After doing some checking, I learned that if I have my name in the business, I don't need to file for a "Fictitious Business Name." Given that I had no interest in being anonymous, I was quite happy to skip that step, so I decided on the completely unoriginal name of: Ellen Clary Writes.
Then it was off to my city's website to figure out how to get a business license. And it's right at this point where "your mileage may vary." If you don't live within a city then you may not need a business license at all though you should check with your county. For tax reasons, you do want some way of saying this pile of money X is for my business and the money spent on it is in support of the business and should be considered business expenses. This is especially important for me because my book isn't coming out till next year, but I have some significant up-front costs.
I do live in a small city and they have a website with business information on it. Their focus is about brick and mortar places like my local taqueria, but they do have a "Writers" category, and they were quick enough to tell me that if I'm working at home I need a "Home Occupancy Permit" first.
This was a lengthy tangent and it required some thought. My city wanted to know just how many square feet of space of my home was dedicated to the business. Guessing is completely ok. I guessed 100 sq ft. which is the size of our office. Then I had to answer a lot of questions about how much parking I would need (zero), and how often deliveries would go in and out. I'm not running the book delivery part if the business out of the house, so I answered zero to many of the questions, but if you are going to be sending or receiving books out from your home you need to tell them. This can be an issue in residential neighborhoods that don't want a lot of delivery trucks. We have enough deliveries in my neighborhood that even if I received the occasional item, it wouldn't be noticed.
After I answered a bunch of questions, I received a total cost estimate for my permit and I got a pending permit number that I took a screen shot of. It's very important that you know how to take screenshots for reference, as you many not see the same information presented in the same way. For a Mac use Shift-Command-4 and you will get a crosshair icon to sweep out a spot of the screen and it will copy a png of it to your desktop. If you just want a shot of the whole screen, use Shift-Command-3. I then paid for the permit on-line, and it said that it would take approximately a couple of weeks to process.
I chose to wait a week and a half, then I went back to the city's web site and asked for a Sole Proprietorship business license saying I was a writer and gave it the same business name that I have put on the Sole Occupancy Permit. I checked on the status of the permit and it was still listed as "in process," but I could continue applying for the business license as long as I had the permit number. (Remember that screenshot? It came in handy.)
I completed the license application, and the amount due was much cheaper than the permit which I found funny until I realized that their permit year ends on June 30th and that my rate was highly pro-rated, so I will likely get a notice in a couple of months that I need to renew.
One note on types of businesses. A writer is usually just a Sole Proprietorship, but if you have any liability exposure, you should consider the extra expense of a Limited Liability Corporation. This is stolen from Investopedia (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/llc.asp):
A limited liability company (LLC) is a corporate structure whereby the members of the company cannot be held personally liable for the company's debts or liabilities. Limited liability companies are essentially hybrid entities that combine the characteristics of a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship.
I write fiction, so I am not in danger of libeling anyone, but if you write non-fiction, or even close to it, you should give this one very careful consideration. The most famous current example, is the estate of the late Chris Kyle (who wrote American Sniper). They were successfully sued by Jesse Ventura for libel. The ending final settlement is confidential, but Ventura did get something out of Kyle's estate. (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/5/jesse-ventura-settles-american-sniper-lawsuit-take/) Now Kyle's estate does have some financial backing, but it's not something that most writers can or want to rely on, so if you write about real people having an LLC is probably worth the money.
Anyway, after about three weeks (long enough to forget about it.) I received in the mail my official business license that I'm actually supposed to post in the room somewhere. Yahoo. Now I need to talk to my tax person which is something I should have already done.
