Month: March 2005

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have a terrific website called Writer Beware... and on it they have a detailed article on Vanity Publishers, as well as the pros and cons of doing business with them. The article includes these useful definitions:

Commercial publishers, subsidy publishers, vanity presses,
self-publishing–what’s the difference?

• A commercial publisher purchases the right to publish, and pays the
  author a royalty on sales (most also pay an advance on royalties). Commercial
  publishers are highly selective, publishing only a tiny percentage of
  manuscripts submitted to them, and handle every aspect of editing, publication,
  distribution, and marketing. There are no costs to the author.
• A vanity publisher (a.k.a. a book producer or book manufacturer)
  prints and binds a book at the author’s sole expense. Costs include the
  publisher’s profit and overhead, so vanity publishing is usually a good deal
  more expensive than self-publishing. The completed books are the property of the
  author, and the author retains all proceeds from sales. Vanity publishers do not
  screen for quality–they publish anyone who can pay–and provide no editing,
  marketing, warehousing, or promotional services. 
• A subsidy publisher also takes payment from the author to print and
  bind a book, but claims to contribute a portion of the cost, as well as adjunct
  services such as editing, distribution, warehousing, and some degree of
  marketing. Theoretically, subsidy publishers are selective. The completed books
  are the property of the publisher, and remain in the publisher’s possession
  until sold. Income to the writer comes in the form of a royalty.
• Self-publishing, like vanity publishing, requires the author to
  undertake the entire cost of publication him/herself, and to handle all
  marketing, distribution, storage, etc. However, because the author can put every
  aspect of the process out to bid, rather than accepting a pre-set package of
  services, self-publishing can be more cost-effective than vanity or subsidy
  publishing, and can result in a much higher-quality product. And unlike subsidy
  publishing, the completed books are the writer’s property, and the writer keeps
  100% of sales proceeds.

Discussions about self-publishing and vanity presses seem to be in the air today. I received this question in my email…

I’m a guy with a day job working on a business book related to my profession. 
As a business person I am comfortable with self promotion and like the cost
structure of self publishing.  I was curious about the distinction you made in a
recent post about the difference between a vanity press and a self publisher. 
What is the difference in your view?

Vanity presses and self-publishers are the same thing… companies you pay to publish your book.   There’s nothing wrong with vanity presses… as long as they aren’t trying to fool  you into thinking they are a traditional publishers.

IUniverse, for example, is a reputable vanity press that turns out a nice looking product at a reasonable price. They don’t pretend to be anything but what they are… a company that offers authors a way to self-publish their books.

I’ve had several of my out-of-print titles republished in trade paperback  editions (at no cost to me through a special Authors Guild program) and have been very happy with the results.  The books look great and I get nice little royalty checks on a regular basis… and I can double-check my sales at any time by logging into their website.

But before you get involved with a vanity press, you should have realistic expectations about the kinds of sales, distribution, promotion, and critical notice you are likely to get.

Figure close to zero.

The burden of selling the book, promoting the book, and getting any critical notice at all will be entirely up to you.  Stores are reluctant to carry self-published titles because they rarely get a discount and can’t return unsold copies.  Critics will rarely review a self-published title. Reporters are loathe to interview a self-published author unless there is an incredibly compelling angle to the story (It helps if you’re a TV star (Buddy Ebsen), a controversial politician (Richard Lugar),  a famous songwriter (Lee Hazelwood), or a key player in a sex scandal (Amy Fisher).

I can see how going to a vanity press would make sense for a non-fiction book if, for example, you want to market it yourself at speaking engagements and seminars… or use as a promotional item for your company and its services.  There is a place for self-publishing…it’s a useful service.  But it’s not a replacement for authors looking for all the things that come from having a book bought by Simon & Schuster, Penquin/Putnam, or any other "traditional" publishing house.

A friend of mine, responding to my earlier post on vanity presses, says there’s a new con some companies are using to confuse aspiring authors into thinking they’re "reputable publishers" instead of self-publishing scams.

Many vanity publishers claim to charge no publisher’s fee to accept
the book.  Instead what they do is require the author to pay an editor, from a list the publisher supplies, to get
the manuscript into shape.  In reality, the editor is an employee of
the publisher and kicks back all the author’s money to the boss. 

It’s just another way of taking advantage of an author’s desperation to be published. Remember — publishers pay you, not the other way around. Beware of any publisher who asks you for a check.