what is ''vanity press''?

Question

they told me i will receive money from every book sold..you want to say that they will take all the money?

well if the book is not sold..it is obvioulsy that they cannot pay me..but if the book is sold..they have to give me money haven't they?

well if the people don't like the book it is natural that the book won't be sold and the author cannot receive money..

so what is the thing that doesn't work with the publishing house?

as long as they have shops and the book is displayed on line..along 2 years ..what is wrong with selfpublishing houses?

the traditional houses cannot publish the 50 000 writers of the self publishing house , can they?

so self-publishing..should work on the idea that if the book is liked by the people it should be sold..even if there is no advertising..actually you cannot make advertisemnts for 50 000 wtiters..anyway..the cities are full of advertisements i better mouve in mountains..my head is full of the giant people from advertisements..and giant cloks and fragrancess and giant legs..

no..they said that the book is availuable in shops ..at 25 000 retailers..and online..at amazon etc.

Answer 1

Yes, you will receive money from every book sold. However the average sales of a vanity press book is less than 100 copies and you will have to sell a heck of a lot more books than that before you start receiving any of that money. When you do, it will be pennies.

Vanity press is the old term for what is now called self publishing. They used to call it vanity publishing because every nut job with a conspiracy theory or a weird book that no traditional publisher would touch, published themselves just to see their name on the cover of a book. Hence the term "vanity". Now, they use the more gentile term "self publishing" - same thing.

There is no "FREE" vanity publishing. You pay for everything from editing to set up fees to your ISBN number (assuming they offer one - many do not).

Here is the catch. Your book will NEVER be sold in bookstores. Not unless YOU spend about ten thousand letters to every bookstore you can find listed and beg them to carry your book - at your personal expense. You can get in your car with a box of your books (that YOU paid for) and travel across the country handing out free copies to the buyers at bookstores and trying to get them to carry your books. Or you can hire a marketing firm at great expense to do that for you. But on the abverage, self published books are not sold in bookstores.

If you have an ISBN number, they will be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com - but who will know to buy them? Your family and friends. So expect about 2/3 of your family and friends to buy your books - accounting for most of your total sales. If you don't have an ISBN number, your book will only be available on the self -publisher's site. Where, like so many before you, you are at the mercy of their accounting department. If they tell you they sold ten copies, how do you prove otherwise?

Further, most self publishers have lost so many lawsuits that they will be paying off authors for the next million years. Now, I have noticed lately that they are banding together - several smaller ones have been bought up by bigger, worse ones. The self publishing industry preys on young authors especially by stressing the word FREE and telling them they do not need parents to sign forms. Kids see it as a quick and easy solution to getting that book published without facing the rejection letters from traditional publishers. Self publishers will publish ANYTHING. I could publish the Chinatown phone book just as long as my check cleared. They do not read the content, they do not care about the content. They just care about printing your books and collecting your money.

I read a quote recently from a very well known self publisher that starts with an L saying they would rather sell 100 copies of 5 million books than 5 million copies of 100 books. How does that help YOU as the author? They don't care about you. They are seeking volume. That is all. Your sales do not concern them one iota.

There is no such thing as a good self publishing experience. They send people to sites like this to write posts saying what a wonderful experience that they had. They are called "sockpuppets" in the industry. They are fakes here to lure kids into signing.

In the publishing business, there is a well known man named James Macdonald. He runs a site called Absolute Write Water Cooler Bewares and Background Checks Forum. You can go there and check on any publisher and agent on earth. If you can't find them listed, write to Uncle Jim and he will help you. He has a "Law" that says "the money should flow in the direction of the author - not the other way". With self publishing, it flows the other way. How does that help YOU?

You can also check with Preditors and Editors, Writers Wall, Anne Crispin's Site, Writer Beware, Science Fiction Association, and many other sites where people who advocate in favor of writers post regarding self publishing. You will see the same names over and over again listed as the Top Ten Worst Publishers and Top Ten Worst Agents. Stay away from them. It is no personal vendetta when the same names show up on all lists.

You will also find that here I star all good Q and A regarding publishing and writing. I have written many times about the dangers of self publishing.So have many others. Trust us. We have been there. We have learned our lessons the hard way. Print out a batch of Q and A that interest you and study them.

Then spend 30 bucks and go to any bookstore and buy yourself a copy of Writers Market and start reading it cover to cover. Learn TRADITIONAL publishing - the right way.

