veradee ([info]veradee) wrote,
@ 2009-08-28 19:08:00
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Entry tags:misc

Vanity Publishers
I've never understood why some people decide to pay for publishing their books. Agreeing to the terms a vanity publisher offers has always seemed like a bad and desperate choice to me, but I never expected things to be as bad as they are described in this German article from Spiegel Online.

Some real authors sent in a faked and very badly written exposé, using a pseudonym, and all six vanity publishers accepted. Five of them also accepted the 842-pages-long manuscript that was cobbled together from copyright-free books and therefore made no sense at all. Depending on the publisher, the author should have paid between 3,000 and 30,000 Euros.

I realise that the fact that a real publishing house accepts your book also doesn't mean that your book is any good, but those publishers intend to make money by selling your book. Therefore, someone there has to believe that it's at least sellable if nothing else. A vanity publisher doesn't even believe in you this much because you've already paid him.


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[info]arphile
2009-08-28 06:45 pm UTC (link)
I can't read German, but it seems worth pointing out that the goal of almost all publishers is to make money (maybe certain academic or other non-profit presses are the exception.)

It seems that all that commercial publishers need to "believe in" is that your book is worth their investment, which is why there are so many shallow celebrity exposes, weight loss books, get rich quick books, predictable romances etc.--it's what the public buys. I think that there are quite a few cynical "real" publishing houses out there who operate on this basis--it's certainly how much of the movie/DVD business seems to be run.

The question is whether or not the publishers get the money upfront. Vanity publishers are bad when mislead authors and give them false hope, while taking outrageous amounts of their money. If people know they're dealing with a "vanity" publisher they should know what to expect, but people can be overly optimistic and trusting--look at the numbers of people who STILL fall for the on-line scams that ask them to send money to Nigerian princes.

Some people want to publish their books because they have a point of view, and they want to get it out to others. Also, the recently deceased author E. Lynn Harris self-published his first book through a vanity publisher and sold it from the trunk of his car; many of his later books made the New York Times bestseller list.

No question though, authors should be wary of vanity publishers in case they're dealing with an unscrupulous one.

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[info]veradee
2009-08-28 09:48 pm UTC (link)
Yes, all publishers want to make money, and as we know making money doesn't necessarily have anything to do with producing quality, but I think if a vanity publisher takes an authors money and publishes a book that is so bad that it's completely unreadable and unsellable, it's just fraud.

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[info]snokat
2009-08-28 07:20 pm UTC (link)
I've read a couple of books recently that I had thought were published by REAL publishers (not the do it yourself places). But after reading them, I thought they were so poorly written, I can't believe ANYONE would have paid money to publish them! Maybe that is what those were; just publishers with no standards!

Adaveen had asked once about paranormal romance. Well I found a book that was specificly in that catagory called "Heatherfield." The storyline sounded really good! About a women who gets transported back in time after a car accident and falls in love with a war hero. OMG, it was SO lame!!! I hate to admit that I paid good money for this book! I saw this woman has written other books and there were other "paranormal romance" writers advertised in the back of this book. I wondered if they were all that horrible.

Edited at 2009-08-28 07:21 pm UTC

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[info]veradee
2009-08-28 09:52 pm UTC (link)
True, real publishers publish crappy books as well, but at least the author gets some money because that crap sells. I admit if I should ever write a book that wouldn't be enough for me, but it's something every writer has to decide for himself.

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[info]firefly_124
2009-08-28 07:31 pm UTC (link)
Actually, I didn't think vanity publishers sold your books at all. I've considered using one for things like a tiny (3-4 copy) print run of a collection of family recipes. And a lot of Pagan groups use the online services like Lulu to print niche-market books that would never get picked up by a "regular" publisher because the market just isn't big enough for them, though I guess that's not quite the same as a vanity press.

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[info]veradee
2009-08-28 10:15 pm UTC (link)
Maybe there are different kinds of vanity publishers but I've always understood that they mean to sell the books - at least if the author didn't pay so much that they already earned enough. But as far as I know German bookstores aren't very enthusiastic about these books so that not many get ever sold. I've never heard that an author got back the money he invested by enough books being sold. In any case, German writers' associations tend to discourage authors from relying on vanity publishers.

Lulu is books on demand, isn't it? I'm not sure whether this means that the quality of the books is higher really, but I believe the author doesn't have to invest as much money. I can see that BOD works for special interest groups, but I think a poor sod who has finished his first novel, which happens to be really bad, won't do himself any favours by publishing the book as BOD after real publishers sent him rejection letters.

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[info]arphile
2009-08-29 12:09 am UTC (link)
I guess it depends on the author's goal. This wikipedia article is pretty interesting, and it points out that most poets are self-published because good or bad, the public isn't that interested in poetry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_press

It's great that people can publish their poetry, fanfiction, novels, screenplays, etc online--if they want an audience and aren't necessarily concerned with making money. LJ has certainly encouraged many people to write....... :-)

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[info]veradee
2009-08-29 01:59 pm UTC (link)
It's great that people can publish their poetry, fanfiction, novels, screenplays, etc online--if they want an audience and aren't necessarily concerned with making money.

But online we also have the distinction between seemingly good and bad fanfics, posted to archives or posted somehwere where no "quality check" is needed. ;)

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[info]deeindiana
2009-09-02 03:10 am UTC (link)
When an author calls the library and wants us to sponsor a book signing/author talk, I always ask if it is a self-published book. If it is, I will rent them the room but we will not sponsor them. Does that sound terrible? It's just that anyone with enough money can publish a book, whether it sucks or not. At least if they are handled by a reputable publisher you can assume it has a chance of being good.

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[info]veradee
2009-09-02 11:48 am UTC (link)
At least if they are handled by a reputable publisher you can assume it has a chance of being good.

That's exactly what I think as well.

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