— Mark Paxson
Earlier today, I saw a tweet from a writer announcing her new book was about to be published. Her tweet identified her publisher and I immediately had a suspicion. I looked up the publisher and, yep, it’s one of those publishers. For a small fee, they’ll do everything to make your publishing dreams come true.
Most of these publishers seem to charge around $2,000 – 3,000 and offer some level of editing or proofreading, a cover, and distribution. But ultimately, actually selling your book rests on your shoulders. This particular publisher had the highest cost publishing package I’ve seen — $8,500.
I immediately wanted to tweet my outrage at this, but I had an epiphany. Much like we talk about there being no rules to writing and that writers should write whatever and however they want, it’s the same with how we each pursue our publishing dreams.
I’ve opted for self-publishing. The tools are out there and it’s easy enough for me to master. I usually pay for some minor editing and with my last novel I paid for a cover for the first time. I’m going to keep doing that for the foreseeable future when I self-publish. The costs for that editing and a good cover are worth it to me, whether or not I make the money back.
But that’s the thing about self-publishing, more popularly known as indie publishing, there are all sorts of variations of it. What you do as an indie author, publishing your own work, depends entirely on what you’re comfortable with, what you can afford. There are indie authors who put books out without much editing (grrrr), who design their own covers (some better than others), and who do everything else themselves. There are some who do a little more, or a lot more. It’s just up to each author, and those who have mastered the marketing/promotion game to find bigger audiences are in the sweet spot of the indie industry.
Between those indie authors and traditional publishing is this vast industry that has popped up. It is today’s vanity publishign industry. All sorts of “publishers” who promise indie authors all sorts of services and the glories of publication. For a small fee.
I’ve been extremely pessimistic about these services for years. I think they are playing off the dreams of writers, pocking their fees, and not doing much to actually earn those fees. I’ve known several people who have used these services. At least four off the top of my head. They paid their fee, progressed to publishing with varying degrees of satisfaction that also came along with varying degrees of delay and disengagement from their publisher. And when it comes to what really matters … actual book sales … they had no better luck than I have.
And then there is traditional publishing, where you’ve got to run the gauntlet. Some publishers accept unagented manuscripts. Most do not. As a result, to have any chance, you gotta get that agent. Plus, a lot of those publishers who accept unagented manuscripts tend towards the small end of the publishing world, which means they may just publish the book and leave the promo efforts to the writer.
The problem with traditional publishing is that it is a gatekeeper system and unless you know the pass code, the secret handshake, and a few other things, it’s virtually impossible to get in through the gate. There are all sorts of indie published books out there that are among the best books I’ve read in recent years. I know of some indie manuscripts in search of a traditional publisher that would absolutely knock your socks off. But, they can’t get in the door. Why? Because traditional publishing is a funnel that moves only towards books that will be popular, easy to sell, that fit neatly into the only round hole the publisher has a peg for.
Okay, I’ve over-simplified all of those options. There are variations within options within choices inside each of those three options.
What you should do with all of these options and their variations is do what you’re comfortable with. If you have the money for one of those publishing companies, go for it. If you’re not comfortable doing all of the formatting and other work yourself, go for it. If you want to keep knocking on the traditional publishing door, go for it. If you want to do it all yourself, go for it.
It’s your dream. It’s your creation. It’s your story. You can put it out into the world however you want. But … please do your research, find others that have traveled the path you are choosing to learn from their experiences, and keep your expectations reasonable. Don’t expect miracles. Don’t expect a bestseller. Don’t actually have any expectations at all. As I’ve been told for the last ten years, only the tiniest fraction of writers actually make a living at writing.
I would like to hear from writers who have used any of the publishing services that charge a fee for publishing your book. What was your experience? Good or bad? Successful or not? What happened once you signed the contract (although I’ve heard interesting tidbits about the “before contrat” conversations)? What happened once your book was published? Anything and everything. If you have any experience with that option, I’d love to put a post up here with your experiences.
Writers Supporting Writers 
With all the different types of publishing out there, I think this time will in the future be seen as a kind of golden age (or at least a bronze one) of writing. Free of that funnel, a huge variety of written works are being created. Many aren’t that great, but others may eventually become classics.
Since most of us regulars here are pure indies, I will re-post this on my blog.
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I’ll be interested to see what responses you get. My first book was traditionally published by a not-very-reputable publisher, as it turned out. I went the pure indie route with my second book, and I’ll probably continue that route, just contracting for things I can’t do at a professional level myself.
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I’ve queried for a couple of my novels with nothing even close to success. For future projects, I will like occasionally try querying, but my efforts will be minimal. I don’t know the code or the hand shake.
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My friend paid 5000 dollars to a vanity press to get her book published. I did NOT like the way they reeled her in bit by bit. I did not like that she was obligated to by a bazillion (or maybe 1000, I don’t remember) books that are growing moldy in her garage. I don’t like that they became uncommunicative as soon as her book was published.
The book is gorgeous and well edited. My friend was happy with the product. It’s on Amazon and has two reviews. So there IS that.
However, she’ll never make that 5k back. She’ll have to eventually toss or recycle (except the plastic-coated cover) all the books in her garage.
What a waste of money, and what an environmental waste.
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This is consistent with what I hear from most people. Horrible customer service once the contract is signed and the money paid. And no support to actually, you know, sell the book. I’d love to here from somebody who had a positive experience with one of these companies.
I’m somewhat stunned though that your friend had to buy all those hard copies of her book. I didn’t think that was still a part of the package.
