On Publishing, Part 3: Vanity Publishing

 On we go, fellow castaways on the literary sea.

This week, let's explore Vanity Publishing.

As much as I want to throw up in my mouth every time this subject comes up, it's a thing, because these vanity publishing scam jobs are still raking in money hand over fist from beginning authors.

So first of all, let's clarify a definition here: A "Vanity Press" is a company that makes its money from authors, not from books sales. Here is how it works:

You receive an email or a letter saying, "Yes, we love your story! Let's put it in print!" Okay, maybe not in that exact phrasing, but you get the gist here. All they want, they say, is three to five thousand dollars to cover editing services and a cover, and they PROMISE they'll get it onto Barnes & Nobel's shelf! Now, who in their right mind would turn that down, I ask? Why, no one, of course!

And that's how I very nearly got took. Because I didn't know how the business of writing is supposed to work. So let me lay it out for you, and it's right here where The Golden Rule comes into play. The Golden Rule of Publishing is this: The Gold flows FROM the Publisher, TO the Author. I'm convinced to this day that that is the case.

Here's what actually happens: They deliver almost ZERO actual editing. Maybe a cursory proofread. Nothing else. They Give it an amateurish cover, because who can really tell? You're too damn tickled and proud to finally become A PUBLISHED AUTHOR to realize that although your baby is cute, it needs a good, thorough chewing and a back-and-forth between you and your editing team. But what do I know, right? Then they set the price point at some ridiculous altitude, and let it languish in the sales basement of Amazon. Because they don't care how many you sell. They've probably promised you 100% of the profit, and told you you can keep your copyright.

But look at the contract you've signed: A seven-year, exclusive contract for all publishing formats, and if you're not happy, all you need to do is buy the contract out for another five hundred dollars.

They don't care how crappy your manuscript is. They have a 100% acceptance rate. Every book gets the same treatment. You make ZERO sales, and they don't care. They move on to the next sucker.

PublishAmerica is one of those companies. Whitmore Publishing. Dorrance. There are way too many to keep up with, and even so, some companies have even told me, "We have no room for your manuscript, but one of our publishing partners has agreed to look at it." Oh, boy. Don't hold your breath. This just gives the illusion of selectiveness while continuing to draw you along with that bait of "becoming a published author."

Do yourself a favor: look up a book called "Atlanta Nights." It was written by a group of top-selling, professional authors to expose PublishAmerica for the scam job it is. They deliberately wrote the most horrid, train-wreck punctuated, nuclear disaster they could come up with. Each author was assigned thee different chapters (not even sequential, but maybe I'm wrong), and they weren't allowed to communicate with each other. Guess what? It was accepted. And "published." Then the authors blew the cover off the joke.

One young man I worked with at my day job, came to me and asked my opinion on the novel he had published through PA. So I bought a copy. At twenty-five dollars. And it was horrid. A prologue so long it should have been a chapter in itself and revealed way too much of the plot later. Made me not even want to bother with the rest. But I fought on. Lord, I fought on. Sentence fragments, poor grammar, numerous spelling errors, lengthy expository passages, all stacked up. I couldn't finish.

Doo yourself another favor: Check out the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's webpage, Writer Beware!

https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors__trashed/writer-beware/

Here, I just gave you your first contact in the professional writing community. That's where I started to wake up and realize that not all was sunshine and roses in the publishing community, and there were actually people who only wanted to take my money and run.

So, I'm getting a bit long-winded here, I know, but I want you to know you have options, and you need to take yourself seriously enough (and believe in yourself enough) to not pay these fly-by-night operators any of your heard-earned cash, because they are going to allow trash to be put on the market in your name, and a reputation is ten times harder to restore than to establish. There are no shortcuts to a smooth, quality product that people will want to read again and again.

As usual, leave your comments here if you want to discuss any of these concepts, and if I am helpful at all to you, let me know.

Let's do this!

On Publishing, Part 2

 So last week we talked in brief about contract publishing, aka "Traditional Publishing." This week, let's talk about the different methods of self-publishing. And here is where the debates begin, because there are some practices out there that I hesitate to call "publishing" in the strictest sense.

The first thing to remember when self-publishing is this:

You're NOT going to do it alone. There are many good reasons for this.

