There is a HUGE, HUGE difference between self-publishing as an indie and publishing through a vanity press. So huge, in fact, that the two are not even comparable. An indie author is a professional and an entrepreneur. A vanity press author is a victim of a scam.
A “vanity press” is a publishing company that caters to the vanity of anyone who wants to see their name on the cover of a book. They make their money not by selling books, but by selling overpriced services to naive and starry-eyed writers. If you have any self-respect at all, you should stay as far away from these companies as possible.
I am not an expert on vanity presses by any means, but here are some things that strike me as red flags that a company might be one:
- They claim to be a “self-publishing” company (an oxymoron if there ever was one).
- They use the phrase “published author” anywhere in their sales pitch.
- They offer to publish your book on Amazon (you can publish your own book on Amazon).
- They offer a “publishing package” that costs upwards of a thousand dollars.
- They offer a “marketing package” that costs even more.
- They require you to pay for your own editing and/or cover.
- They have any sort of affiliation with Author Solutions.
- David Gaughran has written a blog post lambasting them.
- They require you to buy X number of print copies.
- Their sales representatives won’t stop calling you.
- They claim that they can get your book on Oprah.
- They claim that they can get J.K. Rowling to review your book.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. If you have any to add, please do so.
The scary thing is that the big-name legacy publishers are not only in bed with these crooks, they’re openly fornicating with them. When Penguin Random House bought out Author Solutions, the largest and arguably the dirties vanity press in existence, they did nothing to clean up the company–in fact, they gave Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss a seat on the board! And other legacy publishers like Simon & Schuster responded by contracting with Author Solutions subsidiaries like Archway to do exactly the same way.
Vanity presses are scams. They exist to exploit the dreams and vulnerabilities of new writers, robbing them of their money and their dignity. They are extremely good at giving themselves the appearance of legitimacy, which has been made all the easier by the fact that the traditional publishing establishment has embraced them. You will find them at large publishing expos like Books Expo America. You will find favorable articles about them in venerable trade publications like Publisher’s Weekly. Their poison has infected the very heart of the legacy publishing industry.
At the heart of the indie publishing revolution is the idea that no one should come between writers and readers. Vanity presses violate that principle in every possible way–they are blood-sucking parasites with no respect for writers or for readers. For the sake of your career, for the sake of your books–hell, for the sake of your own self-respect–you should stay as far away from them as possible.
