Vanity Press or Vanity Publishing as it is commonly referred is self-funded publishing of a book by an independent author. This means that no matter the quality of the book, as long as the author has the money to do so, the book gets put out ‘on the presses’ and offered to readers.

There are publishing houses that specifically do Vanity Publishing. These publishing houses make a majority of their money by offering package deals and services to assist in producing a more polished product for the author. Such services could be anything from cover jacket design, editing services to marketing campaigns and placement in particular book stores around the country or even the world.

A lot of vanity publishing also offer ‘Print on Demand’ for their clients now, so that the self-funding, independent author no longer has to pay thousands of dollars to have first-prints run and then stored until sold, but can simply print one book each time one is ordered and have it drop shipped directly to the customer.

There has been a lot of speculation about the quality of work that gets published through vanity publishing, but there has also been a type of hysteria through the publishing world as authors wise up to their profit potential.

As publishing houses require more and more self-marketing, self-promotion and a building large platforms before contracts are signed, authors are wondering what the point to a traditional publisher is any more.

Are there pros and cons to both vanity publishing and traditional publishing? Yes. Do I have a preference? Personally, I am going with vanity publishing. Just a personal choice.

It is all about personal preference. Are you going to sit back and wait for approval from conservative low-risk-taking publishing houses or are you going to go full-steam-ahead on the book you have put so much time and confidence in?

More times than not, Vanity publishing is winning.

Digital publishing is especially winning as more authors become aware of the low demand for housing books, no supply to control and the relative zero-cost for materials beyond the invested time in writing, editing and marketing their book.

So Vanity Publishing has its place in the publishing world and I don’t think it is going anywhere any time soon.

What do you think? Do you think Vanity Publishing is a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think Traditional Publishing houses are at risk now that the ‘power is in the hands of the authors’ of the world?

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day and I would love to hear more on your thoughts about Vanity publishing!

Thanks again!

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Photo Credit: Zephyrance

What is this aspect of being published that is so scary to writers? With the conclusion of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) there are plenty of writers that are looking at 50k words and a blinking cursor going ‘What now?’

My advice would be to plan for the moon and try for the moon, but have a plan B. don’t let your hard work go to waste! (At the same time, you should be making sure your work is edited and polished prior to publishing).

So my plan looks something like:

1)      Edits – I am going to be doing at least 5 on screen passes and two or three print edits. This way whatever I miss on the screen, I will hopefully catch on paper.

2)      Synopsis – Sum up your book! This is good practice for your short pitch and what you will eventually use in making…

3)      Query – You should spend as much time on writing your query as you did editing your book. Perhaps that is a little much. I know I will be doing extensive research on Query letters and will give an example of mine for all to pick apart as the time gets closer to send a few out.

4)      Build – publishers love a writer with a platform already developed for a book. It would be very good if you have a fan base already. Sure, this wont happen overnight. But it is good to start thinking of the marketing aspect of your work as you will probably be doing a majority of it. Writers are far more active in the process anymore and far more responsible for the success of their works.

5)      When Declined by All – If I get declined by every query letter, which I am sure wont take long *wink* I will vanity publish. I already know this. To be perfectly reasonable, I hadn’t even considered traditional publishing a possibility. I write because I love it. But you can’t get published unless you cast a stone into the unknown murky waters and see what splashes back to you. Okay, that wasn’t the best analogy, but I am not going to NOT try. That’s just silly!

Okay. So these are the steps I am preparing to take. Am I scared of being published? Yes and no. Any writer will tell you that a piece of writing is more than ink or letters on a screen, it’s a labor of love. *tears up a little* it wont be long until it’s on the Oprah book list…oh wait, she’s retiring. Okay, so I am most definitely going to be vanity published because Oprah was my one big hope.

Take my sarcasm for what it is meant to be, entertaining. As lightly as I talk about vanity publishing, it reaches more audiences and gains more recognition every day. As humorous as I am about the ‘fish that got away’ story of getting a publishing deal, I will take a serious approach and a very real attempt at catching that whopper of a ‘Stephen King’ contract.

Will it happen? Look at it this way, NOTHING will happen if I sit on my hands and hope a publisher comes knocking on my door about a book I never queried to publishers or bothered to launch myself online. Have confidence in your work. Or, as Henry J. Kaiser said “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.’

Thanks for reading! Good luck everyone!