Self Publishing

The  77th Annual Writer’s Digest Publishing competition has become another self-publishing scam. The contest is sponsored by Outskirts Press, the self-proclaimed "gem of custom book publishing."  The grand prize is $3000 in cash, a "free diamond publishing package from Outskirts Press," and a three-day trip to New York to meet with four  editors and agents  (if they are in the same league as Outskirts, you’d better bring your credit card). All the winners will be published in a special book by, you guessed it, Outskirts Press, which is probably hoping that the naive winners will spend their award money on copies. And all it costs you for a chance at this once-in-lifetime opportunity to be suckered by a vanity press is $15.

They shouldn’t call this the 77th Annual Writer’s Digest Publishing competition…they should call it the Writers Digest  Publishing Contest To Lend False Legitimacy to the Vanity Press Scam Artists Who Advertise in our Magazine….but I guess that title is too long. And accurate.

UPDATE: Brent Sampson, the CEO and "publisher" of Outskirts Press, responds in the comments below. He says, in part:

Writer’s Digest could have chosen any company to be the sponsor of
their Writing Collection. The fact that they chose Outskirts Press
demonstrates that they recognize our benefits, and they’re in a
position of knowing.

That’s exactly what bothers me. WD should know better than to let a
vanity press sponsor a writing contest under the Writer’s Digest name…which just illustrates just
how little credibility they have left as a magazine that’s dedicated to
the best interests of writers. If Writers Digest cared at all about writers, they
wouldn’t accept advertising from predatory vanity presses or allow one to sponsor their writing contest (and offer a
publishing package with the company as a "prize"). Writers Digest should have found a real publisher to sponsor the contest…or not have a sponsor at all.

Outskirts Press is not a
publisher. They are a printer. They aren’t making dreams come true…they
are taking advantage of the
gullibility and desperation of aspiring writers and, if WD had any
integrity at all, they would have nothing to do with them.

The Boston Globe reports that Brunonia Barry has sold her self-published novel THE LACE READER , and another to-be-written book, to Morrow for $2 million. This news will become the rallying cry for vanity presses everywhere…and the example gullible aspiring authors will use to justify throwing away their money.

What the hordes of desperate aspiring authors will ignore, and what the vanity presses certainly won’t tell them, is that Barry and her husband are experienced, successful businesspeople and former professional screenwriters who didn’t go to a POD vanity press…they spent more than $50,000 to self-publish their book entirely on their own. The Globe writes:

Most writers resort to self-publishing because they can’t find a
publisher. They often turn to print-on-demand presses such as iUniverse
or Xlibris. The author puts up the money – usually less than $1,000 –
and the publisher edits the text, designs jacket art, and makes the
book available through online outlets. But there’s no inventory – books
are printed when ordered – and the books rarely are reviewed. Few
bookstores place orders.

"We occasionally hear from self-published authors who say, ‘How can
I get my book into bookstores?’ " said Steve Fischer, executive
director of the New England Independent Booksellers Association, "but
the system is so difficult to plug into. You’re responsible for
everything – you have to be author, agent, accountant, postal clerk,
sales rep, publicity agent, go around to your local bookstore and find
out if there is any interest."

Barry and [her husband] were willing to do all that, and spend freely in the
process – more than $50,000 before they were finished

[…]With years of experience in screenwriting, Barry thought the story
might interest Hollywood. So she and [her husband] sent a book to agent Brian
Lipson, a book-to-movie specialist at Endeavor Talent Agency in Los
Angeles. Lipson liked it but doubted it would sell to the movies
without a commercial publisher. So he sent it to Rebecca Oliver in
Endeavor’s New York literary branch.

"I read it overnight and loved it," Oliver said. "I called Sandy and
said, ‘I have to work with you. This book is amazing.’ It has strong
characters and an amazing twist at the end. I sent it to a few
publishers. The phone started ringing."

Laurie Chittenden, executive editor of publisher William Morrow, was
one of those who called. "It reminded me of why I love books – a good
story, wonderful atmosphere, good characters, a real sophistication,"
she said.

Barry is among the very, very tiny number of self-published authors who get picked up by a major publishing house for big money….but it took major-league, movie industry connections that they already had and an investment of tens of thousands of dollars from their own pockets to score that jackpot.

It’s not going to happen for the vast majority of people…most of whom don’t have Hollywood connections or $50,000 to spend. Even Barry realizes it. She told the Boston Globe that had they known at outset how much time and money was involved in true self-publishing, they might not have tried it.

I just got an unsolicited email from John Hanzl urging me to read his book OUT OF HELL’S KITCHEN because it has received "both the Editor’s Choice award and
    the Publisher’s Choice award from his publisher. Pick up your own copy to
    see why…" His publisher is iUniverse. In other words, the people he paid to publish his book gave him awards for excellence. Gee, that’s quite an honor. 

I cringed for the poor guy. I’m not sure which is more embarrassing…an author who touts an award from his vanity press or an author who brags about the rave review he paid for from Kirkus Discoveries.

Author Archer Mayor’s  CHAT, the 18th book in his "Joe Gunther" series is about to be published by Grand Central Publishing later this month and St. Martin’s Press has just signed for books 19-21…but his back list of 17 previous books in the series are out-of-print. So Mayor, a death investigator for Vermont’s medical examiner, mortgaged his house and lined up investors to publish all the previous Gunther books himself. Publishers Weekly reports:

Mayor said he was encouraged to bring back his books in part because of his consistently good reviews. The New York Times Book Review has called him “one of the most sophisticated stylists in the genre.” And Publishers Weekly has
given six of his books starred reviews. He is also a recipient of the
New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction.
Despite the attention, his books still average only 18,000 copies in
hardcover.

He’s focusing his efforts on a regional approach, sticking to his local stomping ground but hitting it hard.

Mayor has 88 signings over the next two months. “I’m going to
cover New England like a wet T-shirt,” he joked. He kicked off the
campaign by taking a table at the NEIBA trade show in Providence last
month, where he got orders for 300 units. The sales rep for Hachette
even gave him a stack of galleys for Chat so Mayor could promote the new book with his backlist.

“We ordered tons of his new editions,” said Lynne Reed, co-owner of
Misty Valley Books, who has Mayor on her fall events schedule. “I think
once we get all the books back in stock, people will be very happy.
They want to start with the first book in the series and read them
straight through.”

Mayor is being conservative with his initial print runs, 500 trade paperbacks of each.

Unlike other self-publishing ventures, Mayor has several advantages. He is starting with titles that he was paid to write and that were previously published,  were well-reviewed and already have a following among readers and, most importantly, booksellers.

On top of that, he has four new novels coming established publishers that will have national distribution and that could stoke interest, and sales, in his previous titles.

He also made two very smart and realistic decisions — he avoided the POD vanity presses for his venture and he’s focusing his sales and promotional efforts on one region of the country, rather than trying to blanket the nation. 

I’m sure that lots of other mid-list authors with a big back list and a new book in the offing will be watching how he does, but I doubt that many of them have the financial resources or the guts to attempt the same  high-stakes gamble.