What is a Vanity Publisher and Why Ever Would an Author Use One?
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 5:00AMSelf-publishing is a dirty word for many people. Publishing purists believe that the only true method of publishing is if you are published by a traditional publishing house. Since the percentage of books actually published with a traditional publishing house is less than 3%, that makes it difficult for 97% of authors to get their work published unless they go the self-published route.
One type of self-publishing is euphemistically called Vanity publishing or Vanity press. The name vanity publishing stems from the fact that certain publishers, for a fee, will publish any work, without regard to quality. Since many authors would be willing to pay a fee just to see their name in print, (no matter what the quality of the manuscript), vanity presses gained a reputation of being more interested in the money they got from the authors than in the quality of work as trash got pumped out into the book market.
The truth is that because a vanity press is not selective in the work that it publishes, books published under a true vanity press are not seen as prestigious or as credible as those published elsewhere. This is unfortunate because this automatically lumps both good and bad books together by reputation only. This stigma attached to vanity publishers has only recently begun to be re-evaluated as the publishing industry’s choices have expanded and new vanity presses have changed the vanity press business model by offering editorial review and services.
Hybrid vanity presses have emerged which are changing the way the public is looking at vanity publishing. Author House, IUniverse, Lulu, UPublish, Xlibris are all examples of hybrid vanity presses. Like vanity presses, they will publish any work for a fee, no matter the quality of the work with no editorial quality assurance review. However, these houses have added editorial and design services that an author can pay for, thus making them not true vanity houses, but rather vanity hybrids. If an author takes advantage of the editorial, cover design and layout services, these presses can produce excellent work.
Why would any author want to publish with a vanity house if it has such a bad reputation? There are several reasons. Maybe an author has a book for a very small business niche, or a collection of poetry, a memoir, a genealogy or family cookbook that they want published. They are more interested in making a name for themselves within their niche or giving away their book to friends and family than in profiting from the sale of their book. As long as an author provides their own editorial and design services, then a vanity publisher may be the most cost effective way of getting their book out in print.
Time is another issue. A traditional publishing house can take up to three years to get out a physical copy of a book. Vanity publishing can get books out much quicker, in weeks rather than years, since there is no review process.
Other authors may see this work published by a vanity press as a stepping stone to get a traditional publishing house’s attention for a second work. Traditional publishers rarely will even look at an author who has not been previously published. If an author can publish a good product through a vanity press, do enough self promoting such that there are a reasonable number of sales, then those successful results may provide the foot-in-the-door needed to obtain a traditional publisher’s attention for a second book.
Finally, some authors just do not want to give away control of their book. Since a vanity press does not change anything, the author is not giving up their control. However, an author has to balance keeping control against the stigma of going with a vanity publisher. But to some authors, control is more important than what other people think.
Despite the historically bad reputation that is attached to a vanity press, a vanity press can be a legitimate publishing option. The assumption that a work published by a vanity press is one that could not be published elsewhere nor be a commercial success is no longer automatically correct. By doing their homework and taking advantage of the extra services offered, an author may get a great book through a vanity publisher with the advantages of self-publishing and the look of traditional publishing.
Reader Comments (6)
Once upon a time the only way to get a good work published is through the discretion of few people who are called "experts." Now with the advent of vanity publishing, many great works will be discovered and realized. :-)
>>If an author takes advantage of the editorial, cover design and layout services, these presses can produce excellent work.<<
But since a vanity press will publish books without any literary merit just to bring in the bucks, an inept author who pays for extra services may merely generate good-looking and well-edited garbage.
Michael N. Marcus
-- president of the Independent Self-Publishers Alliance, http://www.independentselfpublishers.org
-- author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher: Don’t be a Victim of a Vanity Press," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
-- author of "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults)," coming 4/1/10. http://www.silversandsbooks.com/storiesbookino.html
-- http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
-- http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com
There is still too much negativity surrounding a vanity publisher to believe that great works will be discovered and realized right away. However, as each great work is discovered, a little chip will be taken out of the negativity wall. The more people self-publish good work, the sooner that will happen. But at least, now it CAN happen!
Michael-
You are correct. There will always be those vanity publishers who will publish the trash- good looking or not. However, I do not believe that you can lump all companies that help authors to get their books out as being bad and producing trash. Self-publishing can take many forms both good and bad.
I know you believe that you can only be a self-publisher if you form your own company and publish your own book and in the purist sense of the semantics of self-publishing, that is probably correct. However, as you also note in your website, not every option is right for everyone, and the more options available for authors to get their works out there, the better it is. One way is not necessarily better than another. They are different.
But no matter which method an author chooses to get their work published, they have to take the responsibility to do their homework and investigate all the available options, taking special care to check out their chosen publisher. Then, and only then, can they choose what is best for them, their market, and their book.
I have a friend who has tens of thousands on his mailing list, who would buy a book from him directly. He feels that self publishing makes more sense. He thinks he'll make more money that way.
I don't know enough about this area to really voice an opinion, but it seems illogical. He'll make more money on the copies he sells, but he will have to pay an upfront fee to print them. In addition he has no way to put the books into the bookstores, so he will need to find each and every book buyer himself.
What do you think? If someone feels they can sell thousands of copies themselves, should they self publish?
Laura-
If your friend can sell thousands of copies by himself, then he should go for it!! Selling thousands of any type of book is an authors dream. As a publisher, if he were interested in the little book format, we would love to talk to him. Anyone with that kind of mailing list, with people who would buy from him, is a great client to have!