Vanity press | Sharon C. Williams-Author

A local writer I know told me a bit ago that she went through a vanity press publisher. I made a face of disgust before I could stop myself. I asked if it worked. The reply was yes, and that is all that matters.

The definition of a vanity press is, in short: A vanity press, also known as a subsidy press, is a company that offers publishing services for a fee.

When I started looking for publishers, I had a few contact me. I declined, having researched various publishers before,

Even if I had the money, I could not honestly give it to a company for them to publish my book. I could do what they were offering on my own. I figured it would simply take longer. Also, I did not have the funds. If I had the money, I feel I would have declined, but I will never know. It is not easy getting a book published, let alone writing a book.

When it was my time, I researched the various ways to get my manuscript published. The research is free. A writer may find out what works better for them. It could be a vanity press. Check it out first before you fork over your hard earn money,

What they can charge you can include editing, reading fee, and book covers. If you are not inclined to do any of this or prefer not to do it, this could be the way to go. It does suit some authors who are happy with a vanity press.

All I am saying is to check it out first. It took you a lot of time to start and complete your book. You worked hard to get it finished. You want it in the best hands possible, wherever that might be.

Since it is a long road, vanity presses are around and will continue to bill authors large sums of money. Don’t bet the farm on this, especially if you can ill afford to.

I came across two curse words in one of my readings. The curse words, well to me, is vanity press. When I was first starting out I had no problem having them contact me. There are a variety of these publishers out there.

You can either be traditional, self published or both. Then you have the vanity houses. But not all publishing houses are the same. Some will ask for money up front. This is also known as vanity press. To be honest they are not interested in what your book is about or if it has promise. They are about the money and how they can get you to work with them, for them and eventually pay them.

Knowing about them early on gave me better protection. However, the last few months I have been hearing writers talk about them like it is a good thing. Let me say up front if this is where you want to go then hey it’s your money. But the bottom line is there are so many other avenues to getting your work out there.

You have traditional and self publishing which continues to evolve as the years go by. Stigmas on either has also evolves some for the better some not so much. But there is not a need to spend hard earn money to get your book out. Not every writer has the funds to do so, and even if the desire to get your book out is strong and it is for all of us, be careful where you place your baby.

It took you a long time to write it, edit it, revise it, edit it again, revise it again and finally get it in the best shape you can get it in. Why place it in the hands of people who to be quite blunt don’t care about your storyline but more about your wallet.

The Musings of A New Englander