In the last decade, most of
the vanity presses in North America were bought out by AuthorHouse and brought under an umbrella called «Author Solutions».
The self - publishing of various
vanity presses in the twentieth century, and earlier, bears almost no comparison to the product being marketed by so many savvy and dedicated self - publishing authors in this new time.
They are what's called subsidy or
vanity presses in the industry.
Beware
vanity presses in the guise of bona fide publishers.
I also think most authors are not going to be prepared to license their rights to a publishing service which takes the rewards of an upper - end traditional publisher while taking on obligations similar to a hands - off self - publishing service or
vanity press in return.
By adding an ad for
a vanity press in that rejection letter, the publisher is encouraging authors to stop seeking publishers that would pay the authors to publish their books, and to stop working to improve their writing skills so that they could write an even better next book.
Many readers, myself included, were appalled by Harlequin's decision to move forward with
a vanity press in the particular manner they are planning.
Indie Book Publishing — No Longer about Vanity, one of the beak - out sessions given by the VP of Marketing from the largest
vanity press in the country, says it all.
Ask them why Penguin purchased the biggest
vanity press in the world.
The real expert on «shared publishing» [and
the vanity press in general] is Johnathon Clifford.
Penguin purchased Author Solutions — the largest and most reviled
vanity press in the world — in August last year for $ 116m.
Not exact matches
Whenever you thought you've seen it all... The sad part is watching these poor people flush money down the
vanity press drain, especially
in these hard economic times.
Around 2007, just when most people were starting to think you couldn't find anything
in the publishing world worse than a typical
vanity press, Author Solutions proved us all wrong.
In a recent WBJB Publishing Basics Radio interview with Jan Nathan, the Executive Director of PMA, Jan was asked the question, «What type of publishing (
vanity, subsidy, traditional, small
press, independent) best describe places like Author House, Xlibris and IUniverse?
An author from one of these
vanity presses came to my booth
in the main hall and we had a discussion of his title.
The only part of the self - publishing process that has more charlatans than the
vanity press business as a whole is the book marketing business,
in particular.
a. Your book will be taken more seriously than if it is listed
in all the databases as published by a
vanity press or CreateSpace.
In the
vanity press business, there are a few honorable exceptions to the belief that it's fraught with peril; for far too many authors, though, the experience mirrors that of the authors who filed more than 800 complaints against Tate Publishing and Music.
In the past, if you wanted to publish a book you had to do it from a
vanity press or land a deal with a traditional publisher.
There are a number of models, and
in my experience what sets them apart from
vanity presses is that they're run like publishing companies.
Also,
in those
vanity press days, traditional publishers seemed to have a stranglehold on the book distribution network.
Adsett told Weekly Book Newsletter (WBN) that the aspects of the contract she was most concerned about were not replicated
in commercial publishing contracts or
in «common
vanity press contracts».
Who are some key players
in the
vanity press world?
As authors moved towards circumventing traditional publishers or small
presses who required that a book be accepted
in order to be published
in return for payment (one hopes), we saw the advent of
vanity presses and assorted publishing opportunists.
Looking at the list of previous winners
in one contest site, I noticed that every book category had winners published by a
vanity press with a shady and notorious reputation.
Writers aren't stuck with the old
vanity presses that took your $ $ $ and gave you a printout with a cardboard cover
in return.
Newby's terrible printing of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, with many editorial and presentation errors, and underhand behavior, only goes to show that
vanity presses trying to turn a buck out of self - publishers hasn't changed
in 200 years!
I thought about taking them up on this offer when I was
in my first few issues of the series, but it on further thought, it seemed more like a
vanity press option.
In the same spirit, anyone who isn't a purely traditional publisher must battle the «
vanity press» stigma.
In addition to giving publishers the ability to designate, by line, which of their imprints are «eligible», RWA would also have to let them designate which imprints should fall under the non -
vanity / non-subsidy small
press designation.
They don't have the obligation to do anything that would undermine it *
in their own minds, * even if other people say «Hey, what right do you have to limit my exposure to
vanity press (i.e. xylitol)??»