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Our local bi-weekly magazine usually has a piece or two on local writers. This issue features Cathy Sultan and her newest novel “An Ambassador to Syria.” Always curious, I looked the book up on Amazon to see who published it — Calumet Editions. This appears to be a hybrid outfit that authors sometime need to put money into to help produce the book. That said she’s published five books with them since 2014, so she must be happy with what they do. Plus, she had published several other books before that with other publishers, so she likely knows something about publishing. Like you say, do what you’re comfortable doing. But do the research.
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I can’t imagine having $5000 to throw away. 😦 I started self-publishing when Indies Unlimited was in its heyday and I learned both DIY skills and survival skills from the many authors I met there. Not sure if there’s an equivalent information hub these days. Sadly there’s never a lack of snakeoil salesmen.
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If you have $5,000 and want to spend it that way, go for it. But I don’t have that money to burn on what these companies do.
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I listened to a talk by a hybrid publisher a couple of years ago. My quick calculations during the presentation showed that paying to publish with him could cost as much as $15K Cdn. My totally indie efforts have cost me a small fraction of that, including 4 professionally designed cover images. And it looks like those publishers’ marketing efforts aren’t terribly effective.
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Don’t get me started on the vanity press. They’ve been around for as long as there have been writers, preying on the writer’s genuine desire to write and be heard. My own view on this is encapsulated by the British novelist John Brain who said writers write, publishers pay, or words to that effect. That said, he found a publisher who paid him, and most writers aren’t so lucky.
Yes, there seems to be a secret code to breaking into conventional publishing, and writers can waste their whole lives trying to find out what it is. Personally, the Indie route has been a revelation. I like to do the whole thing – self editing, and do my own covers because I’m into art and enjoy it. I don’t market. I tried trumpeting my titles on twitter, for a while, but it made no impact on downloads, so I don’t do it any more and, anyway, by the time a book’s written I’m already thinking of the next one. As Audrey says, some indie books will be the classics of the future, maybe because Indie writing allows such freedom of expression. But most won’t be, and few of us will be known beyond a small circle of readers. For myself the writing has evolved into more of a personal journey, and publishers, vanity or otherwise, are of no interest.
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I’ve struggled with the lack of an audience and have learned that promoting via social media only goes so far … and it’s not very far. What frustrates me now is that the promo sites like EReaderNewsToday and BookBub are so crammed with people seeking a spot that it’s almost impossible to get a spot of your own. If I can’t get a book on one of those sites, my options are very limited.
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I’m pretty much where you are with writing and publishing, Michael. Thanks for this comment.
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Back 1996 I went down a route of an agent in the USA who had a good write up in a British Writer’s Year Book and paid him a fee of say $500 (I live in the UK)…..nothing put it down to experience and also never to buy the next edition of the Year Book either.
After having submissions come back so fast they had friction burns and no guidance I went Indie, Whole Indie and Nothing But Indie via Kindle Amazon…still no great success, but there’s 5 books out there.
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Yeah … an agent charging you a fee is the first sign something is wrong, but sometimes we go through these things before we realize the scam is on. Glad you found indie publishing.
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There is ere is a website I like, Writer Beware (www.writerbeware.com), sponsored by SFWA, with valuable information about literary scams and scammers. I found each and every vanity/hybrid publisher that ever contacted me on their lists.
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Yes. I’ve checked that website every now and then. I typically Google the name of the publisher and can find plenty of information. But Writer Beware is an excellent resource! Thank you.
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Great post. I started with a small press and simply wasn’t impressed. Yes, they did thorough edits and covers, but selling and promo was 95% up to me without any control over pricing. It’s was frustrating and I hated the lack of control. I switched to indie and love it. And I’m much more successful. But you’re also right that indie publishing can be a free for all. Buyers beware.
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Are you willing to share what % of sales you were entitled to with the small publisher? I’ve always been curious what the publisher gets versus what the creator gets.
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I was just about to recommend Writer Beware as well! They do an excellent job of investigating scams and vanity publishers.
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I guess things are different in different countries. As far as I am reading, what happens on the French language book market is closer to what happens in Romania than what happens on the English language book market, so as paper books being more sought than e-books. But the Romanian book market is way smaller than most European ones, according to the studies I have read about in the latest years.
Here the indie publishers are few – I am not talking about those who write in English for the English-speaking market and publish on Amazon, as a bunch of them exists. Being an indie publisher on the Romanian book market means that you are going directly to the printing house, without passing through a publishing house, and that you have your ISBN or you publish a book without ISBN (It is possible, in certain conditions, as I heard).
The traditional publishers are also few. Most of them offer the writer 20% of the sales and 5-20 books for free. If the writer wants more books, he has to buy them – at a discounted price or often at full price.
Most in between are small publishing houses. Some of them are vanity presses, who publish for a fee, formatting the book, making a cover and printing, nothing more. Some are hybrid – the author buys 200 or 300 books at a cheaper price and he receives 20% or more of the sales for the other copies the publishing house sells.
Others, even if they are small and cannot help much with the sales, are NOT vanity presses, even if they cannot take the financial risk. So, the writer pays for the books, but the publishing house, besides formatting the book, making the cover, printing, is in connection with literary critics or known writers who write the foreword and the fourth cover, and they also organise a public launch of the book, with writers and literary critics talking about the book and having sales at the literary event. Some do put books for sale on internet shops, others do not. These publishing houses also have representation at book fairs. These are the kind I have published with, 11 books up to now. I like having more control on my books with them.
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In the US, it feels like everybody is writing and publishing now with the ease of self-publishing. The market is flooded with books.
It’s interesting to hear what other countries are like and it sounds like your experience shows that all of the different variations of publishing enterprises exist anywhere people write and read.
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