Tuesday 10 November 2015

How to identify a vanity press publisher and avoid being ripped off

By Narelle Atkins

Vanity Publishing

Vanity Presses make their money from authors rather than from selling books. They charge authors a fee, either directly or indirectly, to publish their book. They often try to up-sell additional publishing services eg. marketing packages. These publishing packages, sometimes marketed as self-publishing solutions, may cost authors many thousands of dollars.

Vanity Press books sometimes have a high cover price, which makes the vanity press book less attractive to readers. The vanity publisher has already made their money from the author, and they don’t have an incentive to set a competitive price and sell a high volume of books. The author has no control over the pricing of their book or the distribution of their book.

Vanity Presses often don’t invest time and money in providing professional cover art and editing is typically an add-on, with an additional fee. They have no incentive to produce high quality books because they make their money from selling publishing packages to authors instead of making money from selling books.

Vanity Presses will advertise their publishing services and actively seek to recruit authors.

Traditional, royalty paying publishers are inundated with submissions from authors. Many of the larger traditional publishers will only accept agented queries because there is an oversupply of potential manuscripts and a very limited number of traditional publishing slots. Traditional publishers have budget limitations that will dictate the number of books they can publish each year. They are selective because they are bearing all the financial risk. Vanity presses, by charging authors a fee to publish, are shifting the financial risk to the author. If the vanity press book has poor sales, it's the author who will suffer the financial pain, not the vanity press.

Vanity Presses may operate like telemarketers who are selling a product. They may want to know a prospective author’s contact details, including email addresses and phone numbers, to enable them to follow up and contact authors. They may make numerous international phone calls to prospective authors and use aggressive marketing tactics to try and sell their expensive publishing packages.

Differences between Traditional Publishers and Vanity Publishers

Traditional publishers pay a competitive royalty on every book sold.

Traditional publishers don’t ask authors to contribute money to finance the book production process.

Traditional publishers may pay authors an advance against future royalties. The money flows from the publisher to the author because traditional publishers make their money from book sales.

Traditional publishers don’t require authors to purchase a minimum number of books.

Publishing Contracts

A publishing contract is a legally binding document. It spells out the rights and obligations of both parties who sign the publishing contract. A publisher may claim to be a traditional publisher, but it’s the contract that will define whether or not their claims are valid.

All authors should seek professional advice and do their research before signing a publishing contract. Intellectual property lawyers, Australian Society of Authors, Australian state and territory Writer Centres, and professional writing organisations can provide services and resources to assist authors in making financially savvy decisions.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has written a number of helpful articles on publishing contracts. 

http://kriswrites.com/2011/05/04/the-business-rusch-advocates-addendums-and-sneaks-oh-my/
http://kriswrites.com/2011/07/27/the-business-rusch-deal-breakers/ 

The Passive Voice blog also has archived posts that provide helpful information for authors on publishing contracts. 

Do not rely on general advice and hearsay from writing friends to determine if a publishing contract is a good deal for you

Once upon a time it was reasonable for writers to assume that most traditional publishers used a single boiler plate contract as the foundation for their contract negotiations with authors. The larger writing organisations eg. Romance Writers of America, ACFW, used to provide their members with a recognised publisher list. 

The writing organisations looked at the boiler plate contract of each publisher who wanted to be included on their recognised publisher list. To make the list, the publishing contract needed to meet certain minimum standards. A publisher would be excluded from the recognised publisher list if their boiler plate contract contained any vanity publishing clauses. 

But times have changed. It’s now becoming more commonplace for publishers to offer contracts to their authors with vastly different terms. The writing organisations no longer have recognised publisher lists. Indie publishing opportunities can potentially offer authors a better deal than a traditional publishing contract. 

Why can't you rely on advice from your author friends? Your friend may have signed a traditional contract with Publisher A and be very happy with their deal. But, that doesn’t mean Publisher A will offer you exactly the same publishing contract deal with the same terms. 

Authors can't afford to bury their heads in the sand and assume that a publishing contract will be a good deal. It's essential for all authors to take responsibility for their writing careers and understand all the clauses in their publishing contract before they sign the contract.   

The term ‘self-publishing’ has been hijacked by vanity presses

Self-publishing should mean DIY (doing it yourself). This is a very different concept to paying a publisher to partner with you to produce your book. If you are giving the publisher specific rights to publish your book, and if the publishing contract includes terms that specify the payment of royalties to the author, then you are signing a publishing contract. This is a very different proposition to self-publishing by DIY.