When I first wrote my book, I thought I was going to keep my little baby under a sheet and spring it upon an unsuspecting world, and everyone would read it and cry and say over and over again, "Where has this been all my life?" and it would be an overnight best-seller, and I would have a comfortable income stream.

Yeah, right. That was before I learned about critique partners and beta readers. In addition, I nearly got took for a ride by a few shysters out there posing as publishers. We'll get to those guys on another post.

Self-publishing is a huge challenge, and I say that based on my own experience. The first thing I had to lay down was my pride. The second thing was my sensitivity, because cupcake, this business is not for the squeamish or the hesitant. By that I mean I had to develop a thick skin, because my story was certainly not "All that and a bag of chips." I was just too close to the work to see it. I actually got offended because I couldn't understand why anyone would want to turn me down. I didn't see the whole list of issues that needed fixing, and when people did bring those issues up, I wrote them off because I thought they were all wrong.

Now, after those 40-plus rejections, I actually did get picked up by a small press out of Montreal, which was an amazing journey in itself. But this post is about self-publishing, right? So let's stay on track, Cy. That press went out of business after some time due to health issues of the editor-in-chief and CEO. She's still an amazing person. I got all my publishing rights returned, and proceeded to self-publish all my books all over again.

Now, in self-publishing, YOU are the publisher. You are responsible for editing, cover art, promotion, setting up all your own book events, etc. Everything is your own responsibility.

You think to yourself, "Fine; I'll just do my own editing and cover art."

Sorry, kiddo. That's not how it works.

Like I said, you are too close to your own baby to be able to make impartial but necessary changes to it. Take it from me, you need an editor who is not invested in the work. A second set of eyes who will be blunt and demanding. You're not here to make friends; you need someone who is as dedicated as you are to making this work a product worth being on the market, who will point out all the needless repetitions, grammatical errors, misspellings, and incorrect punctuation that you missed. What you do NOT need is someone who will dictate changes that alter the vision of the work, or who will become a dictator. It's YOUR story. Any changes you make will be in YOUR voice, or not at all. I can recommend a couple of really good editors if you're at a loss. Other ways to make contacts in the industry include membership at critique sites like critique Circle.

Good editing is not cheap. Cheap doesn't give your book the spit and polish it needs in order to be the best work you can put out. But good editing is always worth the investment. Always.

Cover art is your next expense, and unless you have a degree in graphic design, please do NOT do your own cover art. I know. Expensive. Expect to pay two hundred dollars and up for a professionally designed cover. Believe me, there are elements we civilians simply do not know need to be included in catching a potential reader's eye.

As to platform, I use Draft2Digital. I also have a KDP account. Yes, I give these platforms a certain share of my cut. This is because I want to have an easy way for readers to access my books, both in eBook and print versions.

The plus of self-publishing is pretty obvious: You get to keep a larger percentage of your earnings. The minuses are also pretty obvious. YOU are the show. You are responsible for overseeing and coordinating everything to do with putting out a quality product.

If there are any things you want to bring up for discussion, let me know. We'll get them into the cycle and have some vigorous conversation.

On Publishing, Part 1: Traditional

 Well, I suppose this is a long time coming. To be honest, I had to figure out what exactly this blog was really about. Now, I believe I have it nailed down.

In other social media platforms, I see so many new authors struggling to avoid the pitfalls and traps that have sprung up seemingly overnight in the publishing industry. So my new aim is to make this blog a forum for those who wish to publish, for those who are already published, and for publishers to come together to improve the industry and clean out the scammers.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by all the things I want to say, to the point my brain becomes clogged, and nothing comes out. But I didn't get five novels on the market by letting "brain clog" stop me. So I'm going to break this series down into bite-sized pieces, and we can chew the fat on each one. And if we need to dwell on one point or another, we can have more involved conversations about it.

Five, you say. Only five? Sure, five. That hardly makes me a subject matter expert in so many points of view. But let me ask you: How many books have you published? Not trying to be rude. But let's get real here. The guy who's been there only has to get there a few times to be identifiable to someone who hasn't been, but wants to be. And let's face it: Stephen King is a little too busy to be mentoring newer authors.

First things first: What I share here is my own opinion. You know what opinions are like. Here's a clue: Everyone has one, and they all stink. Seriously, though, my opinions are posted here based on real data that I have accumulated over the years. Remember, what worked for me may not work for you. My aim is also to remain correctable.

