Writers And Their Money, Parted

I’m going to be in the wilds of revision for a while. (Like, maybe 30K words of revision. *cries*)

But tonight I am at Powell’s in Beaverton, for their SF/F Bookclub. (Details on my events page.) I am told this is a public event and that I could announce it. If you drop by, please be quiet and respectful of the book club, and I will stay briefly after the club discussion ends if you’d like me to sign something or chat a bit.

Anyway, I’m popping in today to spread the word about something else. The vanity press scam PublishAmerica is on Twitter. If you can, please spread the word about this company that claims to be a traditional publisher. Retweet, blog, link, whatever you can. I don’t often ask this sort of thing, but I think this is incredibly important. People come here a lot for writing/publishing advice, I would be remiss in my duty if I didn’t encourage you to tell anyone you know who wants to get published about this.

I have absolutely nothing against vanity presses. Really. I think they’re tremendously useful sometimes, especially for pet projects, family histories, and other niche self-publishing. I myself used Lulu.com for the Anna Beguine books, for a number of reasons. I knew what I was doing and what I was getting into, and what I was paying for.

That’s the thing about vanity presses–you are paying for a service, and the company needs to be honest about their fees or it’s just another bait and switch. The trouble comes when a vanity press starts impersonating a traditional publisher.

Traditional publishing follows Yog’s Law–the money flows TOWARD THE WRITER. In vanity press or self-publishing, you’re shelling out for a service. There is a huge difference.

PublishAmerica is gruesome because they try to present themselves as a trad publisher. As Atlanta Nights showed, however, there is no quality control or editorial work done there. Instead, the company soaks authors for the price of self-publishing and does things like promise to set up book signings, which never materialize. The point of a traditional publisher is to get third-party customers to pay for the company’s overhead; the point of a vanity press is that the authors pay for overhead, salary, etc. This is a huge distinction.

A slight aside here: you all know I volunteer at an indie bookshop. When PublishAmerica or their poor victims call, we just say no. We don’t even listen. We can’t. We can’t carry the books–they’re full of typos and badly produced, since there’s no editing or quality control. We also can’t be pressured into running signings, because we eat the cost of the books ordered through the distributors. Since vanity press or POD books usually have a long lag time between order and delivery, it ends up being a bitch of a hassle to get them unless someone else (not us!) plunks the cash down up front. Not only that, but those types of books end up being nonreturnable. A lot of bookstores hear “PublishAmerica” and just turn right off.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Look at what other writers, editors, and agents say. Check out Writer Beware’s two thumbs down list–PA’s there. Check out what Preditors & Editors has to say. (PublishAmerica threatened to sue them. Classy, no?)

Like I said, I don’t have anything against vanity presses. I don’t have anything against self-publishing. What I object to is a vanity press trying to pass itself off as a traditional publisher in order to snooker newbie writers. Getting published is hard work. It is not easier when Bad People take advantage of the desire of writers to be published to make a quick buck, promising things they cannot and will not deliver. PublishAmerica is not around to provide a service–they’re around to separate you from your money. I can’t be any clearer than that.

If you want to self-publish, I really recommend Lulu.com. I haven’t had a bad experience with them yet, and they were upfront about fees and marketing packages. I’ll take a vanity press that is honest and upfront with me over a dishonest one any day of the week.

So please, spread the word. If you know anyone who is considering PA, or if you’re considering them yourself, please be warned.

Be careful out there.

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