Self Publishing

I have been hammering Writers Digest and editor Kristin Godsey pretty hard here lately. So it should be noted that the latest "tips and updates" email from WD  includes a link to a very interesting article Godsey wrote about whether the POD industry should establish a code of professional conduct.

While many such companies are very clear about their policies and
promises, others are purposely vague and even outright
deceitful—hopeful writers are led to believe that using these
companies’ services is no different from getting a traditional
publishing deal in terms of instant prestige and reaching the
marketplace…

…Whether or not a code of ethics is standardized across the industry,
it’s clear that many writers are confused by the particulars of POD
publishing. Some Book Summit participants had specific suggestions for
practices they’d like to see all POD companies embrace. For starters,
Schwartz says, "Any type ofcode should define the rights and
responsibilities of all parties."

Beyond that, he says, "The realities of marketing efforts and
probable sales outcomes need to be made absolutely transparent."
Pramschufer elaborated on this theme in the October issue of his
monthly newsletter for small and independent self-publishers. In it, he
called on POD publishers to "clearly point out the odds of being
successful. An average number of books sold would be a start. If the
publishers don’t think this is fair, then the average number of books
sold by the top 25 percent of their titles in print and the middle 33
percent."

It’s a great idea but I doubt it will ever happen…it would cut too deep into vanity press profits if their potential customers knew just how few copies they are likely to sell.  Still, it would be nice to see WD champion the idea and at the same time dedicate themselves to exposing the deceptive practices of individual vanity presses (especially if they are among their advertisers and "marketing partners"). Of course, this would require a radical rethink by WD’s editors and publishers about their various marketing partnerships with vanity presses.

There was a time when Writer’s Digest offered useful tips on breaking into writing and sustaining a career in the biz… but over the years they have become a worthless shill for the vanity press industry. I’ve been getting countless emails from Writer’s Digest, hyping one vanity press or another as a way to break into publishing and get your book on the shelves which, of course, is bullshit. Here’s the latest "very special message" from Writer’s Digest pushing Outskirtspress, which makes iUniverse look like Random House by comparison.

Tired of rejection letters?
Disillusioned by the lack of marketing
help?
Concerned about the out-of-control pricing of printers?

The publishing industry has come a long way
since the Gutenberg Press. New York publishers no longer call the shots. You
do! The future of book publishing is here…

* No minimum print
runs!
* Non-exclusive contracts!
* You keep all your rights!
* Your
book is published and available for sale in about 13 weeks!
* Online listings
with Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com are included!

Everyone wants a short-cut. This one will cost you from $199-1000 and get you nowhere.  If Writer’s Digest was a real magazine, they would publish articles exposing the pitfalls of vanity presses and warn writers against throwing their money away.  But Writers Digest sold out a long, long time ago and now exists to promote and legitimize an industry that preys on the desperation of aspiring writers. It’s not Writers Digest any more — it’s Vanity Press Digest.

The LA Times profiled Dean Fulcher, a Santa Ana homicide detective who has self-published a novel for teens, a book without vulgarity or sex that he describes as "The Hardy Boys meets Nancy Drew." He took the book to Tate Publishing, which charged him $4000 to publish and market his book. But if he sells 5,000 copies, which even he agrees is unlikely, they claim they will reimburse him.

The article doesn’t explore whether he tried to sell the book to a publisher, why he opted to go to a vanity press, or how he is going about marketing his novel…but rather veers into a much more interesting topic: why cops write:

Marilyn Olson, president of the Public Safety Writers Assn., which has more than
50 members across the country, said law enforcement was a field that lent itself
to writing because of its many different elements: technology, crime and
camaraderie.

"They have a wealth of material," she said. "In many cases,
it’s bottled up and they want to do something with the stories they
have."

Many retired police officers, Olson said, write as a way of
staying connected with their old jobs.

Others, like Fulcher, do it for
therapeutic reasons.

"It’s kind of hard to stop thinking about the job,
even on the weekends," he said, adding that he would constantly second-guess
himself about whether he missed key evidence in an unsolved case. "When I get
into this, I don’t even think about work. It’s a good way to escape reality for
a while and get into the story."

Joseph Wambaugh, the most famous police
writer, said he started because he simply had stories he needed to get
out.

Wambaugh, who joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1960,
worked as a cop for 10 years before his first novel, "The New Centurions," was
published.

It was on the New York Times bestseller list for 36 weeks.
Since then, he has written 15 more books.

"I was kind of an anomaly, a
freak," the 68-year-old Wambaugh said of his success. "I love to see cops write.
I wish there were more."

Although Fulcher encounters a wealth of material
in his job, he doesn’t think it would be right to use it.

"Dealing with
murders, I get really close to the families," he said. "It’s almost like I feel
I’m being disloyal to them if I use something that happened to them in my
story."

The other day I got an email from xlibris.

Dear Lee,
      My name is Tracey Rosengrave, Marketing
Manager for Xlibris Corporation, a Print-On-Demand Self-Publishing company. We
are sending you this email because we have either learned about your passion for
writing or we have had the pleasure of coming across some of your work…

I wrote two replies. One under my own name (which hasn’t received a reply), and an entirely different one under a pseudonym:

Dear Tracey,

I was so thrilled to
get your letter. I’ve been writing for years and was beginning to think nobody
had noticed. I truly have a passion for writing. How did you ever find me??? Was
it my "Scarecrow and Mrs. King"/"Remington Steele" crossover fanfic that you
read on fanfiction.net? I think it’s my best work. I have this idea of a TV
series but I think it would make a better novel so I wrote it. There’s a
publishing company in Maine that has offered me a $500 advance but
it’s not Random House! The book is called "Hollywood and Vine" and it’s about this cop
named Jimmy Hollywood who is something of a rogue. He’s teamed up with Vine who
is half-man, half-plant. I know that sounds silly but it’s not when you actually
learn about this complex character who has many deep levels (and gets his energy
from photosynthesis). Do you think you’d be interested? I would much rather be
published by Random House, even if the advance was
less.

Here is the reply I got:

Xlibris is actually a strategic
partner of Randomhouse. We would love to work with you. Just give us your
complete address and we can send a free publishing kit.

Joe
Tomines
Xlibris
Corporation

You’ll notice that Joe didn’t mention that Random House is a real publisher and that xlibris is a self-publisher, that Randon House pays advances and xlibris doesn’t.  He fell short of coming right out and saying "No, you will not be published by Random House. They have a financial stake in our company but that’s as far as the association goes." He left it up to me, the naive author of HOLLYWOOD AND VINE, to figure out what strategic partner means…