Indie (independent) publishing

Indie publishing is the term that is commonly used to describe authors who independently publish their books. Indie authors retain control of their copyright. Indie authors produce their own books independently and they don’t sign a contract with a publishing house. Indie authors are self-publishing because they are doing it themselves (DIY). They may choose to contract service providers for a set fee eg. editing, cover design, formatting, to produce their book.

How can you avoid being ripped off?

Education is key. Do your research and connect with other writers before you sign a publishing contract. Ask questions and seek advice from industry professionals. Book selling is a tough business and it’s very unusual for an author to recoup the money they have invested in vanity publishing via book sale royalties.

Online resources for writers

Preditors and Editors
http://pred-ed.com/peba.ht 

Writer Beware
http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/ 

David Gaughran
https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/author-solutions-and-friends-the-inside-story-2/ 

The Book Designer
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/10/author-alert-is-your-book-held-hostage-by-a-subsidy-publisher/ 

Iola Goulton has written a number of posts for Australasian Christian Writers that address the topic of vanity presses

I Wanted to Cry 
http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/i-wanted-to-cry.html 

Spotting a Vanity Publisher - Part One and Two http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/spotting-vanity-publisher-part-one.html 
http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/spotting-vanity-publisher-part-two.html 

Deception in our writing http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/deception-in-our-writing.html

Jeanette O’Hagan has written two posts for Christian Writers Downunder that outline the different publishing models available for writers

Publish or Perish – Part One and Two http://christianwritersdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/publish-or-perish-part-one.html http://christianwritersdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/publish-or-perish-part-two.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is being shared on the Australasian Christian Writers blog and the Christian Writers Downunder blog today because we are united in our mission to inform and educate writers on the pitfalls from signing with vanity publishers. This was a topic of conversation at the recent Christian Writers Conference held in Victoria, Australia.

Please share this post with your writing friends on social media and bookmark it for future reference.

If you’re looking to connect with writing groups online, you can join the Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group and the Christian Writers Downunder Facebook Group.

Omega Writers Inc. provides helpful resources and membership benefits for writers who live in the Australasian region.




A fun loving Aussie girl at heart, Narelle Atkins was born and raised on the beautiful northern beaches in Sydney, Australia. She has settled in Canberra with her husband and children. A lifelong romance reader, she found the perfect genre to write when she discovered inspirational romance. Narelle's contemporary stories of faith and romance are set in Australia. In 2013 she sold her debut book to Harlequin's Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line in a 6-book contract. Her first independently released novella, His Perfect Catch, is available from Amazon for 99 cents. 

Blog: http://narelleatkins.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarelleAtkinsAuthor
Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

12 comments:

  1. Thankyou Narelle... That was just the blog i needed to read. Lots of research and helpful links all in the one place. God bless you for helping us writers navigate through the plethora of pitfalls, and pointing out some of the methods used by others to capitalise on our deep desire to share our art.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Brian, I'm glad the timing of my post was helpful. Over the years I've seen too many authors shed tears and suffer financially as a result of signing bad contracts. Knowledge is definitely power when it comes to understanding the publishing world and how to avoid getting ripped off.

      Delete
  2. Great well researched post Narelle. Thanks very much for sharing. We do need to be wise - and thank you for the information as well as all the useful links. Bless you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anusha, I agree, wisdom and discernment are needed when we consider our publishing options. Blessings to you :)

      Delete
  3. Thanks for that informative post Narelle. I'll bookmark it for future reference. I thought I hada good handle on the the different types of publishing, but I didn't realise until a recent ACW discussion thread that authors could get different contracts from the same publishers. So your advice to really look at those contracts is critical. Thanks for taking the time to put those resources together and thanks for being the first of our cross-posts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nola, Thanks for the opportunity to share my post here :) Publishing is a tricky business, and the discussion in the ACW Facebook Group highlighted how much the publishing world has changed in recent years. I look forward to more cross-posts taking place between the CWD and ACW blogs next year.

      Delete
  4. Thank you for the time you took to research all of this - very helpful

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It really is all about education. Writers need to stay away from these shmucks (vanity presses). Great links. I can tell you worked hard researching this post. This is why self-publishing scares me so much. Thank you, Narelle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Robyn, I appreciate your feedback on my post. :) If you happen to stumble across a vanity press, run away as fast as you can and don't give them your contact details. I've enjoyed indie publishing. It's a very different experience to traditional publishing and also requires a lot of research. I've found the indie writing community to be very generous in sharing their expertise.

      Delete