Regina

I absolutely love this article. This is an issue that I have been struggling with since I started my publishing venture in 2007. Self-Publishers have been given the “vanity press” label and it really bothers me. I put a lot of time and energy into setting up my publishing company so I could see what it is like to be a publisher. It is to the point now where I just call myself an Independent Publisher because I have the capability to publish others if that is what I want to do. I am just searching for a way to distinguish myself from vanity press authors because I want to be taken seriously in this industry.

I keep telling one of my friends that if he wants to get into a bookstore, he cannot continue using these vanity press options.

Thanks for keeping it real,
K.

A few years ago you announced you were writing an expose about Trafford Publishing. To my knowledge it never appeared. Why not? As you guys are virtually in the same business as other self-publishing houses Ron is not your criticism, however constructive somewhat hypocritical ?

Ron’s Note – Calling the modern vanity presses, self-publishing houses, is right out of George Orwell’s 1984. You can’t be a self-publisher unless you “self” are the publisher…. It’s as simple as that. You can have a service, like my http://www.selfpublishing.com, that works with publishers of all kinds as a publishing services provider but I am not a publisher. I AM NOT LIKE ANY OF THE OTHER PLACES THAT I TALK ABOUT. There is no hypocrisy. Unfortunately, you still appear unclear on what a self publisher is and what it isn’t.
It’s pretty simple, If you do not own the ISBN, you are not the publisher… therefore you cannot be a self-publisher. You can claim you are a published author, but not a self publisher and certainly not a publisher.
As far as Author Solutions, I use them now to mean all Vanity Presses; much like one refers to Kleenex to describe facial tissues. They seem to be hell bent on buying up all the other vanity presses, including Trafford. As far as I’m concerned, that’s great; it just makes an easier target.

I think the problem is that too many writers these days think of writing as a way to get rich quick — You are right about the fact that you have to love to write — sales or no sales — and you can for newsletters, some newspapers and even local publications if what you want to see is your writing in print and maybe hear some comments. Few get rich (whether self-published or professionaly published) as we know. The self-publishing field is becoming glutted with so-so to bad books. But with the attitudes I have seen demonstrated by agents and editors (at conferences), I think that often they leave an author — even a very good one — little alternative. Their attitude is that they are the top authorities of the literary world on what the public SHOULD be reading — There are problems on both sides of the public picture that need to be solved — and that could best by done by agents and publishers, not the writers!

Patricia Morse-McNeely

Your son might not be too happy to know you threw him under the bus for the sake of this blog (just joking) but very entertaining and truthful article

Hi,
The “Under the bus” happened years ago, as far as my son’s soccer career. Facing up to realty back then allowed him to drop the sport he was no good in and to develop into an All-Conference lacrosse player who will be playing next year at NCAA varsity level in college.
Glad you liked the article
Ron

I know for I was there.

http://www.selfpublishing.com/type/quiz/

I tell clients-if all you want is to wave your book around in front of your friends and family and see-”I wrote” a book”…..Then I am not interested in assisting you — I tell them a Vanity press house is just the place for you and they await your check. Go print 24 copies and give them to your family for Christmas presents. They can run around all year telling others you wrote a book that has no sales- no distribution- and to not hold their breath to see you on Oprah!

I also have a check list of “mind-set” questions to aspiring authors that help them to be successful instead of “ego” publishing.
Remove the “self” from “self-publishing”
Remember- successful book publishing95% perspiration and 5% INSPIRATION

I mean, sure, if an author has modest goals, no real illusions that they’re going to be rich, but just want to be able to call themselves an “author” and have a book available for friends and family, POD is fine.

But, too often, they really think that what they’re doing is on the par with having it picked up by a reputable publisher or TRULY doing it yourself. And no, what they’re doing is NOT self-publishing, despite the smoke-blowing to the contrary.

I DO disagree somewhat with one thing you said. I DON’T think that all these POD-illetantes are necessarily making it harder for true self-publishers to get respect. Sure, you can get painted with the same “amateur” broad brush as them, but as I always point out, why does the world have to know you’ve self-published?

If anyone (whose opinion matters) asks, I can say, “Oh, I’m with a small publishing house in Atlanta called Fanove Publishing.” Absolutely true. AND, no one ever asks. Sure you have to play little games here and there, but it’s not all that hard.

And if you indeed do it right, create a superior product, and promote it aggressively (all of which I managed to do, and then wrote a book about it: http://www.wellfedsp.com), when you do go on to move a pile of books, and THEN people find out you’re self-published, they look at you with a whole new level of respect.

And given that my books have been niche books, I’ve never courted the mainstream media (and hence, never cared what they thought), and the people who DID care about my book didn’t give a rat’s heiney that it was self-published. In fact, given that my audience is mostly writers, they thought that was mighty cool, and provided yet another opportunity for publicity for my book on THAT subject.

Anyway, I’ll share this far and wide. Great stuff. It’s the cold bucket of water that the UN-serious need to have dumped on their heads.

PB

Ron,

I have enjoyed your articles on self-publishing. I did take the plunge last year and self-published. I have editing and design experience so I did everything myself – and it actually turned out very well and recently even got picked up by the main distributor in my field. And since I did everything myself except actually print the book – I probably will break even financially. You are right on this point – it is a tremendous amount of work, especially the editing and proofreading. I don’t see how it could be otherwise if you want a quality book that you would be proud of. The real rub though is the marketing. I have a marketing degree and 20 years of experience so I know what to do – but the time, energy and cost are formidable and not everyone is cut out for continual self-promotion. Also, its a pretty saturated market out there for almost every form of writing. Much easier just to do a blog! But for a real book lover, there is only one way to go. And it is a great learning experience.