hey, bibliomum. as an editor, have you ever heard of a company called “Page Publishing?” seems they ran an add recently on the history channel and one of my more-desperate writing friends is ready to buy it hook, line, and sinker, but my scam senses are yelling loudly. if it is a scam or a vanity publisher, how do you recommend a newbie author get her book out to the world? (like, through a house or self-publish, etc)

thebibliosphere:

I have actually. And usually in the context of a scam. They’re a vanity publisher, as far as I’m aware. Granted a vanity publisher with standards for submissions, and an editing team to make things shiny, but the last I heard of them they still want the author to foot the bill of publishing their book to the tune of several thousand dollars. Which is something you only find out after you request the “free” author submission kit.

And I’m not saying self publishing with an aim towards success is free or cheap. I’ve sunk thousands into making Phangs into all I can make it possibly be, but that was a personal choice on my part and partly because of the massive (read: overwhelming) “what do you mean it’s healthy polyamory and queer, take my money!” response it got when I first started playing with the idea of making it into something more substantial than a tumblr post and realized it has the potential to actually be something really cool. I even flirted with one or two indie presses, even my old house, but ultimately decided I was better off retaining as much control over the book as possible. I made a choice which made it harder for initial production, but ultimately will pay off more in the long run for what I want to do with it.

But the thing is, that’s me footing the bill of a *massive* project that I want to retain the full rights to and also includes the cost of production. Any *publisher* asking me for that kind of money just to get my book through the door, has not got my best interests at heart. Especially when they don’t list those prices up front.

Basic thing to look for when attempting to find an agent or publisher is: if they want money from you up front, it’s a scam.

Publishers, even small indie press, take the cut of their fee from your Sales. Not “on top of the $2000+ you just spent on marketing” which btw, you can do for substantially less on your own, and also, even with traditional publishing, you still wind up doing a lot of the footwork on promotions yourself. Unless you’re a big fish in this vast sea, you always end up being your best promoter.

Also Writer Beware is an excellent resource for people wondering how to avoid getting scammed when they start out:

https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/

They also offer resources on where to look and how to contact people, so it’s an infinitely useful page imo.