Answer me this. Are you proud of yourself and of your work? Than you owe it to yourself to spend at least twice the length of time you did writing it trying to publish it traditionally before you revert to cheaply made, poorly printed self published books that won't sell. Would you like me to tell you the lowest number of sales I have ever seen fro a self published book. THREE ... That is right - THREE copies. Is that what you want for your book? Who does? Sure you will get rejection letters - that is the nature of the business - Gone with the Wind got 50. But eventually it broke through. You will too if your work is quality.

Learn to advocate for yourself. Learn to learn from others experience. We are here to help you avoid those pitfalls. Those of us who advocate for publishers have seen it all. We know of what we speak. At Absolute Write Water Cooler there are 57 THOUSAND posts against Publish America and yet they were allowed to be on Dr Phil only last week. Don't believe a word of it.

Sell your book traditionally in a manner in which you can be proud and where your book will be sold and marketed by a reputable traditional publisher. Don't become letter 57,001 at Absolute Write.

Traditional publishing is the only way to go.

Pax - C

Answer 2

Let me break this down as simply as possible. There are over 10,000 books printed by vanity/self-publishing houses EACH WEEK. There are hundreds of thousands of books listed on Amazon. The only way anyone will even know about your book is if you advertise it. Just because they print the book does not mean anyone will buy it. Nobody will even know about it.

Bookstores do NOT stock vanity press books, because nobody buys them, they tend to be overpriced, and they are non-returnable. They may be listed with a distributor, but that doesn't mean anyone will actually stock your book.

Your English is very poor. And you obviously have a limited grasp of the publishing industry. Vanity presses feast on people like you. They tell you all these lies about how traditional publishers aren't publishing new writers and the only way you can get publishing is with them. THEY LIE. If you have talent, you can find a traditional publisher.

Answer 3

I've been published and have spoken to many other authors. In the publishing industry, vanity press is akin to anathema. It has such a bad rep because it is not taken seriously as being published. Many people (including myself but this is only my personal opinion) consider it literally 'vanity' as in you are not good enough to actually be published and paid for it professionally so you go out and pay someone to publish your book for you. Below someone else answered that someone they know managed to sell 100 copies of his poetry book by 'being nice to his friends'. That is the exact definition of a vanity pressing. His friends most likely do not work in the industry. The answerer below also said the poetry was "awful" again, indicating the pressing was mostly for their own vanity.
Now, many other people will tell you that it is fine to press your own books and yes, many times they have valid reasons for doing so. But still, after reading the post below, it just reinforces my belief and the industry STIGMA that if you have to press your own, unless you mainly want to keep the money (royalties), then it is very possible you just don't have the knack or polish for a professional publisher to accept your work.
The difference is this: IMHO
If you were an aspiring musician,
which would you prefer?
Pressing your own cds and trying to sell them at your own cost or signing with Capitol Records and possibly becoming the next Beatles, Heart, Stones, Bob Seger, Duran Duran,etc.

Answer 4

With a vanity press, you are paying for publication. You cover the publication costs and it is up to you to sell the books.

With a professional publisher, you do not pay for publication (nothing) and you get paid a small royalty for every book sold. The publisher is betting his own money that your books will sell. A vanity publisher makes no bets. They just sell you your own books.

Some of today's vanity presses will offer a royalty deal similar to a professional publisher's, but you are also paying the printing costs. They are completely secure in offering such a deal because (1) they have the costs covered and (2) they have no additional expense.

Before you commit to ANY publisher, check to see if their book titles are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If they aren't, your books won't be either.

Answer 5

I've researched many of these companies. Authorhouse, Iuniverse, and a few others cost more but will put your book up on amazon.com. Many writers who can't get publsihed in the competitive market do this and it's not a bad deal. Yeah, the companies charge you a set-up fee and probably make a few bucks on every book to your one or two, but's better than nothing. Send your book out to a few local reviewers and maybe you can create a buzz. Get your friends to buy it and get some word of mouth going, if you can sell some book maybe the big boys at the publishing houeses and agents will stand up and listen. Good luck, I'm gonna try it too with my book.
Also, send some short stories out to literary magazines, try to get some writing credits, will help you get an agent or publisher.

Answer 6

You pay them to print up your books, you get them sent to you in a box, and you sell them. They have nothing to do with it after they print it.

My friend published a poetry book. The poetry is god-awful, but he has been able to sell a hundred copies just by being nice to his friends. I don't know what he paid to get it printed, but it looks really nice and he charges $20.00 a copy. There's nothing wrong with it at all. Many writers would not get published if they didn't do it themselves.

People can sell their own books at Amazon. Does the "etc" include any actual book stores?
.

Answer 7

Hmmm....I believe "vanity press" is self-publishing. You pay to have the books printed and bound, you are responsible for their sales.