What are some worst places to publish?

Question

This question might be a little wired, but what are some of the WORST places to publish a book of any kind. that way, i don't make a mistake.

Answer 1

The question isn't wierd at all - it's smart.

There are several listed in The Writers Market who don't exactly have great reputations. I believe that publishers can buy their way into that book. There are also many wonderful publishers not listed in there. Writers Market only represents a small number of publishers, editors, agents and magazines. It's only a 30 dollar book. Spend the 300 bucks on Literary Marketplace - a much more complete guide.

Yes, the other answerer is correct - vanity presses and self publishers are way up there on the list of publishers to avoid. They will do absolutely nothing for you but sell you a box of cheaply made, poorly printed books and you are on your own to sell them. Many self publishers and vanity presses dont even provide the ISBN numbers necessary for you to be listed at Amazon or B and N and you cannot purchase an ISBN unless you are a publisher and purchase them in multiples of ten. Self publishing is a virtual financial black hole - and it doesn't even count towards making you a "published author" in the eyes of the publishing industry. Anyone who has the money can self publish any junk they want to. .

However there are many others out there to avoid like the plague. It would probably be against Yahoo Answers guidelines for me to talk smack about publishers here, so i wont. However I will tell you that I would NEVER send anything to anyone until I had checked them out in at least two places.

1) Preditors and Editors. If you dont see the name of the publisher/editor/agent listed there - you can contact the site owner Dave K and ask for his advice. He is very kind.

2) Absolute Write Water Cooler's Bewares and Background Checks forum. Wriers who have had difficulties with publishers/editors and agents are only too happy to comment on their experiences there. Again, if you are not sure, Victoria and James who run the forum are wonderful source of information. There are others.Writers Beware is one. You can sign up for their newsletter. There are many others. Just Google the names.

Yes, I personally had a terrible time with a publisher who is a very baddie. They are listed as such at both Absolute Write and Preditors and Editors. It is always good to have the inside track - who isnt paying royalties on time, who isnt doing what they promise, who is late delivering books, who isnt delivering books at all, who is "struggling to make ends meet", who lost their distribution deal, who doesnt have a distribution deal, etc. For instance, at Absolute Write you will find there are so many complaints and lawsuits against Publish America (PA) that they have a whole forum just for them. They are the worst of the worst. Avoid PA. They are also known for salting forums with people who write glowing reports of their services. Most self publishers do. (Coughs)

Also if you are ever in doubt - a good way to check a small publisher is to go to their website and select their biggest selling book - the one they are really promoting on their website. Write down the ISBN number. Then there is a special automated phone number at Ingram - one of the two major book distributors where you can call and punch in that ISBN number and an automated voice will give you information on the book's sales.

If you find that the publisher's best book has sold 35 copies in the past year, it's a good idea to pass them by. They arent going to get your book on bookshelves in stores. It's a pretty good bet that 10 of those books went to the author as a part of his contract and the other 25 were sold to family and friends. This is a little known secret in the publishing business. Those in the know will check out small publishers this way. The number of books they are selling is good information to have. Shhhh... I didnt tell you that. But trust me - that's the best ten point answer you will ever get here. Pax - C

Answer 2

Probably the worst place to be published is in vanity presses. I work in a public library and every year we host a Local Authors event, showcasing the work of authors in our area.

A large percentage of these books are printed in what are known as "vanity presses" - these are publishing houses who will print ANYTHING ... as long as the author is willing to pay for the publishing costs!

The cover art almost always looks like crap and the paper is usually lightweight. Everything about these books screams "I'm a great author and you should read my book even though I can't be bothered to hit the spell check button or submit it to an editor." Vanity presses are completely unconcerned with typos, grammatical errors, run-on sentences, etc.

Many of the authors who use vanity presses think they're the next Hemmingway and they have the attitude to match.

Vanity presses are similar to the vanity recording studios from several years ago. These places would advertise they were looking for talented songwriters. People would send in their lyrics and a few days later, get a letter in the mail saying they had the talent to be the next Paul McCartney or Frank Sinatra. They were then asked to send $100 (or whatever) and the studio would set the lyrics to music. Later, the sucker, er, "songwriter" would get half a dozen 7-inch singles in the mail with their lyrics being sung by some halfwit backed by some tired studio musicians.

Answer 3

Any publisher that asks for money.

If you are interested in the right way, you start by querying literary agents. This is done with a one page letter describing yourself and your book. Sometimes the agent will request you include the first few pages or chapters, but that is an individual preference.

There are several websites out there that will help you find an agent, my favorite is QueryTracker.net at http://www.querytracker.net/ . It is free and has a list of literary agents and also tools to help you keep track of who you already queried and who you haven't, plus more.

They do a good job of keeping the crooks off their lists, but it is still a good idea to double check at http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.h...

There are a lot of crooks out there. Never pay anyone to read or publish your book. A real agent will never ask for money except as a percentage of your royalties.

Keep in mind that finding an agent and getting published is not an easy process. Some people have to query hundreds of agents before they find one who will accept them (sadly, some never get accepted), but be persistent and keep trying.

You should also visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/,... one of the largest forums for writers. They can be very helpful.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Publish America. Now, they have a good product, but they overcharge for their books. I published through them and was dismayed to learn that my book was listed as $20--$23 in some stores. Now, my book was a softback that should have been no more than $15. PA books are returnable, which is a good thing, but I had to argue and fight with the books stores to convince them. I contacted PA and all they had to do was send a e-mail to the headquarters of Barnes & Noble and that would have solved the problem. They refused to do so telling me it is my problem. I eventually contacted the headquarters myself and solved the problem. But where PA could have solved it for all their authors, I could only do it for mine alone. Normally, books that are returned from bookstores to the publisher are either resold or the publisher takes a loss. The author is not charged for the unsold books. Well, I found out that PA charges the author for unsold books. I put a question on the author message board on the PA site, and basically asked others about this. Well, I was kicked off the board apparently for asking questions. That was ok, I didn't need the message board to sell books. But I did send a message to PA asking what it was that I had said to get kicked off. They said because of my recent activity on the message board. They added that I may be allowed back on in the future. I then replied that I did not want to be back on if just asking questions would get me kicked off. The next day my book was removed from their website. That was fine because all my books were sold in bookstores so I had no need for their webpage. I told them as much. As you can guess, my book went out of print very shortly afterward. Which, by that point, was what I wanted. I only send my work to traditional publishers now. Publish America is not a traditional publisher; just because they say they are, does not mean so. They are a print on demand vanity publisher. The do not charge to get published by them, but if your book has returns, you are responsible to pay for the book. I feel my work is better than that. Now, I only chose them for an older book of mine, so I really can't complain. However, I would like to warn potential authors that they are cons. They do put out a good product and if all you want is to have your name on a book, then go for it. But if you want your book to be published by a real publisher and be available in real bookstores, then go the traditional route, or at least a POD that charges decent prices. But I suggest going the tradtional route.

Answer 5

Any "publisher" that expects you to pay them. They are vanity presses, not publishers.

Go to Preditors & Editors here:
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peba.htm
If the publisher is listed as "not recommended" DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM.

Preditors & Editors also has pages for agents as well. Don't query any that are not recommended.

Answer 6

Anyplace NOT listed in The Writer's Market. TWM sets the standard for all writers and they evaluate publishers and agents before they are listed in the book. If the agent and/or publisher isn't somewhere listed in TWM, I would avoid them like the plauge.