December 21, 2009

When my first book was published in 1983 by Atheneum Books for Children in New York, things were black and white. You were either published by a reputable publisher (usually in New York) or you used a (gasp!) vanity press.

There was only one real distinction: real publishers paid you, and vanity presses (self-publishers) required you to pay them for services rendered. It’s still the definition I go by. I can’t make a living by paying someone else to publish me.

Blurred Outlines

Today, new writers are confused. I can tell by the large number of email queries I get, questions from my students, and email “blasts” announcing someone’s “just published” new book by XXXX vanity publisher of some kind.

I hate to see my students and other new writers get suckered into this. If you look at your options and still choose to self-publish, that’s one thing. But I find it alarming how often I hear that writers are plunking down HUGE amounts of money to some vanity press, thinking that that’s the way it’s done.

Take Time to Study

Today I found a terrific discussion (and at the end of the article, read the definition of terms) that it would be wise for every writer to read. It’s at the Writer Beware blog and called “Blurred Distinctions: Vanity Publishing vs. Self-Publishing.” 

This would be a great blog to subscribe to, by the way. Knowledge is power, but you need to take time to be informed.

4 Comments »

1. 

   Thanks for the blog recommendation, Kristi. You are so right; things are blurrier now. Publishers of all sorts are not always forthright about their publishing schemes, and it can be hard to tell if they are self-publishers, vanity presses, royalty or work-for-hire houses. Writers’ Market and its cousins help a lot in sorting it out, but many (small, vanity, self-) publishers aren’t listed. The temptation to submit to these places is huge because so many large houses are now closed to unagented, unsolicited work. Chin up, keep writing, and get paid for your work! Don’t pay them!

   Comment by Jane Healy — December 21, 2009 @ 2:21 pm

2. 

   Jane, thanks for your comment. Yes, it is blurrier now. Some of it comes from the fact that well known writing magazines like Writer’s Digest are FULL of ads for such places. I realize that the magazine needs ad money to stay in business, but it gives the air of legitimacy to these so-called publishers who are simply printers who will do a printing job for anyone as long as you pay for it.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — December 23, 2009 @ 11:48 am

3. 

   Thank you for this post. Everyone wants to be published, it seems, whatever the cost. And some who pay mega bucks to the vanity presses or so-called “Self-publishing Companies,” or “POD Publishers” say afterward, “Well, at least I got my book in print. There are drawbacks, but I’m happy.” Because, it’s really hard to admit you’ve been taken advantage of. And there are so many more of these subsidy publishers now, that it makes one’s head spin to try to sort out the different contracts, various plans of each, and the fine print. No wonder writers are confused. I think that a pretty good rule of thumb is that the price you have to pay is inversely related to the quality of service and product that you receive. In other words, the more money a publisher makes up front, the less it cares whether the book will ever sell to anyone but the author.

   Comment by Janet Muirhead Hill — December 24, 2009 @ 9:31 am

4. 

   Janet, you’re so right! The less money the publisher makes from you (the author), the more incentive they have to work harder. And of course, if you hope to make a living and really have a publisher who wants to work for your book, they need to PAY YOU up front (your advance) when they acquire the manuscript so they feel compelled to work hard to recoup their money and then make some too. If they’ve been paid up front by the author–and this applies to “agents” who charge reading fees to read your manuscript–then they’ve made their money already.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — December 25, 2009 @ 11:51 am

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