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Caveat Emptor
By Nancy Lindquist | July 1, 2007
For all those who seek to be published authors, Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. My dear friend, Ann, who is bright, published and a hell of a writer, submitted a manuscript to a publisher a few months ago. The publisher loved it and arranged a meeting on the other side of the state. Ann and her DH took all of yesterday, and drove over a hundred miles to meet this person. It was a vanity press publisher. This woman, apparently, has a regular print publishing business and a vanity outfit. She spent a lot of time pushing Ann into a vanity contract. Telling her that she should spend $9000.00 to have her book printed.
When that did not work, she told her that she would professionally edit Ann’s book for the low-low price of $1000.00 Please repeat, aloud, after me: “The money flows to the author, not the other way around.”
If you MUST be in print, or die, then you can use a vanity press, but if the book is good, you don’t need to go that route. Yes, you may have to work VERY hard to get it published, but the truth is, you should never pay anyone to publish a book for you.
“But Nancy, I know someone who…” Nice for them. Are they on the New York Times Bestseller list? No? Are you really surprised?
That this woman would tell Ann she is not a vanity press publisher, and lure her across the state is unconscionable. I am truly disgusted. She also poo-pooed Samhain publishing by calling them a Print on Demand Publisher. Print on demand is a legitimate way to publish a book. You’re not going to make as much as you will with a regular publisher, even a small press, but it’s a way to go. The thing that frosts me, and Ann, is that Samhain is NOT a print on demand publisher. The woman said that Ann’s book will not be on Amazon, or in any store. It very much is on Amazon, I bought it there and it’s in Borders, as well as many other publishers. In fact, Samhain just inked a nice deal with Ingram’s. So this woman was bashing Samhain without even knowing who they are. Hope she went home and looked it up. Hope she’s feeling bad too.
The money flows TO the writer. You should NEVER pay ANYONE to edit your book. Book publishers hire professional editors and if a publisher is not going to do any editing, get out of the contract.
Ann is more laid back than I am. She didn’t leap across the table, get in this woman’s face and demand her gas money back. I would have. Of course, I’m evil, like that.
Again, the money flows TO the author. Read it, memorize it, know it.
