This needs to be said every now and then:
If someone calls themselves a publisher, you DO NOT PAY them. Ever. End. Of.
A publisher takes risks on your behalf. They invest in the presentation and advertising of your book. They make money from selling that book, not from selling their services to you.
If you want to take on your own risk (aka “self-publishing”), and you do not want to get into the nitty-gritty of the production and marketing process, there are companies that will edit, format and design the book for you. This is a service from them to you, you pay for it, but they do NOT NOT NOT call themselves a publisher.
Why is this so important?
Well, everyone wants their book to sell, right?
Who has the most interest in selling your book? That would be the person who invested in the book, right? If the publisher pays an advance, the saying goes, the bigger advance, the more they’re going to do to advertise it (aka “recoup their investment”).
If you’ve paid to publish (aka “vanity publishing” although they may dress it up as “partnership publishing”), the “publisher” has finished their business commitment once you’ve signed off on the book, have taken delivery of 1000 copies to sit in your garage, once you have purchased their “publicity plan”, and once they have sent out what they agreed to send, their commitment is over. Done.
From that point, you’re on your own, dude, because this “publisher” will care most about signing on the next sucker to be milked. They DGAF about your book and the success or failure thereof. Their business model is to charge you twice, three, four, five times as much for the same stuff you can source yourself, but pretend they are a legit publisher, because “we arrange distribution to bookshops”.
Here’s a hint: EVERYBODY can list their books in catalogues where bookshops can buy. That part is easy.
The hard part is making sure that bookshops actually, you know, order the books.
That is the job of a real publisher. If they’re not out there batting for your book (because they paid you an advance and they bloody well want their money back) then they have zero business calling themselves a publisher.
Do NOT sign with them.
They don’t do anything illegal, but they give you hope that you’re somehow getting the full treatment. If you sign, you are self-publishing. Except you’re being charged far too much for services that, in one case I have seen, are second-rate. As in, the writer handed over thousands and the editing job they got was poor. I could have told the writer numerous places where editing would have cost $500 and would have been of better quality.
They give you the impression that if you buy one of their marketing packages, the book will sell. It won’t.
Lemme tell you this: marketing books is hard.
Marketing books is a long-term commitment and no company will do it beyond some “press releases” and a few ads unless they have money invested in it. A vanity press has recouped its money the moment your book is out the door. They’re done.
They don’t give a fuck.
About your book.
Not a single little fuck.
They’re just looking for the next person with a book.
Don’t deal with these businesses.
Please?
If you want to self-publish, contact me. The comments on this blog are closed, but this post is syndicated to my Facebook page, where you can ask for advice.
