The Scam of Vanity Presses

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Vanity presses have been around for decades, but you might never have heard of them. What does 'vanity publishing' mean, exactly?

For the uninitiated, this is going to sound harsh, possibly even a little unkind, but it's something you need to hear.

Vanity publishing refers to the industry of printing firms that will publish a writer's book for payment from that writer, rather than a bona fide publisher who sees merit in the work and is prepared to invest money in it to bring it to market. The vanity press works on the writer's ego - their vanity - to sell editing and marketing packages to the author, along with copies of the book. They target unsuspecting new writers who know little about how the publishing industry works. Their best targets are those who are so determined - or desperate - to see their work published and who have no objective judgement on the quality of the project nor any industry level savvy on how it might sell.

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Except that, it's not publishing in the way most aspiring writers dream of and, instead of solving the author's problems, it only adds to them, causing mass headaches and tattered dreams. Because it's a scam.

Now, let's be clear (and how they get away with it): when I say 'scam' I don't mean they take your money and you never see or hear from them again. No, they are way more clever than that.

The mark (i.e.writer) pays a few thousand for editing, marketing, distribution and sales, plus a certain amount of copies for themselves to sell and hand out to reviewers. The 'publisher' promises all this and contracts are signed.

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At this stage, they may ask how many more copies the author wants outside of the ones already included in the initial package. This is actually their sales model - selling the product back to the person who created the product in the first place! They often also get commission on how many editing services they sell to that customer.

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Unfortunately, because of the lack of proper, professional editing, the quality of work often means these review copies are left on the floor or the shelf of the reviewer. Unless the author puts in even more of their precious time into building a relationship with these contacts in the hope they will read the book and give a sterling review. Oh, and let's not forget the huge mark-up authors must often spend when stocking their own book. A mark-up to which they must then add even more mark-up in order to make the slightest bit of profit, effectively pricing themselves out of the market. Even the most polished, best-edited books from celebrity authors have a limit on how much they will sell for.

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So, if they are only doing basic editing and marketing/sales and you are the one slogging your guts out trying to sell copies at markets, small fests, to friends, writing groups, etc., what is the point of them?

Then the real nightmare begins. The author now sees the light – this company is not working in the author's best interests in a way that fits with what they perceived when the vanity press sold them their services. Their dream - all those thousands and thousands and thousands of words, those characters they loved so much and that intricate world they constructed - is now hidden from the real world. In frustration, the author seeks to go it alone and publish it themselves because they've just realised they might as well have done that from the beginning.

But, they signed a contract. That might be for five years, three years -indefinitely! They can't do anything until that contract comes to its end. They gave away first publishing rights to that vanity press. No traditional publisher will touch it now. As for self-publishing, the author would be in legal hot water to press ahead with this. Their novel is now in publishing limbo.

And yes, the sad thing is, these companies operate just within the legal limits to get away with it and the only people to lose out are the writers.

So how do you recognise a vanity press?

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Another form is, again, no money upfront but the author is expected to 'earn out' the initial investment the publisher made on the book which paid for editing, design, marketing, etc. You might be thinking that this is normal practice in publishing - everyone's heard of authors earning out, right? Well, yes. And no.

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I'm sure there will be other forms of vanity press in the making that I haven't mentioned - scammers are always thinking up new ways to con people once their old tricks become recognised for what they are. But it does sadly seem there is a never-ending queue of unsuspecting newbies ready to follow the big, fat carrot these organisations dangle before them. Just remember: if they are asking for money upfront in one form or another, it's more than likely a vanity press.

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Be alert!

Do you know of any other types of publishing scams? Please share in the comments!