There is obviously money to be made
in vanity presses.
If you don't want to learn the business and just want to «be
in charge» and have some money you don't mind wasting, you might be best sticking with the
vanity presses.
The single largest mine
in the self - publishing minefield is the deceptive practice of the
vanity presses saying that they will assign you an ISBN.
If you see an ad
in the back of a magazine that offers to «publish» your book, or suggests that they «need» authors, chances are high that it is a
vanity press.
The
vanity press industry, headed by companies like Author House, WestBow Press, Publish America and the likes, have done a huge disservice to authors, specifically, and the publishing industry, in gen
press industry, headed by companies like Author House, WestBow
Press, Publish America and the likes, have done a huge disservice to authors, specifically, and the publishing industry, in gen
Press, Publish America and the likes, have done a huge disservice to authors, specifically, and the publishing industry,
in general.
4 years ago people were curious about publishing, but scared by all the bad - mouthing they read
in Writers Digest (funded largely by
vanity presses) and by online wannabes.
In comparing hybrid publishers with vanity presses, it's important to note that vanity presses are not selective in what they publish, nor are they set up to b
In comparing hybrid publishers with
vanity presses, it's important to note that
vanity presses are not selective
in what they publish, nor are they set up to b
in what they publish, nor are they set up to be.
Thank you for the info Vinny, now I think I see, You'd like a blog about marketing from lil» ol' me, Promote only when you are
in a happy mood, And never promote your books by being far too rude, Try to make your posts interesting, clever and funny, And try not to part with a large amount of money, Now I feel there is one thing I should stress, Never go and give your cash to a
vanity press, Blog, tweet and update your Facebook status as often as you can, Make contact with other authors and befriend your only fan, Be courteous, considerate and always be kind, And you will slowly find, You'll get people interested and make them all see, Especially when you give your book away for free, Sit back, relax and be rather nice, And always think about the price, People will not part with their cash unless the price is low, Particularly for an author they do not even know, Always remember to write purely for fun, Never think that your profit will be a huge great sum, And pray for exposure to the lord above, Because self - publishing is a labour of love,
People who publish with
vanity presses are not likely to make money; people who publish
in a commercial fashion have the intent to make a profit (and I do).
In these days of POD (publish - on - demand) technology, the
vanity presses may promise to ship the books when they are ordered, which at least relieves the author of having to warehouse the books.
The «get it done quick and easy» authors who use
vanity presses or subsidy
presses, like Author House, WestBow
Press or IUniverse, may now find themselves
in straw or... [Read more...]
· Writer's Digest owned
vanity press, Abbott Press (note: WD divested themselves of Abbott in 2014; guess that wasn't such a great idea after all,
press, Abbott
Press (note: WD divested themselves of Abbott in 2014; guess that wasn't such a great idea after all,
Press (note: WD divested themselves of Abbott
in 2014; guess that wasn't such a great idea after all, eh?)
David Graughan's blog is on industry news, helpful post
in book promotion, and frequently about avoiding
vanity presses that don't offer a good value for your money like the one owned and used by a number of the big 5 (author solutions).
I guess RWA might restrict it to romance titles, so that Random House can't drag
in every title they publish (and that assumes that they are deemed to have a
vanity press, which is not a clear cut thing).
While I think the idea of
vanity press is just wrong on so many levels, if Harlequin didn't use Harlequin resources or name, I could live with them having a financial interest
in a joint - venture / partnership that was legally separate from the main company.
This is not the self - publishing of old, where
vanity presses convince you to buy boxes of books that sit
in your garage which you end up giving away at garage sales.
The «too good to be true» advertising continues and a seemingly endless parade of authors continue to hand over their credit cards
in hopes of hitting the self - publishing lottery... which is exactly what it is when you use a
vanity press to publish your book.
The deceptive practices of these modern day
vanity presses will remain
in place.
Being the babe
in the woods I was at the time, I got about 30 to 40 copies published through a local «
vanity press,» which cost me about $ 80 at the time.