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Revert to User:Doctorow. This is not an attack site by any reasonable definition.
Undid revision 133967181 by JulesH (talk) Per ArbCom ruling. And yes, I've looked at the site.
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This is a list of well-known [[Latter-day Saints]] who have been excommunicated, or no longer profess to be Latter-day Saints. This list is primarily of adherents to [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], as well as a small number of adherents of related denominations (as labeled). This list may also include former controversial members of the LDS church. See: [[List of Latter-day Saints]] for current members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.
A '''vanity press''' or '''vanity publisher''' is a [[book]] printer which, while claiming to be a [[publisher]], charges [[writer]]s a fee in return for publishing their [[book]]s or otherwise makes most of its money from the author rather than from the public. [[Jonathan Clifford]] claims to have coined the term in 1959.<ref>http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=humbul16121</ref> In its very simplest terms, while a commercial publisher's intended market is the general public, a vanity publisher's intended market are the authors themselves. Many authorities consider an [[author mill]] to be a kind of vanity publisher. A vanity press is distinguished from a [[small press]] publisher in that the small press acts as its larger cousins do, performing the traditional roles of editorial selection, binding and review, and marketing at its own expense, rather than at the expense of the author.


* [[Brandy Alexandre (porn star)|Brandy Alexandre]], pornography actress
The vanity companies often refer to themselves as '''joint-venture''' or '''subsidy publishers''', because the author "subsidizes" (or finances) the publication.
* [[Radio From Hell#Bill Allred|Bill Allred]], radio host{{verify source}}
A vanity press will generally agree to [[printing|print]] and [[bookbinding|bind]] any author's work if the author is willing to pay for the service; these fees typically form a vanity press's [[profit]]s.
* [[Rocky Anderson]], Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah
* [[Tal Bachman]], musician
* [[Roseanne Barr]], (Mormon only in a partial way) comedienne and actress
* [[Martha Nibley Beck]], author best known for ''Expecting Adam'', and ''Leaving the Saints''. Magazine contributor.
* [[Belladonna_(erotic_actress)|Belladonna]], pornography actress
* [[John C. Bennett]], Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois
* [[Steve Benson]], political cartoonist and [[Pulitzer Prize]] winner
* [[Gutzon Borglum]], sculptor of [[Mount Rushmore]]
* [[Fawn M. Brodie]], Joseph Smith biographer
* [[Ted Bundy]], serial killer<ref>http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/bundy.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nndb.com/people/775/000028691/</ref>, converted to Mormonism during murders, converted to [[Hinduism]] on death row.
* [[Nolan Bushnell]], founder of [[Atari]]
* [[Ina Coolbrith]], poet, niece of Joseph Smith, Jr.
* [[Jewel (singer)|Jewel]], musician
* [[John Corrill]], Missouri State Legislator
* [[Ed Decker]], evangelist
* [[Eliza Dushku]], actress
* [[Katherine Heigl]]
* [[Brian Evenson]], author of ''Altmann's Tongue''
* [[Vardis Fisher]], novelist{{verify source}}
* [[Mikal Gilmore]], journalist
* [[Ryan Gosling]]<ref>'''Gosling''' - [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0219,lim2,34580,20.html Village Voice article] </ref>, actor
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]], science fiction writer
* [["Wild Bill" Hickman]], controversial early LDS church figure (excommunicated)
* [[Mark Hofmann]], document forger and murderer<ref>http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/h/HOFMAN,MARK.html</ref> (excommunicated){{verify source}}
* [[Radio From Hell#Kerry Jackson|Kerry Jackson]], radio host{{verify source}}
* [[Lyman E. Johnson]], early church leader and dissenter (excommunicated)
* [[Sonia Johnson]], feminist activist
* [[Walter Kirn]], novelist and literary editor of ''[[GQ]]''<ref>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4964686&ft=1&f=1033</ref>
* [[Neil LaBute]], film director
* [[Bert McCracken]] of [[The Used]]<ref>http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1051</ref>
* [[Richard Packham]], attorney<ref>http://home.teleport.com/~packham/bio1.htm</ref>
* [[Sheldon Rampton]], editor of [[PR Watch]] and author
* [[R. Kent Rasmussen]], author and Mark Twain authority
* [[Mick Ronson]], musician known for work with David Bowie and Lou Reed
* [[William Shunn]], science fiction writer<ref>http://www.shunn.net/bio/</ref>
* [[Jerald and Sandra Tanner]], publishers of LDS historical documents
* [[James Tenney]], musician{{verify source}}
* [[Kip Thorne]], physicist
* [[Brendon Urie]], lead singer of [[Panic! at the Disco]]
* [[Paul Walker]], actor
* [[Erv Wilson]], musician{{verify source}}
* [[Ann Eliza Young]], wife of Brigham Young
* [[La Monte Young]], musician <ref>http://www.nndb.com/people/229/000048085/</ref>


