Writers: Beware of Vanity Presses

Abi and her friend, Jess, have only days
to help a ghost who haunts the marsh
and old farmhouse in Pine Hill, Virginia.
Illustration of Abi is by Danika Corrall,
who illustrated Secret in the Mist.

By Linda Wilson --  Follow me on Facebook

A vanity press is a publishing company that charges authors to publish their work. Vanity presses profit from fees authors pay for their services. Legitimate publishing companies make their money from book sales. 

Empty Promises to Unassuming Authors

Vanity presses have a bad reputation, largely earned by many companies who promise authors the moon and often fail to deliver, often in significant ways.

I tell this cautionary tale for two reasons. One is that a friend of mine fell prey to a vanity press just last week. She paid a nominal fee for them to publish a picture book written by her husband. It is a work in progress. 

The online headline for my friend’s company, we’ll call Company A, goes something like this:

Ready to Share Your Story with the World?

Book your Free Consultation today!

We focus on:

Turning your book into a successful career through a range of services designed to support authors from manuscript to marketplace.

We offer:

Ghostwriting Book marketing

Editing Branding

Sounds promising, doesn’t it? But what if this vanity press has additional or hidden charges? And they don’t follow through with their promises? Authors who have signed up with vanity presses have been known to wait months and months for their book to be published, if it gets published at all. So far, the verdict is out on how my friend and her husband will fare. They’re waiting with bated breath to see the results. 

That brings me to the other reason I’m telling this cautionary tale. Moi. I signed with a vanity press for my first book more than five years ago. I was thrilled. I’d found my publisher—for life. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My Own Cautionary Tale

I lived in a small town when I signed up with my vanity press, we’ll call Company B. I had just begun writing books for children after writing articles and stories for newspapers and magazines. There were no resources in my town for children’s authors at the time: no critique groups; no Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, SCBWI, meetings; no network of other children’s authors and illustrators. I looked online and, like my friend, signed up immediately with Company B.

Unfortunately for me, I paid thousands of dollars thinking I was making an investment in my future as a children’s author with a stellar company. I need to give credit where credit is due, however. I did benefit from the services Company B offered:

• A tutorial program for new authors
• Professional editing of my book
• An illustrator for my book

I learned a lot from the tutorial program. Later, I discovered that the editor and illustrator were not inhouse but had been contracted out. Luckily, they did topnotch work.

My book was ready. The next keystroke on my computer was to obtain the two files—the text and the illustrations—and load them onto Amazon for publishing. But somehow, the files were unattainable. Emails to my rep went unanswered.

While in the throes of wondering what to do, I happened to be reading 10 Publishing Myths: Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed, by W. Terry Whalin. My eyes popped out when I got to page three. Whalin writes: 

Use Google to see what is online. Type: Publisher name + complaint then read a page or two of the entries. Are the complaints new or old? Are there many entries or few?

Whalin goes on to give sage advice for authors to avoid myths like the one I fell for.

My answer came as soon as I typed in Company B + Complaints. The internet was flooded with complaints. Long story short: one of the owners had created a Ponzi-type scheme. He’d collected the money from the authors but never paid any royalties. The company was shutting down, going out of business.

I immediately wrote to the rep I worked with and requested my files. I’d caught her just days before she was leaving for good. She sent me my files. Many authors never received their files. Some of the authors began a website that exists to this day. I found out: I was one of the lucky ones. 

By being in touch on the website, we hired an attorney who lived in the same town as the company. He charged a nominal fee. Many of us bought in, including me. He began a class action lawsuit. Nothing ever came of it for me. I’m not sure about the others but last I heard this previous Company B owner had absconded to live on an island. It sounds ridiculous, but as far as I know that’s what happened.

That’s actually how I became a self-published author. Finally, using the files sent to me by Company B, I self-published my first children’s book, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery.

