Vanity press: Difference between revisions
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With vanity publishing, authors pay to have their books published. Because the author is paying to have the book published, the book does not go through an approval or editorial process as it would in a traditional setting where the publisher takes a financial risk on the author's ability to write successfully. Editing and formatting services may |
With vanity publishing, authors pay to have their books published. Because the author is paying to have the book published, the book does not go through an approval or editorial process as it would in a traditional setting where the publisher takes a financial risk on the author's ability to write successfully. Editing and formatting services may be offered and they may come with the initial publishing fee (or, more correctly, printing fee) or might be offered at an additional cost. |
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[[Self-publishing|Self-publishers]] undertake the functions of a publisher for their own books. Some "self-publishers" write, edit, design, lay out, market, and promote their books themselves, relying on a [[Printer (publisher)|printer]] only for actual printing and [[bookbinding|binding]]. Others write the manuscript themselves but hire freelance professionals to provide editing and production services. |
[[Self-publishing|Self-publishers]] undertake the functions of a publisher for their own books. Some "self-publishers" write, edit, design, lay out, market, and promote their books themselves, relying on a [[Printer (publisher)|printer]] only for actual printing and [[bookbinding|binding]]. Others write the manuscript themselves but hire freelance professionals to provide editing and production services. |
Revision as of 03:54, 19 July 2019
A vanity press, vanity publisher, or subsidy publisher is a publishing house in which authors pay to have their books published.[1] In contrast, mainstream publishers, whether major companies or small presses, derive their profit from sales of the book to the general public. Publishers must therefore try to publish works that will sell well, and typically reject a majority of the books submitted to them.
Because vanity presses are not usually selective, publication by a vanity press is typically not seen as conferring the same recognition or prestige as commercial publication.[2] Vanity presses do offer more independence for the author than does the mainstream publishing industry; however, their fees can be higher than the fees normally charged for similar printing services, and sometimes restrictive contracts are required.
While a commercial publisher's intended market is the general public, a vanity publisher's intended market is the author and a very small number of interested members of the general public. In some cases, authors of a book that is vanity published will buy a substantial number of copies of their book, so that they can give it away as a promotional tool.
Differences from mainstream and self-publishers
The term "vanity press" is considered pejorative, implying that an author who uses such a service is publishing out of vanity and that his or her work would otherwise not be commercially successful. A vanity press may assert control over rights to the published work and provide limited or no editing, cover art, or marketing services in exchange for their fee.[2] Vanity presses may engage in deceptive practices or costly services with limited recourse available to the writer. In the US, these practices may be cited by the Better Business Bureau as unfavorable reports by consumers.[3]
In the traditional publishing model, the publisher 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, 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, for the right to publish the author's work; and further payments, called royalties, based on the sales of the work. This led to James D. Macdonald's dictum, "Money should always flow toward the author"[4] (sometimes called Yog's Law).
In a variant of Yog's law for self-publishing, author John Scalzi has proposed this alternate, to distinguish self-publishing from vanity publishing, "While in the process of self-publishing, money and rights are controlled by the writer."[5] Self-publishing is distinguished from vanity publishing by the writer maintaining control of copyright as well as the editorial and publishing process, including marketing and distribution.
Business model
With vanity publishing, authors pay to have their books published. Because the author is paying to have the book published, the book does not go through an approval or editorial process as it would in a traditional setting where the publisher takes a financial risk on the author's ability to write successfully. Editing and formatting services may be offered and they may come with the initial publishing fee (or, more correctly, printing fee) or might be offered at an additional cost.
Self-publishers undertake the functions of a publisher for their own books. Some "self-publishers" write, edit, design, lay out, market, and promote their books themselves, relying on a printer only for actual printing and binding. Others write the manuscript themselves but hire freelance professionals to provide editing and production services.
More recently,[when?] companies have offered their services to act as a sort of agent between the writer and a small printing operation.
A slightly more sophisticated model of a vanity press is described by Umberto Eco in Foucault's Pendulum. The company that provides initial setting for the novel operates a small yet respectable arts and humanities publishing house as a front. It does not make a profit but it brings a steady flow of substandard authors. They are politely rejected and then referred to another publishing firm in the same office—the vanity press that will print anything for money.