The bottom line is that I can give new authors, new tools in their toolboxes, and they can smell a scam when it comes across their feed. So let's dive in.

The first question, of course, is this: What method of publishing do I pursue? There are pros and cons on each method, some are pretty questionable at best, and others are outright scams.

The two most respected methods are Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing. We'll look at each type, and discuss what might be right for you.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING 

I also call this Contract Publishing. It used to be the only way you got your book in print, unless you had deep, deep pockets. You submit your manuscript to the acquisition editor's staff, and hope to catch their attention.

What happens is this: Your manuscript goes to the bottom of a stack called "The Slush Pile." The slush reader (usually an apprentice or college undergrad) would read the first three or four pages (more if you're exceptionally good), and decide if it goes to the actual acquisitions editor. Bear in mind, most publishing companies receive hundreds, if not thousands, of manuscripts per month. In short, they are looking for a reason, any reason at all, to reject your MS. In which case, you'll get an email or letter stating, "After careful consideration, we have decided that this manuscript is not for us. We wish you luck in your future endeavors."

It's important that you note two things: First, it is critical that you do not take these rejections personally. It's nothing against you, and it doesn't mean your story sucked. It just means that your baby has not found a home yet. Look through your MS again, see if it needs some surgery, fix it if necessary, and try again. I got rejected over forty times before my first novel was accepted for publication. The key is DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GIVE UP. Take a short breather if you have to, but never quit.

The publishing industry is highly competitive, and there are a thousand other writers out there as good or better than you are. If you want that contract, you're going to have to work for it. The fact is, less than 2% of beginning authors are accepted and signed to a contract.

The second thing to remember is this: You must follow their submissions guidelines TO THE LETTER. No fancy stationery, no "special" fonts or lettering styles, no brightly colored fonts. The guidelines are there to see if you can follow instructions.

Scott Edelstein wrote a book some years ago that saved me a whole lot of heartache. It's called Manuscript Submission. I gave my copy away some time ago, but I'm going to buy another copy and keep it this time. Do yourself a favor and read it. It's no scam job, I promise.

Pros of Traditional Publishing:

1. No out of pocket costs by the author. Let me repeat that louder: NO OUT OF POCKET COSTS BY THE AUTHOR. The publishing house will assign you an editing staff and a cover artist. You will work with the staff assigned to you to polish and present your little beauty and get her ready for Market.
2. Possible advance payment. Depending on the house and the terms of your contract, you may receive an advance payment. This is an amount based on how much your publisher believes they can sell in a certain time. This can be somewhere in the thousands of dollars.
3. Book store space. Stores like Barnes and Noble sell their shelf space, and the larger publishers pay big money to occupy space to the detriment of smaller publishers.

Cons of Traditional Publishing

1. You have little to no control over your cover. The house will give you a cover and say, "This is it." Remember, though, these are professionals who have a vested interest in giving you a bright, shiny baby that the public will love.
2. No active promotion. Most publishers already throw their advertising budget at authors they know will sell big. The established authors are the ones who get the billboards, radio ads, and book tours. As for you, you are on your own. Some publishers might give you a mention here or there, but you are responsible for your own marketing.
3. That advance we were talking about earlier? That may be all you get. The house will pay little to nothing more until you "sell out" that advance. And chances of that are pretty slim for most new authors.

HARD REALITIES

90% of authors on the New York Times Best-Seller list still have to work day jobs just to make ends meet. To make Stephen King/JK Rowling money, you have to hit the right nerve at the right time, and even a brilliant story may or may not be the one that sells big. My first novel won the EPIC Award for Best thriller the year it was released. This was voted by editors and publishers. In my mind, that gives it a little more credibility than a reader's poll, which can turn into a popularity contest based on who can activate the most friends and family rather than the quality of the story itself. Not that reader's polls are to be ignored. But award-winning stories don't always equate to sales.

Today we looked at some things to consider about Traditional, or contract, publishing. In subsequent posts we'll look at other options that are available. We'll also look at ways to polish your baby to a squeaky sheen and get it actually ready for the public.

We'll look at self-publishing next, and then the process of prepping for publication. If there are any subjects you want to talk about, let me know. We'll put it on the docket.

Stay tuned, and if you have anything you want to add, we do allow comments. Keep it civil, folks.