Here is a partial list of vanity press companies to avoid. Please note that I’ve looked up each one on Google. They do exist and can be found online:

• Page Publishing
• Xlibris Publishing
• Austin Macauley Publishers
• Christian Faith Publishing
• American Star Books
• Author Solutions
• iUniverse
• Olympia Publishing
• Dorrance Publishing
• Newman Spring Publishing
• Balboa Press
• Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie ltd
• Abbott Press
• Partridge Publishing
• Palibrio or Author House

Red Flags to Watch Out For

• Charging large up-front fees
• Flattery and pressure
• Lack of transparency
• Poor quality work
• Requirement to purchase bulk copies
• Verbal promises not in written contract
• Fake affiliations
• Promise to distribute your book, when in reality, your book is only added to a list

Bottom Line

Research carefully. Trust your gut.

Sources:

Visit Danika Corrall, the designer of my website and illustrator of Secret in the Mist:

https://www.danikacorrall.com 

Article sources:

https://reedsy.com/blog/scams-and-publishing-companies-to-avoid/ 

https://reedsy.com/blog/vanity-press/

Author of many books, including 10 Publishing Myths: Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed, can be found here:

https://terrywhalin.com

Please note: Go to Terry Whalin's website and add your name to receive a PDF of an extra chapter not included in the book: The 11th Publishing Myth. 

Secret in the Mist,
the second book in the
Abi Wunder Mystery trilogy,
will be published early
next year and will be
available for purchase
on Amazon.

Linda's two new releases are Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, and Cuna en la Naturaleza, the Spanish version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana Botero. Both books have received awards. Visit Linda at https://bit.ly/3AOM98L.

Writers: Let Mistakes Be Your Teachers

Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery
was self-published in June, 2020

By Linda Wilson

Three mistakes—whoppers, and very painful, I might add—stand out in my writing career, all the rest are small (and many!)

Mistake #1: Taking on more work than I could handle. Back when my daughters were growing up, both in their 30’s now, I landed a terrific job as a writer for a well-known library journal. I had left teaching elementary school for a while and had made the big time! Our subjects were short biographies, called by the journal “biosketches,” about famous people. The editor gave me my pick of subjects and any number of sketches I wanted to write. Up to that point, I had experience writing newspaper articles, period. Not to worry! One of the other writers advised me that my sketches needed to be conversational as well as factual.

I started out with only one or two, with 2-3 weeks to research and write. A research assistant sent me articles and information, but the perfectionist in me decided that wasn’t enough. So, while my husband was at work and my daughters were in school, I did more research in the library. My subjects were such interesting personalities as Stephen King, Troy Aikman, and William Shatner.

The extra research paid off. My sketches were tight with information, and friendly. The editor was pleased.  

Piece of cake. I decided to take on more, 3-4 sketches at a time. That’s when I hit the wall. I didn’t realize the time crunch I was getting myself into while volunteering at my daughters’ school, being a girl scout leader, and more. I missed a deadline, and I was toast.

Lesson Learned: Take on only what you’re sure you can handle.

Mistake #2: Signing up with a Vanity Press without doing a search for complaints. According to Wikipedia, “a vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house in which authors pay to have their books published.”

About two years ago, I chose a publisher that I’d been following, sold by the way the company presented itself on their website and in phone conversations I had with the company rep. I loved the packages they offered, which included everything under the sun that I would need.

My husband and I lived in a small town at the time. I didn’t have the advantage of a critique group or contact with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s chapter as I do now, living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I joked that my package—the Ultimate, mind you, promising the moon—was my “Harley,” a gift from my husband a few years after he bought his dream Harley. I would buy my dream: a way to publish my book with the help I believed I needed.

