As an author looking to publish your books, you’ll come across a plethora of options. Some sound more enticing than others, depending on what your goals and expectations are.
The 21st Century Author is all about self-publishing, so I may be a little biased. Still, there are a lot of potential pitfalls out there which do not seem obvious at the start. If you’re still on the fence on whether self-publishing (also called independent publishing) is for you, I’m going to outline some alternatives and potential cons below.
When you’re a writer who hasn’t yet had a book published, your next steps may seem pretty obvious: Finish the book, then find a publisher for it.
But sometimes, a publisher isn’t really a publisher.
I’m talking about so-called Vanity Publishers, though they’ll never call themselves that. Instead they present themselves as regular publishing companies, complete with a whole submissions process to mimic that of a legitimate publisher and boast about the success other authors have seen after publishing with them.
But things aren’t always what they seem. And the difference between a traditional publisher and a vanity publisher is very distinct. It’s all about who pays who. Do they pay you for your book, or do you have to pay them to publish it for you? But there are a lot more intricacies to this discussion, requiring a lot more background information.
Let’s dive in and find out…
Large Publishing Houses
When you publish your book with one of the big traditional publishers (Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, etc.), you’re essentially selling your book to them. If we’re being really precise, you’re selling the rights to your book to the publisher.
Ideally before your book even hits the shelves, you’ll be paid an advance (though there are exceptions), simply for signing the publishing contract. In this contract, the publisher will stipulate the royalty percentage that you’re entitled to for every single sale of your book after publication. Once the book comes out, they’ll keep track of how many copies were sold, and once the royalties your books have earned exceed the initial advance, they will pay you over and above the initial amount of money they’ve given you. The exact logistics and payment schedules will vary by publisher.
In case your contract didn’t include an advance payment, the publisher will typically offer you a higher royalty percentage per book.
These publishers do NOT accept every book that is pitched to them. They’ll only sign you if they think your book can make them money. This is key! Generally speaking, the higher the advance they offer, the more certain they are that the book will be a commercial success for them. And the harder they’ll work to promote the book for you when it comes out.
Bagging a publishing contract like this can sound very tempting, but it isn’t always. Most authors do not earn a living from their writing, even (especially) those who have traditional publishing deals. This is because the publisher’s primary function is to make profit for themselves. So, the contracts they offer writers typically favour the publisher more than the author.
It’s also very difficult to be accepted by a large publisher like this, and typically requires you to have an agent or attorney specialising in Intellectual Property negotiating a contract on your behalf. Think about how many rejections JK Rowling had to face, before her Harry Potter books were finally accepted by a publisher.
Small Presses
There are only a handful of large publishing companies out there, most of whom conglomerates whose influence spans across the globe. But, there are also a whole lot of smaller, often genre specific publishing houses. Still, they function in a similar manner to the large publishers I’ve described above. You pitch your book to the publisher, they decide to offer you a contract, and either pay you an advance or a royalty percentage per copy sold of your book or ideally both.
Small Publishing houses typically have smaller budgets though. So, contracts with a small publisher are more likely to be royalty-only (no advance), and you’ll be expected to take charge of the marketing of your book.
Be careful before pitching to a small publisher! There have been cases where small publishers have lied about how well a book was selling, or even gone out of business and authors never saw a red cent from their books. Even if all goes well, and the publisher has a reputation for offering transparent sales data and paying out on time, you’ll still make less money per sale than you would if you had published it yourself.
Still, because small presses also primarily want to make a profit for themselves, they will be selective about what books they will and won’t accept. They still have to be able to recoup their initial inlay on a book (cover, editing, formatting, printing, administrative costs, overheads), after all.
There are even some very successful self-published authors who have gone on to set up small publishing houses to support newer writers, as well as diversify their income streams. Nothing wrong with any of this, just make sure the publisher you’re pitching your book to has a good reputation for turning out quality books, paying out on time and being transparent about sales data.
And do consider having a lawyer look over any contracts you are offered.
Vanity Publishers
At last, the category I most wanted to highlight. The “vanity” part of the name comes from the fact that these publishers step in when traditional publishers have already rejected a book. So, they will take your book and publish it for you in exchange for a fee. To make you feel better about it, essentially.
They might have flashy websites promising you great riches and sales success. They will also most likely have a submissions process that mimics that of a traditional publisher, giving you the impression that they’re selective about the books they will publish, and therefore their acceptance is a seal of approval for your book.
This is not the case. Vanity publishers will accept any book, from any author, so long as they’re willing to pay the fee. And they’ll tell you fairy stories about making you an overnight success in the process. Whether that’s realistic or not (not!)
Because therein lies the difference between a vanity publisher and a traditional publisher. A traditional publisher will pay you for the privilege of publishing your book. And a vanity publisher will ask you for money upfront to cover the publishing costs. If your book really has such great potential, why would they need to take money from you? The future sales would be more than enough to cover the costs of the editing, book cover design etc. right?
Another hallmark of vanity publishers is that they’re typically very expensive. As part of their publishing packages, vanity presses will sell you unnecessary services (physical print runs) , or resell useful things (copyright registration, editorial reviews) at a huge markup. You might spend many thousands on the publication of just one book without any hopes of ever seeing that money back.
A lot of vanity publishers do shoddy work, and the authors who use them simply don’t know any better. And they might even have predatory clauses in their contract, causing the author to lose all control over their work, preventing them from taking matters into their own hands and publishing the book themselves after they’ve learned how to do so!
But maybe you don’t want to go out and handle all the parts of the publication process yourself. Wouldn’t it be okay to use a vanity publisher then, you ask? No. There is an alternative, as explained below.
Publishing Service Companies
This is a fairly broad term, that could describe anything from a turn-key publishing service down to individual cover designers, editors, marketers and other freelancer selling very specialised services. Yes, you still have to pay to get your book published, but that’s where the similarities with Vanity publishing end.
If you intend to self-publish your work, chances are you’ll be dealing with at least a couple publishing service providers, even if all you’ll hire out are your cover designs and editing.
A reputable Publishing Service provider will:
- Not ask you to sign over the rights to your book or publish your book under their own publishing name!
- Offer you the best possible service they can and not turn out shoddy work on purpose
- Not try to upsell you relentlessly on things you don’t need
- Promise you immense commercial success (there are no guarantees in this business!)
- Resell official services like ISBN numbers, or copyright registration (both of which have only one official authority per country) with a huge markup, while adding no extra value
- Offer guidance, tailored to your specific project, making sure you don’t pay for anything you don’t need
- Not threaten you that without their help, your book and career is doomed to fail.
Because of the huge stigma attached to Vanity Publishing, there are some in the self-publishing community who balk at any company that offers a complete publishing package. This is a misunderstanding at best and ignorant at worst.
Some writers just want to write. While that’s somewhat unrealistic, they can offload most of the logistics of publishing onto a third party by using one of these turn-key publishing services, or hiring a publishing consultant/project manager who will oversee the various aspects of publishing for them.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But, Buyer Beware! Not every publishing service is worth the investment and not every freelancer has your best interests at heart. It helps to do your research and get other writers’ feedback and recommendations first.