==Excommunicated==
Commercial publishers, on the other hand, derive their [[profit]] from sales of the book, and must therefore be cautious and deliberate in choosing to publish works that will sell, particularly as they must recoup their investment in the book (such as an [[advance payment]] and [[royalties]] to the author, [[Editing|editor]]ial guidance, [[promotion (marketing)|promotion]], [[marketing]], or [[advertising]]). To better help sell their books, commercial publishers may also be selective in order to cultivate a reputation for high-quality work, or to specialize in a particular [[genre]].
* [[Janice Merrill Allred]], author and a trustee the [[Mormon Alliance]] (excommunicated)<ref>http://mormonalliance.org/casereports/volume2/v2.htm</ref>

* [[Lavina Fielding Anderson]], excommunicated as part of the "[[September Six]]"
Because vanity presses are not as selective, publication by a vanity press is typically not seen as conferring the same recognition or prestige as commercial publication. Vanity presses do offer more independence for the author than does the mainstream publishing industry; however, their fees are often higher than the fees normally charged for similar printing services, and sometimes restrictive contracts are required.
* [[Michael Barrett (attorney)|Michael Barrett]], CIA attorney (excommunicated)<ref>http://www.mrm.org/multimedia/text/m-barrett.html</ref>

* [[Arthur Gary Bishop]], serial killer (excommunicated)
==Differences from commercial publishers==
* [[Samuel Brannan]], California State Senator (excommunicated)
The term “vanity press” is generally derogatory, and is often used to imply that an author using such a service is only publishing out of [[vanity]], and that his or her work could not be commercially successful. Some vanity presses are in fact [[scams]], including those identified at the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] (SFWA) [http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/ website]. In general, any publisher that expects the author to pay a large fee upfront (while promising or hinting at fame and fortune), is most likely dishonest, and certainly should be approached warily.
* [[Gary Gilmore]], murderer (excommunicated)

* [[Brent Metcalfe]], historian, excommunicated as part of the "[[September Six]]"
Some companies offer [[printing]] (and perhaps limited distribution) for a fee. If honest, such companies will explain their fees, what they do and do not offer, and how their service differs from that of a commercial publisher. Such services can be a viable way for an author to [[self-publishing|self-publish]] without owning printing equipment. This is particularly attractive to an author of a work with a limited, specialized appeal which may not interest mainstream publishers, or to the author who intends to promote his or her work personally. However, the true distinction between vanity publishing and self-publishing is simple: who owns the books when they come off the printing press? If the answer is the printer, who then pays royalties to the author on the basis of books sold, then the book has been vanity published. If the author owns the books outright, and can thus dispose of them as he or she likes, then that author has self-published.
* [[D. Michael Quinn]], historian (excommunicated as part of the Setptember Six; still considers himself a Latter-day Saint)

* [[September Six#Paul Toscano|Margaret Merrill Toscano]], professor and classics scholar (excommunicated)
[[Scholarly journal]]s often ask authors to pay page charges but use [[peer review]] to keep a high scientific standard. This is to be distinguished from the true vanity publisher, who will publish anything within their general market that will be paid for.
* [[September Six#Lynne Kanavel Whitesides|Lynne Kanavel Whitesides]], excommunicated as part of the "[[September Six]]"

* [[John Whitmer]], first official church historian (excommunicated)
Poets often [[self-publishing|self-publish]], as their work is generally of extremely specialized appeal, and therefore risky to mainstream publishers.
* [[David Wright (professor)|David Wright]], professor (excommunicated)<ref>http://lds-mormon.com/dpw.shtml</ref>
An inexperienced poet, whose manuscript has been repeatedly rejected by major edition companies, makes an easy target for vanity publishers.<ref>http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Telemarketing/Inbound/MajorIn/publishing.htm</ref>

A mainstream publisher traditionally assumes the risk of publication and production costs, selects the works to be published, edits the author's text, and provides for [[marketing]] and [[Distribution (business)|distribution]], provides the [[ISBN]] and satisfies whatever [[legal deposit]] and [[copyright registration]] formalities are required. Such a publisher normally pays the author a fee, called an [[advance payment|advance]], for the right to publish the author's work; and further payments, called [[copyright|royalties]], based on the sales of the work. This led to [[James D. Macdonald]]'s famous dictum, "''Money should always flow toward the author''" (sometimes called [[Yog's Law]]).