Now, after finding help in critique groups with my fellow SCBWI-NM authors, and information from the SCBWI organization itself, I see how misguided I had been. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As luck would have it, just days before my book—my first, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, a ghost story for 7-to-10-year-olds—was to be published, I read a book that changed everything: 10 Publishing Myths, by W. Terry Whalin. I had barely turned the first few pages before a feeling of dread crept into my soul. In Chapter One: “Myth One: I Will Make a Lot of Money Writing My Book.” Of course, I understood that. But in this chapter, Whalin makes the case that “to be a best seller, the book needs broad distribution to online plus brick-and-mortar bookstores who report their sales to a bestseller list. Balboa Press [a press that he uses as an example] is online and their books are not sold in brick-and-mortar bookstores.” This was not the case with my company, I assured myself. Whalin goes on to say that the overall production of these books is not good quality. Not mine. I'd already seen the cover and had worked closely with the artist. My book was beautiful. Whalin hoped this author didn’t spend a lot of money to produce her book.

Well, I did spend a lot of money. Harley's are expensive! As my alarm grew, I turned to the next page, where Whalin suggests doing a Google search to check out potential publishers, by typing "Publisher’s name + complaints." I did that and was in for the shock of my life. Not only were there a substantial number of complaints against my publisher, but these complaints were made by twenty-nine authors who had published with my company and created a revolt on a private Facebook page. Why? Not one of the twenty-nine had received one royalty check. Not one. Today many more authors have joined the group, an attorney has gotten involved, and the owner is facing several lawsuits. 

I spent two taxing days and sleepless nights reading the authors’ experiences, sent an email to one of them, and he invited me to join the group and tell them about my experience. The group welcomed me, and in their posts, I found the help I needed to obtain my files from the company and proceed to self-publishing my book.

My caveat: I was lucky. I already had possession of my files which were print-ready and easy to publish on KDP. Some others are still battling to obtain their files and as a result, are unable to publish their books.

Lesson Learned: Before doing business with anyone, do a Google search to see if there are any complaints against them.

Mistake #3: Being out of touch with my calendar. Recently, I entered a picture book manuscript in a contest, and it won an award—first, second, or third to be announced at a later date. I wrote to everyone I could think of with the news, then read the fine print. The manuscript had to be unpublished. I forgot that tiny fact when the illustrator finished her work. I went ahead and published the book on Amazon as soon as I could. 

Lesson Learned: Make sure you write down your important dates on your calendar. If I had written the date the announcement was to be made about the contest, I would have waited to publish the book and received the award. Instead, I had to disqualify myself and the award went to someone else.

Ultimate Lessons Learned: It’s become natural for me to know how much work to take on now. I check the companies I work with on Google, and am making it as a self-published author. As for the contest? I’m determined to win an award with the same contest next year. It’s taken me about a week to come up with an idea. Soon, I will begin work on it and when the contest opens, I will enter it and put the important dates on my calendar. This experience has also encouraged me to search out other contests which I plan on submitting to. Who knows? Maybe I will win another contest.  

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher, has published over 150 articles for children and adults, several short stories for children, and her  books, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, and A Packrat's Holiday: Thistletoe's Gift, are available on Amazon, https://www.amazon/author/lindawilsonchildrensauthor. Publishing credits include biosketches for the library journal, Biography Today, which include Troy Aikman, Stephen King, and William Shatner; Pockets; Hopscotch; and an article accepted by Highlights for Children. Secret in the Mist, the second in the Abi Wunder series, is coming soon. Follow Linda at https://www.lindawilsonauthor.com.

Vanity Presses: Authors Beware

If you decide to bypass the traditional publishing route to publish your book—finding an agent or a publisher that doesn’t require an agent—you might be tempted to consider a “vanity” or “subsidy” publisher. The article, “The Difference Between Self-Publishing and Vanity Publishing,” posted on the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors website, Jan. 21, 2019, writes that with this type of publisher, “the author assumes all the risk and pays the publisher” to publish her book. A major catch is that the book becomes the property of the publisher; the author forfeits all rights to the book once it appears in the publisher’s catalog.”

Not so in my case. I found a publisher that offered a much better deal than that. I would pay the publisher a fee for a “package” they offered and when it came time to publish, apart from the cost to publish my book, the royalties would be mine. That is, if the publisher pays the royalties.

