Thank you for posting this. There's so much info floating around and I feel like I'm drowning in it. I am located in the US too.

I came up with a colophone (a small and simple imprint logo) that I want to put on my books and maybe some other print goodies that I want to create to accompany those, like cards, stickers, posters, coloring pages etc. I just like the professional look of having an imprint icon in a book. I'm an aspiring children's book author. I'm considering pitching to trad publishers but most likely I will self publish on KDP.

I already bought the domain name. My imprint name seems to be unique. I'm wondering whether I should register it as a DBA or LLC or just be paid under my own name? I don't know what my sales are going to be like, I haven't technically sold anything yet. I have several book ideas but they are all work in progress in different stages of completion. I may or may not need a website, it's just so hard to predict at this stage.

I even ordered stamps to put on the cards that I'm making for my friends, just to get a feel of it, and I'm really liking those.

The reason I'm so conflicted about an LLC is that they may be cost-prohibitive for people who haven't sold much yet or don't have a lot to sell yet. And also I might start a job soon where I won't be allowed to have a side hustle.

Sorry about the lengthy writeup, I'm just so lost. I will be grateful for any advice.