Avoiding Self-Publishing Scams
How to Distinguish Legitimate from Unprofessional Vanity Presses
Mar 17, 2009
According to Bowker’s Books in Print, a record 411, 422 books were published in 2007, including 134,773 on-demand, short-run and other unclassified titles. This not only means that a great many books are written and read each year, it also means that micropublishing is big business – $18 billion is what industry experts estimate net sales revenues of independent publishers to be!
Enough to attract unscrupulous vanity publishers that will charge unsuspecting authors too much while at the same time, not providing any or few of the traditional publishing services. But all is not lost for aspiring writers as the unscrupulous specimen among the publishers reveal themselves quickly if scrutinized or cornered. Below is a list of points that authors should discuss with potential publishers before investing even a single penny.
What Authors Should Consider Before Publishing
Thanks to the internet, it is quite easy today to find information about publishers and to connect with other writers, even if one lives far from a publishing hub. Here’s what writers can do to stay connected and informed:
- Join a professional organization to meet fellow authors and professionals in the field,
- research any publisher carefully,
- take part in online discussion groups about self-publishing to gather and share information,
- research industry publications such as Books in Print and Book Industry Trends, which list information about publishers and facts about publishing,
- be wary of big promises and publishing deals that sound too good to be true.
10 So-called Publishers’ Promises to Watch Out For
When researching self-publishing options, it is key not to believe everything a vanity publisher advertises as even testimonials can be fake. Writers should conduct thorough research instead and, if no information can be found, which is a bad enough sign, contact the publisher and request more information. In general, authors should be suspicious of
- superlatives like biggest, best or largest book publisher;
- flashy web sites riddled with typos or extravagant spelling;
- publishers who accept any manuscript without specialization;
- any money asked for up front;
- a no-editing approach – it is not because the submitted work is brilliant but because the publisher is trying to save time and money by not offering substantial editing services;
- charges for obtaining an ISBN – this is a free service;
- warehouse charges for print-on-demand (POD) books;
- charges for positive reviews – one cannot buy favorable reviews and any such practice is unethical;
- unrealistically high royalties – selling even 100 copies of a book is tough and if high royalties are promised, then it might be because of low sales expectations;
- book promotion strategies that are too good to be true – ask for clarification on any sales and marketing promises.
Small presses might have an approach that requires less editing because they accept only solid manuscripts in the first place; however, even then, some editing will be unavoidable. So steer clear of the no-editing approach!
Traditional Publishing Services
As a reminder, here’s a summary of the services authors can expect from a traditional book publisher:
- An acquisitions process that includes a thorough quality check of the submitted manuscript,
- an exhaustive editing process that may include many revisions,
- a professional book design according to market standards,
- finding a suitable printer,
- financing all production costs – for scholarly works, publishers may ask for a printing subsidy if an authors can obtain it through grants,
- adequate marketing campaigns in the context of the publisher’s list,
- sales strategies that get the book out to distribution channels like bookstores, wholesalers and others,
- payment of royalties based on sales statistics,
- order processing and
- handling customer queries and feedback.
For a more detailed description of each production process, check the article “What Publishers Do from Concept to Feedback.”
It should have become clear in the course of the article that book publishing is a process that takes time and quite some research. Because it can be lucrative for publishers, it attracts scrupulous companies that pose as publishers but instead of having an author’s profit or their growing publishing list in mind, are solely driven by monetary gains.
The article “Vanity and Subsidy Publishers Need Scrutiny” explores this distinction further and readers can find more help online in “Ten Websites Important to Self-publishing Authors.”
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