Some companies make use of print on demand technologies based on modern digital printing. These companies are often able to offer their services with little or no upfront cost to the author, but they are still considered vanity presses by writers' advocates. Vanity presses earn their money not from sales of books to readers, as other publishers do, but from sales and services to the books' authors. The author receives the shipment of his or her books and may attempt to resell them through whatever channels are available.[4]
Publishing variations
Writers considering self-publishing often also consider directly hiring a printer. According to self-publisher and 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 that 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 nonexclusivity meaningless),[citation needed] 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 want to avoid the stigma of vanity publishing while doing just that.[citation needed]
Vanity publishing in other media
The vanity press model has been extended to other media. Some companies produce videos, music, and other works with less perceived commercial potential in exchange for a fee from the creators of those works. In some cases, the company may contribute original content to the works (e.g., supplying lyrics for a melody). A notable example is ARK Music Factory, which produced and released Rebecca Black's 2011 viral video "Friday".[6]
These variants on the vanity press theme are still much less common than the traditional, book-based vanity press.
Vanity academic journals also exist, often called bogus journals, which will publish with little or no editorial oversight (although they may claim to be peer reviewed). For example, one such bogus journal (International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology) accepted for publication a paper called Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List[7] which, apart from a couple of headings and references, consists of the sentence "Get me off your fucking mailing list." repeated many times.[8]
History
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was common for authors, if they could afford it, to pay the costs of publishing their books. Such writers could expect more control of their work, greater profits, or both. Among such authors were Lewis Carroll, who paid the expenses of publishing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and most of his subsequent work. Mark Twain, E. Lynn Harris, Zane Grey, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Bernard Shaw, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Anaïs Nin also self-published some or all of their works. Not all of these well-known authors were successful in their ventures; Mark Twain's publishing business, for example, went bankrupt.[9]
Ernest Vincent Wright, author of the 1939 novel Gadsby, famous for being written entirely in lipogram, was unable to find a publisher for his unusual work and ultimately chose to publish it through a vanity press.
Examples
- American Biographical Institute[10]
- Dorrance Publishing[11]
- Famous Poets Society[12]
- iUniverse[11][13]
- Poetry.com, aka The International Library of Poetry[14]
- Tate Publishing & Enterprises (there are at least three companies called Tate Publishing; the others include a reputable art publisher and a defunct software book publisher)
- Vantage Press[11][15]
- Xlibris[11][15]
See also
- Accessible publishing
- Alternative media
- Article processing charge
- Author mill
- Custom media
- Dōjin
- Dynamic publishing
- Independent music
- List of self-publishing companies
- Offset printing
- Online shopping
- Predatory open access publishing
- Print on demand
- Samizdat
- Self Publish, Be Happy
- Category:Self-published books
- Category:Self-publishing companies
- Category:Self-publishing online stores
- Self publishing
- Small press
- Vanity award
- Vanity gallery
- Vanity label
- Variable data printing
- Web-to-print
Notes
- ^ Glatthorn, Alan A. (15 June 2002). "9. Publishing (Vanity Press)". Publish or Perish - The Educator's Imperative: Strategies for Writing Effectively for Your Profession and Your School. Corwin Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780761978671.
- ^ a b "VANITY/SUBSIDY PUBLISHERS - SFWA". SFWA. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ "America Star Books, LLLP". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ a b Lundin, Leigh (3 May 2009). "Crossfire of the Vanities". Self-Publishing. New York: Criminal Brief.
Vanity publishing is like T-ball: Everyone gets a chance at bat, gets a hit, and takes home a trophy. But don't expect anyone other than your mom to applaud.
- ^ "Yog's Law and Self-Publishing – Whatever". 20 June 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ Hundley, Jessica (30 March 2011). "Patrice Wilson of Ark Music: 'Friday' is on his mind". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ David Mazieres and Eddie Kohler (2005). "Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List" (Document).
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ignored (help) - ^ "Bogus Journal Accepts Profanity-Laced Anti-Spam Paper". Scholarly Open Access. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Caroline Valetkevitch (18 March 2007). "Mark Twain's tries at financial greatness". Reuters / The Boston Globe. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
- ^ Paying for Prestige - the Cost of Recognition Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Span, Paula (23 January 2005). "Making Books". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ Bad Art - A verse-case scenario (Boston Phoenix)
- ^ Ron Pramschufer (2 November 2004). "POD Superstar or Vanity Press Deception?". Publishers Newswire/Neotrope.
- ^ Margo Stever, The Contester: Poetry.com Struggles for Legitimacy. Poets and Writers Magazine
- ^ a b D. T. Max (16 July 2000). "No More Rejections". New York Times.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png)
- Writer Beware on Vanity Presses
- Vanity Publishing Information Advice and Warning
- Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab