Insiders Guide to Vanity Publishers

Expressions like co-operative publishing, joint venture publishing, subsidy publishing, and self-publishing are misleading to say the least. They all mean the same thing, ‘vanity’ publishing. Yet scores of small publishers advertise their services on the web. Some publishers go to great lengths to conceal from the author, all the costs involved, which suddenly escalate half way through production of a book.

There are good vanity publishers just as there are bad. How does an author tell the difference? Here’s some clues.

• A good vanity publisher will not tell an author their book is a well-written masterpiece. Instead they will discuss the true market potential of a book and the best way to proffer it to the public.
• Good vanity publishers don’t say their service is better than competitors and swamp a new author with copies of revue cuttings, which are often little more than colour photocopies. Instead, they describe their service they offer, and leave an author to decide.
• Good vanity publishers do not offer subsidised service or give the impression of being philanthropic.
• They do not offer to publish books as the market demands (like Lulu). Instead they agree to publish X number of books at a fixed price and say more copies are optional at a later date.
• Good vanity publishers don’t claim to have a marvellous marketing department and say the author stands to recoup the financial outlay through royalties, which far exceed everyone else’s.
• Good vanity publishers do a lot of work on behalf of an author. They get maximum publicity, gain an ISBN, proof-read the manuscript and work closely with the author. Good vanity publishers will design the cover, provide typesetting and proofs before printing, ensure distribution and get the book placed on legal deposit in national libraries.

So to recap, good vanity publishers are candid and reliable.

Of course the next step is marketing – DragonCub can help there of course.