Buyer Beware
About two years ago, I chose a publisher that I’d been following, sold on the way the company presented itself on their website and in phone conversations I had with the company rep. I loved the packages they offered. My husband and I lived in a small town at the time. I didn’t have the advantage of a critique group or contact with a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s chapter as I do now, living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I joked that my package—the Ultimate, mind you, promising the moon—was my “Harley,” a gift from my husband a few years after he bought his dream Harley. I would buy my dream: a way to publish my book with the help I believed I needed at the time. Now, after learning how much help my fellow SCBWI chapter authors are and the SCBWI organization itself, I see how wrong I was. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As luck would have it, just days before my book—my first, a ghost story for 7-to-10-year-olds—was to be published, I read a book that changed everything: 10 Publishing Myths, by W. Terry Whalin. I had barely turned the first few pages before a feeling of dread crept into my soul, in Chapter One: “Myth One: I Will Make a Lot of Money Writing My Book.” Of course, I understood that. But in this chapter, Whalin makes the case that “to be a best seller, the book needs broad distribution to online plus brick and mortar bookstores who report their sales to a bestseller list. Balboa Press [a press that he uses as an example] is online and their books are not sold in brick and mortar bookstores.” This was not the case with my company, I assured myself. Whalin goes on to say that the overall production of these books is not good quality. Not mine. I'd already seen the cover and had worked closely with the artist. My book was beautiful! Whalin hoped this author didn’t spend a lot of money to produce her book.

Well, I did spend a lot of money. Harley's are expensive! As my alarm grew, I turned to the next page, where Whalin suggests doing a Google search to check out potential publishers, by typing "Publisher’s name + complaints." I did that and was in for the shock of my life. Not only were there a substantial number of complaints against my publisher, but these complaints were made by twenty-nine authors who had published with my company and created a revolt in a private Facebook page! Why? Not one of the twenty-nine had received one royalty check. Not one.

I spent two taxing days and sleepless nights reading the authors’ experiences, sent an email to one of them, and he invited me to join the group and tell them about my experience. The group welcomed me, and in their posts, I found the help I needed to obtain my files from the company and proceed to self-publishing my book. Most of them have published with IngramSpark and KDP at Amazon.

An attorney from the town where the company is located has gotten involved. He has agreed to help us for a nominal administrative fee. I enlisted his help. He is trying to get some of my money back. With his help, the company lost its Better Business Bureau rating as the company’s owner is not responding to repeated requests for authors' royalty checks. The goal for all of us is that we would like to see this company shut down. However, at this writing, the company’s website is still up, possibly snagging unassuming authors like I once was.

A Dynamite Editorial Staff
The sad part, and the part that boggles my mind, is that my experience with the editorial side of the company was a very positive one. Granted, I bought the top package, which might be why I was treated so well (other authors have written in their posts that they didn’t receive the service that they had expected). But the editors, illustrator, and support staff that I worked with did an excellent job. Lucky for me, I didn't lose any royalty checks because I found out about the authors' complaints in the nick of time. At the thought of seeing my book in print and not receiving any future royalty checks stopped me cold. I decided on the third day of my eye-opening odyssey, that I couldn’t live with that, and I cancelled my account. Thanks to help from the authors on our Facebook page, I was able to obtain the files I needed—the illustrations, the cover art, and the manuscript—to publish my book elsewhere.

Bottom Line
We—the twenty-nine authors and me—have agreed that we won’t stop until this company is taken down.

Sources: https://iapwe.org/the-difference-between-self-publishing-and-vanity-publishing/, International Association of Professional Writers and Editors, “The Difference Between Self-Publishing and Vanity Publishing, Jan. 21, 2019.
Visit https://terrywhalin.com/ to learn about his terrific book, 10 Publishing Myths.
Introductory image courtesy of https://www.educationworld.com. 

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 150 articles for adults and children, and several short stories for children. She has recently become editor of the New Mexico SCBWI chapter newsletter, and is working on several projects for children. Follow Linda on Facebook.