lead, Anonymousllc.co
Wyoming anonymous LLC. The LLC signs publishing contracts, receives KDP / royalty / ghostwriting fees under EIN, and holds the business bank account. For authors with significant catalog royalty income, S-corp election above $60k/yr is worth modeling.
Writers who publish controversial nonfiction, work as ghostwriters, or write under pen names need their legal identity separated from their publishing footprint. An anonymous LLC keeps state records clean — the publisher knows the legal entity (and the human behind it via KYC), but the reading public cannot trace the author through Secretary of State searches.
Best for solo authors. No state income tax. Strong banking acceptance for royalty income (Mercury and Relay handle Amazon KDP payouts cleanly). Wyoming RA replaces your home on filings.
| State | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming (recommended) | $397 | Best balance of cost, anonymity, banking acceptance. |
| New Mexico | $347 | Cheapest. No annual report. Banking is harder. |
Yes. The LLC is the legal entity; the pen name is a marketing identity. Most publishers and self-publishing platforms support this.
Once net royalty + writing income consistently exceeds ~$60k/yr, yes.
Royalty income from foreign publishers is reported on the LLC's US return. Tax treaty withholding is handled by the foreign payer.
Yes — most do. Some traditional publishers prefer to contract with the author personally for first-time deals; smaller / self-publishing setups routinely contract with author LLCs.
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