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Vanity Publishing Claims Another Sucker

neilneil
edited May 2007 in - Writing Problems

Comments

  • neilneil
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/investigates/tm_headline=in-bad-books%26method=full%26objectid=18824894%26siteid=89520-name_page.html
  • dorothyddorothyd
    it's got to be the level of desperation felt by some people to get their words in print that allows them to fall for these dodgy publishers, isn't it?  I am so anxious to get my words into print but recently, when someone sent me a note about Athena and how they pay royalties, I turned the correspondent down flat. I am not that desperate that I will pay money up front, thank you!  but others are.
  • neilneil
    Even £13,000 apparently!! The mind boggles.
  • StirlingStirling
    I might not like these 'self-publishing' companies, but at least they charge reasonable prices compared to people like Athena.
  • StirlingStirling
    "Nearly all the sales have been due to my efforts," .

    Sorry to disappoint, but even if you published with Faber and Faber or Random House you would still be saying the same thing.

    I'm quite impressed that she managed to make £800.

    I repeat, who spends £13000?.  Even Trafford charge about £2000.  Or is this an example of people's vanity of wanting to say 'my publisher'.
  • neilneil
    Not much point spending thousands of pounds 'publishing' a book that hardly anyone  reads. Come on, mate.
  • CarolCarol
    Terrible that these incidents are still occuring after so much publicity, and not just in the writing press.
  • themoabirdthemoabird
    I've mentioned this on here before. My partner's father has just paid £14,000 to a vanity publisher to have his book - a memoir - published.

    He brought a copy round today. I've had a quick look at it. They've done on discernible editing (it's full of punctuation errors - mainly because he doesn't know how to use apostrophes). The front cover is a picture of him and his deceased wife. It has a nasty colour cast. It alone means the book will not be stocked by bookshops.

    The memoir itself is all over the place. It's not terribly written, but it has no structure at all. The publisher have removed big chunks just to get it to word length.

    My partner's father wrote this book as a tribute to his wife. He cannot get over her dying. The trouble is he genuinely thinks that it will sell a million copies. He says anything less will be a failure.

    It's a hopeless situation.
  • themoabirdthemoabird
    "they've done on discernible editing" should read "no discernible editing" (kind of an ironic mistake).
  • StirlingStirling
    Try telling that to GP Taylor (Shadowmancer), Preethi Nair (Gypsy Mayala), Deborah Lawrenson (the art of falling), George Courtauld (The Pocket Book Of Patriotism), Stephen Clarke/Paul West (A Year In Merde).  All these books were all originally author financed/self published.  Just because a book is self/vanity published doesn't automatically mean it is a bad book.  It is almost impossible to persuade a publisher to accept your book as a new writer, publishers are unwilling to underwrite the risks.  The average sale of a title is 400 copies (and by that I mean those 'mainstrean' published, not self-published).

    Gary and Helena are perfect examples of how self-publishing works (though I believe Gary has his own company, I know Helena does).  They are very successful.

    Thermoabird, I know how hard you tried to dissuade him.  So don't blame yourself, you tried.  I think his expectations of sales just underlines the unrealistic expectations people have coming into this industry.

    Neil, I think you need to rethink your assumption.  I am not a 'mate', I am a girl.
  • neilneil
    My mate is a girl also, Stirling.
  • NefertariNefertari
    My husband calls me 'mate'!
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    Mates is also a type of ... er ... I've always wondered if they chose that name for its ambiguity.
  • neilneil
    I wonder if it's realised that by writing two twist ending stories for 'That's Life', or two appropriate articles for top IPC magazine 'Country Life', you could receive the £800 earned by the lady in the above article without all the hassle of doing the work of the vanity publisher. 
  • themoabirdthemoabird
    But that calculation applies whether you're working with vanity publishers or not, Neil. I've written a couple of articles for magazines/journals for which I've been paid £3k and £2k. But I write books for an academic publisher for which I'm paid less. It just can be quite lucrative writing articles and often not writing books.
  • StirlingStirling
    Personally, I can't stand being called 'mate'.  I don't like being called 'darling' or 'sweetheart'.  I used to get all the time at work (made worse by living in the north east).  I have a name.

    I couldn't write for Take a Break, or Chat.  I don't like the editorial style and couldn't write those kind of stories.  I write literary stories and articles.  I'd rather be an academic, with a second job to support my writing.
  • CarolCarol
    Stirling makes a very valid point there. If you can't fit your writing to the editorial style/preference, you are probably going to be disapointed.
  • CarolCarol
    (sorry for the spelling- the glass of wine is obviously getting to my brain- should be disappointed.)
  • StirlingStirling
    Why not Carol?.  Enjoy your Bank Holiday (I'm working).

    Like everyone else, I understand the frustration and pain of rejection and finding it impossible to get a foot through the door.  So, I can totally understand the desperation that drives these writers to vanity publishers like Athena and Serendipity.  I would definitely not label them 'suckers'.

    I hope everyone enjoy's tomorrow, and the sun shines for you.  Think about me inside, running around, washing every dish we have . . .
  • Crazy HorseCrazy Horse
    It may be worth noting that there are writers who financially do not need to profit from their writing. Some will find the cost of vanity publishing negligable and wil spend about this much on a night out with friends. If you go to a casino you will find plenty of people lose more than this just for amusement. The writer who needs to mke a living writing should of course go nowhere near such activities
  • StirlingStirling
    When Annie says:

    "Remember, if you are not willing to paid for the book to be published then why expect someone else to lay out that same kind of money".

    She is talking a lot of sense.

    I also think that vanity publishing and self-publishing are being put in the same category here.
  • CarolCarol
    I think that is where many of the problems occur, vanity publishers who give the impression they are self-publishers, but aren't.
  • StirlingStirling
    Couldn't have said it better Carol.
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