Until reading this Dear Author article, I didn’t know other NY publishers such as Random House had any involvement with a self-publisher. And when is a self-publisher a vanity press? The ongoing thread at the Absolute Write forums is using the term “assisted self-publishing”.

bury my lovely

When I first started out, I did look at some vanity press websites – they are professionally produced with appealing graphics and persuasive copy, they seemed to answer all the questions I had at the time, and even the smallest package was a chunk of change.  I remember looking through one of their promotional packets while sitting in my backyard and thinking,

“This isn’t what I want. The authors I admire, the people who have the kind of writing careers I want to achieve, didn’t do this. This isn’t the same thing.”

And so I didn’t buy a vanity press/assisted self-publishing package.

It’s almost four years later now. No, I’m not on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf. Even if I had bought one of their packages, I believe that would still be true. I have learned a lot about writing and editing and being critiqued, met some incredible authors, and am fortunate and grateful to be able to call some of them friends. I don’t know if any of that would be true had I bought one of their packages.

If you want to read about the initial outburst around the Harlequin Horizons launch, read Jennifer Jackson’s LiveJournal post and follow the links. They are informative, detailed posts and articles.

But Shiloh Walker’s post was the only one that resonated with me emotionally, because I care for the same reason she does.

Con Madigan: What you’re saying is that I, I get paid but I don’t get paid.
- Five Mile Creek, “Making Tracks, 1.1

It’s as simple as that. If you have any concerns/doubts/vague itching behind your eyeballs that some offer may not be legit, ask your friend Google by searching for “[company name] scam” and see what turns up.

A typical professional scenario is a publisher pays the agent, who takes their 15-20% for services rendered, such as getting the contract that sold the book to the publisher. The agent then pays the writer. Publisher’s Money -> Agent -> Writer = Good.

prison peeps

A typical scam is a writer pays an agent a fee to review their manuscript. Agent suggests writer is almost best-seller status, but manuscript needs a polish and here’s the number of an excellent book doctor the writer can pay to fix up that novel. Writer’s Money -> Agent = Bad. Writer’s Money -> Book Doctor = Very Bad.

A typical vanity press sells writer a publishing package of so many books and so much marketing material and tells them they will be listed on all the big online retail stores for a mere couple of hundreds of dollars. Writer’s Money -> Vanity Press = Horrible.

You can read more about the first commandment of professional writing in this Yog’s Law* post. Be sure to follow the links to the SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) articles. These people *know* what they are talking about.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden gives details about why paying for copies of your own book from a vanity press is a direct violation of “money flows to the writer” rule. And she *knows* what she is talking about.

* coined by James D. Macdonald, repeated by professional authors everywhere

Capt. H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock: What’s the first commandment, Franklin?
- The A-Team, “Trial by Fire”, 5.2