Advice

A vanity press is a publisher which takes payment from the author for publication. Many vanity presses advertise their services in magazines and the national press, offering hopeful authors the opportunity to see their work in print. Some of the more reputable small presses will publish a limited run in exchange for payment, but many promise much more than they ever intend to deliver.

How do they operate?
The bottom line with vanity presses is that they do not discriminate – they will publish anyone with the ability to pay. Some claim to be selective and may promise an evaluation of your work, but this is usually just a marketing stunt designed to attract business and dupe the unsuspecting writer. Others profess to sharing the costs of production with the author and claim they will also market the book, but many vanity presses do no marketing work whatsoever. They rely almost entirely on authors for their income, not readers.

Should I ever use a vanity press?
If you have written a book to distribute solely among friends and family, for instance an autobiography or other memoirs, then a good quality vanity publisher is a reasonable option – although it will usually be more expensive than self-publishing. But if you want your work to have a wider readership, then vanity presses are to be avoided.

Important considerations
Here are some things to bear in mind if you are considering using a vanity press:

You are unlikely to recoup the initial outlay you make, let alone make any money.

Because writers are getting wise to them, vanity presses may go under a different name, such as a ‘book producer’, or ‘subsidy press’. The services provided are just the same.

Some vanity presses present themselves as ‘traditional’ or ‘small press’ publishers, by hiding the charges to the author, or shifting them. They may not ask for money up front, but instead include some of the following:

a ‘set-up fee/deposit’
a ‘pre-purchase requirement’ (the author must purchase a certain number of books)
a ‘pre-sale requirement’ (the author has to sell a certain number of books before publication)
a ‘paid editing requirement’ (the author pays for the work to be edited)
a requirement that you pay for the publicity that they do - pressure to purchase large quantities of your book for resale

Expenses can be huge. In order to ensure a decent profit for themselves, vanity presses charge much more than the actual production cost of a book.

Books published are the property of the author and the author retains proceeds from any sales – but vanity presses will not push to sell your work.

They provide no editing service and if they do claim to, the editing is usually minimal and is rarely of a professional standard.

Authors who pay to be published are not taken seriously in the industry. There is a definite stigma attached: reviewers will not look at your book and bookstores won’t stock it (especially as vanity presses usually have no deals with major wholesalers). You won’t be able to build up your writer’s CV because pay-to-publish books are not considered a professional credit.While some at least do supply what they advertise, small vanity presses have been revealed as fraudulent and unethical. They have been known to overcharge, renege on their contractual obligations, produce books of unsaleable quality and fail to provide the number of books promised. For examples of such presses and of complaints made, go to www.sfwa.org/beware/subsidypublishers.html

If I use a vanity press, how can I protect myself?
If you do want to use a vanity press, then there are certain things that you should check before you commit:

Find out which other books they have published. Get hold of some copies if you can, and look to see if they have been properly proofread, if they are bound correctly, and if they are of a quality that is satisfactory to you
Request references from the company and follow them up
Try to talk to people (other than the references given) who have used their services
Make sure that they have a deal with a big wholesaler (good examples are Bertrams and Gardners in the UK; Baker & Taylor and Ingrams in the USA)
Verify their claims of marketing, if any are made. Ask to see sample adverts or magazine features
Ask for proof of their financial commitment, in the form of invoices

And finally…
If you are still unsure, it is worthwhile contacting Johnathon Clifford, who has campaigned against – and is a leading authority on – vanity presses. His website can be found at www.johnathoncliffordofficialsite.co.uk and his opinions can also be found at www.vanitypublishing.info. He is happy to offer advice and can also provide you with a special advice pack, which covers all aspects of publishing.

Links
For other articles and information on vanity presses, the following sites may be useful:

www.writing-world.com/publish/vanity.shtml
www.nj.essortment.com/vanitypresses_redy.htm
www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Telemarketing/Inbound/MajorIn/publishing.htm
www.poemtree.com/Jerome/Publishing-Chapter09.htm
www.webdevinfo.com/articles/111
www.booksellers.org.uk/newlibrary/document_view.cfm?document_id=384