A vanity publisher typically fails to provide any useful editing service, and is not selective, printing works by anyone willing to pay a fee. This lack of selectivity is the main reason for the low esteem in which most of the literary world holds vanity publishers. Many vanity publishers charge excessive fees, which are never likely to be recouped from sales of the books involved. Vanity publishers typically do little or no effective marketing. Formerly, they did little or no distribution. Now vanity publishers may offer web-based sales, or make a book available via online booksellers, but they generally do no marketing. Furthermore, many bookstores -- especially large chain stores -- avoid such books.

Among the many types of books that are unpublishable by major commercial presses, family histories often find their way onto vanity presses, since family histories have an extremely limited market--often fewer than ten copies.

==Business model==
Vanity publishers typically offer [[contract]]s that strongly favor the publisher, charging high fees while providing low-quality books. They often sell worthless add-on services related to editing and marketing, and are frequently charged with outright [[scam]]s.

A [[Self-publishing|self-publisher]] is an author who also undertakes the functions of a publisher for his or her own book. The classic "self-publisher" writes, edits, markets and promotes the book themselves, relying on a [[Printer (publisher)|printer]] only for actual printing and [[binding]]. More recently, companies have offered their services to act as a sort of agent between the writer and a small printing operation. In these cases, the distinction between self-publishing and vanity publishing is less obvious than it once was.

The most recent incarnations of vanity presses make use of [[print on demand]] technologies based on modern digital printing. Some have turned to scamming authors in order to keep their machines busy and to help pay for them.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} {{POV}} During the first years of the 21st century the mainstream printing business went into a slump and the gross oversupply of digital printing machines (like big [[Xerography]] machines with add-on units to bind books) forced traditional printers as well as the new print on demand companies to seek new sources of revenue.

Vanity presses earn their money, not from sales of books to readers like other publishers, but from sales of books to the authors. The author receives the shipment of books and may attempt to resell them through whatever channels are available. In some cases, the copies are not even bound.

==Alternatives to vanity publishing==
Writers considering [[self-publishing]] often also consider directly hiring a [[printer (publisher)|printer]]. According to self-publisher and [[poet]] [[Peter Finch (poet)|Peter Finch]], vanity presses charge higher premiums and create a risk that an author who has published with a vanity press will have more difficulty working with a respectable publisher in the future.

Some vanity presses using [[print on demand]] technology act as printers as well as sellers of support services for authors interested in self-publishing. Reputable firms of this type are typically marked by clear contract terms, lack of excessive fees, retail prices comparable to those from commercial printers, lack of pressure to purchase "extra" services, contracts which do not claim exclusive rights to the work being published (though one would be hard pressed to find a legitimate publisher willing to put out a competing edition, making non-exclusivity meaningless), and honest indications of what services they will and won't provide, and what results the author may reasonably expect. However, the distinction between the worst of these firms and vanity presses is essentially trivial, though a source of great confusion as the low fees have attracted tens of thousands of authors who wish to avoid the stigma of vanity publishing while doing just that.

==Libraries==
The typical [[library]] avoids stocking self-published books, since most vanity publications have not gone through selection, revision, copyediting and other critical steps which are normal for commercial for-profit [[publisher]]s. Most libraries will not accept such vanity publications, even when they are offered free of charge, since even then there are costs involved: all library books have to be described in a [[library catalog|catalogue]], and require classification stickers and other elements. The total cost of cataloguing and general processing in 2002 was about fifty dollars per book in the [[United States]] regardless of the size or original cost of the book. Then, the cost of keeping the book on the shelves has to be added, each year. In any case, it is usual for books to be chosen for a library by the application of a [[collection development]] policy designed to meet the needs of a particular user community, and vanity publications only rarely meet those needs.

On the rare occasions when libraries accept the product of a vanity press, they usually require the donor to sign a form giving to the library the right to do what it pleases with the item. The item is sometimes then disposed of in a yearly book sale or by some other process for the distribution of unwanted items. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Exceptions include local histories, which are of specialized interest enough to be uninteresting to commercial publishers but which are sought out by libraries.

Many libraries and reviewers do not clearly distinguish between vanity publications and self-publications, and are apt to decline or resist any book that does not come from a commercial press. Indeed in some cases any book produced using POD technology encounters such resistance, even if it is from a small commercial publisher.

==History==
It should be noted that in the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was common for legitimate authors, if they could afford to, to pay the costs of publishing their books. Such writers could expect more control of their work, greater profits, or both. Self-publishing was not judged negatively as it has been more recently. Among the authors taking this route to publication was [[Lewis Carroll]], who paid the expenses of publishing [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]] and most of his subsequent work. Such authors as [[Mark Twain]], [[Zane Grey]], [[Upton Sinclair]], [[Carl Sandburg]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Edgar Allen Poe]], [[Rudyard Kipling]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Walt Whitman]], and [[Anais Nin]] also resorted to self-publication for some or all of their works.

==Vanity presses in fiction==
[[Umberto Eco]]'s novel ''[[Foucault's Pendulum (book)|Foucault's Pendulum]]''
discusses the inside workings of a vanity press operated as a side operation of a more orthodox publisher, to pump out otherwise unpublishable personal musings on the [[occult]]. The 'main' publisher is run by a Signor Garamond, named for a [[Claude Garamond|renowned sixteenth century printer]], while the vanity press is called 'Manutius', the name of [[Aldus Manutius|another]] famous sixteenth century printer. Elaine Viets's novel ''Murder Between the Covers'' involves a self-published author attempting to set up a bookstore signing.
The hero of [[Jonathan Coe]]'s novel ''[[What a Carve-Up]]'' is commissioned over a long period to write a book by an otherwise vanity publisher. The company is satirized at some length. One of the substories of [[David Mitchell (author)|David Mitchell]]'s 2004 novel [[Cloud Atlas]] is about Timothy Cavendish, a vanity press publisher.

==Some vanity presses==
*[[American Biographical Institute]] (see Scams Page, CAV, below)[http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[American Literary Press|American Literary Press, Inc.]] [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[AuthorHouse]] (formerly 1st Books Library)[http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[Author Identity]] (a branch of [[PublishAmerica]])
*[[BookSurge]] (formerly GreatUnpublished.com) [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*Dorrance<ref name="washingtonpost">
{{cite news
| first=Paula
| last=Span
| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25187-2005Jan20
| title=Making Books
| publisher=[[The Washington Post]]
| date=[[2005-01-23]]
| accessdate=2006-12-26}}
</ref>
*[[iUniverse]]<ref name="washingtonpost" />
*[[International Biographical Centre]]
*[[Ivy House]]<ref name="washingtonpost" />
*[[Minerva Press]] ([[UK]])[http://www.joannawaugh.com/Articles.php]
*[[Picture.com]], ''aka'' The International Library of Photography
*[[Poetry.com]], ''aka'' The International Library of Poetry [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[PublishAmerica]]
*[[Melrose Press]] (aff. [[International Biographical Centre]], Cambridge) [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*Metropolitan Who's Who (Metroplitan Registries, Inc.)
*[[SterlingHouse Publisher]] [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[Tate Publishing]]
*[[Trafford Publishing]] [http://www.trafford.com/]
*[[Vantage Press]]<ref name="washingtonpost" />
*[[Watermark Press]] [http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press]
*[[Xlibris]]<ref name="washingtonpost" />
<BR>Vanity magazines
*[[NY Arts Magazine]]


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Print on demand]]
*[[Ex-Mormon]]
*[[List of former proponents of atheism|List of ex-atheists]]
*[[Publishing]]
*[[List of former Protestants]]
*[[Author mill]]
*[[List of ex-Roman Catholics]]

*[[List of former Muslims]]
==Notes==
*[[List of ex-Christians]]
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>

==External links==
*http://www.aeonix.com/vanity.htm
*[http://www.sfwa.org/beware/vanitypublishers.html Writer Beware on Vanity Presses]
*[http://www.vanitypublishing.info/index.html Vanity Publishing Information Advice and Warning]
*[http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/artsbranch/writing/self_publication/index.asp Advice to Canadian writers]


==References==
[[Category:Publishing terms]]
<references/>
[[Category:Confidence tricks]]


[[Category:People by former religion|Latter-day Saints, former]]
[[de:Zuschussverlag]]
[[Category:Former Mormons| ]]
[[it:Autore a proprie spese]]
[[ja:自費出版]]
[[zh:自費出版]]

Revision as of 10:15, 28 May 2007

This is a list of well-known Latter-day Saints who have been excommunicated, or no longer profess to be Latter-day Saints. This list is primarily of adherents to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as a small number of adherents of related denominations (as labeled). This list may also include former controversial members of the LDS church. See: List of Latter-day Saints for current members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.

Excommunicated

See also

References

  1. ^ http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/bundy.htm
  2. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/775/000028691/
  3. ^ Gosling - Village Voice article
  4. ^ http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/h/HOFMAN,MARK.html
  5. ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4964686&ft=1&f=1033
  6. ^ http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1051
  7. ^ http://home.teleport.com/~packham/bio1.htm
  8. ^ http://www.shunn.net/bio/
  9. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/229/000048085/
  10. ^ http://mormonalliance.org/casereports/volume2/v2.htm
  11. ^ http://www.mrm.org/multimedia/text/m-barrett.html
  12. ^ http://lds-mormon.com/dpw.shtml
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