Have you ever tried a self-publishing book service?

Question

Got a sales call from authorhouse.com

Answer 1

What the others say about the vanity publishing is true. I self-published my first novel and did it the right way. But, it cost me quite a few bucks to do it. Many well known authors have done it and went on to be what they are now.

Don't use these people.

I had to contact magazines, stores, websites, and set up book signings on my own, but my book was put together by professional people. Lots of leg work when you self publish and lots of money. It cost me close to 4500 dollars. That was the ads and the editing service included, which was about 800 dollars.

If you're going to find a true self publisher, you'll need to get yourself a good editor. They cost, big time.

I wish you luck!

Answer 2

It's called "vanity publishing" in the trade - it is where someone has written something that no-one is likely to want to buy - but the author thinks it great.

As such, the only way it gets printed is if the author pays for the entire cost of publishing.

The upside is if the book IS good after all and the author manages to find buyers and the book sells well, then the profits are the authors alone.

Mark

ps: When vanity publishers come touting for trade, they usually just want ONE short story or something from you - you then submit a couple of thousand words, they make a HUGE book of stuff from a hundred or so authors - charge each of them enough for a hundred or so books and have a nice print run of 10,000 or so, fully paid up books to shift - often at full face value.

"Poem anthologies" tend to be one example - you can get HUNDREDS of folks all agreeing to buy a few dozen books to see their work in print.

Answer 3

All self publishers have bad reputations but Authorhouse is one of the 5 worst. You NEED to do your homework before you contact a publisher. That includes checking them out through Absolute Write Water Cooler's Bewares and Background Checks and Preditors and Editors.

If you had, you would have seen this notation at Preditors and Editors ...

AuthorHouse (formerly 1st Books): Not recommended. A vanity publisher.
5/17/06 - If you don't know by now, AuthorHouse lost a libel suit in court. It seems that the courts and jury decided that a publisher couldn't disavow itself of what it published. In other words, AuthorHouse should have vetted what it accepted before publishing. Now they owe several hundred thousand dollars and may have to pay even more in punitive damages.

Self publishing is vanity publishing. It does not count towards making you a "published author". Nobody is going to select your book for publication as is done with traditional publishers. As long as your check clears the bank, a vanity publisher will publish the San Francisco Phone Book. They do not even read what they publish. They could care less what you print as long as you pay the bills.

This is my best advice for you and for all authors. Self publishing is a financial black hole. You will pay for publishing, then you will have to pay a marketing firm or someone to promote your book. You will pay for all of it and STILL your books will not be on sale in bookstores. Being on shelves is where the action is for an author. Only 9 self published books have made it to the best seller list in the history of self publishing. I can only recall one of those titles. The Celestine Prophecy - which was later picked up by a traditional publisher where it made most of its money. The average sales of a self published book is under 100 copies. I have seen some as low as THREE. Three books. Is that what you want for yours?? To sell three copies?

If you believe in yourself and in your book, you owe it to yourself to spend at least twice as long trying to publish it traditionally as you did writing it. Otherwise your effort was wasted.

I have several good Q and A starred on my profile regarding self publishing. You should look some over. Authorhouse is a scam and should be avoided at all costs. And now I believe they have hooked up with iUniverse - another loser.

Hope that starts you on the road to reason. Pax - C

Answer 4

e book one become already rejected with the aid of numerous publishers, has gone with the aid of significant re-write and is being submitted to 4 different publishers e book 2 would be submitted to the writer of e book one as will e book 3, it quite is in the draft degree now, waiting for preliminary enhancing. I quite have seen self-publishing yet there is in basic terms too plenty excited by doing that. it would do away with from the time that could desire to be spent writing. Brightest reward, Raji the fairway Witch

Answer 5

That's not self-publishing. That's VANITY-HOUSE.

I wouldn't sign up with them--if you know what's good for you.