For anyone who has had anything to do, even remotely, with the book publishing industry the words ‘Vanity Published’ are short for ‘pariah, egocentric, self-indulgent, boredom expert do not get near for any reason at all’.

There is a good reason for this and it has everything to do with the fact that those who choose (and nothing has changed on this front) to Vanity Publish a book have a burning desire to see their name in print at any cost and, usually, have about as much to contribute to the printed word in terms of wisdom and quality as vegetarians in a ham-packers meeting. Now before you start thinking that this is an insult to ham-packers or vegetarians just stop and think that the example is used only to show that the motivation driving each is different with very little common ground and therefore highly unlikely that anything of value could be contributed here.

It’s the same with Vanity Publishing, a service which says: “gimme $400, $500, $600…” the amount varies with each company “and we will print and market your book for you”. Now stop for a moment thinking of your name on the spine of a book and the kudos, glory and money coming your way and think of motivation here. There are many reasons why a person may want to write a book. Sometimes it’s the glory. A book places a certain amount of authority and weight behind an individual and I know that having my car serviced by Mike who’s written the best-selling “Get your car serviced properly” non-fiction masterpiece fills me instantly with more confidence than the non-author status Gordon from down the road can confer.

A book creates a certain kind of added value in society. Whether it is non-fiction or fiction the chances are that the person who wrote it was motivated enough to sit down, research, think and write about something they were passionate about. Their words and thoughts will resonate with each reader who happens to come across their book and, in their small way, they will have touched the lives of those readers and added to society in their own way, transforming it, hopefully for the better.

A book can earn you tonnes of money. Sure, there are tales of how J. K. Rowling made several hundred thousand dollars a minute with the latest Harry Potter novel.

A book is a vehicle for immortality. There are many authors who go dewy eyed at the thought of their book, their baby, remaining behind, touching people’s hearts and changing their lives many years after its creator is little more than a distant memory on Earth.

Vanity Publishers are experts at knowing the sentimental buttons to push and they do. They will tell you how great Victorian writers like Dickens were Vanity Published (not true, he was self-published and there is a huge difference) and how the state of the publishing industry is such that many a gem of a book goes undiscovered (that’s true, even J. K. Rowling was rejected by 11 publishers). And then they will tell you how you simply owe it to yourself, your family and society to get your masterpiece published.
The thing is that the only part that’s true about what Vanity Publishers say is the part about where they will take your money and print (between 11 and 150 copies of your book, some don’t even do that part calling themselves a POD service).

I know this is a vitriolic attack on the Vanity Publishing industry but, having worked in the publishing industry as an acquisitions editor and having then made the switch to journalism and book writing I know exactly how they operate and above board it ain’t. Again, this comes down to motivation. A publisher is motivated by profit as much as an author (and in fact, unless you go for a conglomerate where profit is the only thing that motivates them, a publisher is motivated by all the same things that motivate authors). This means that the have a vested interest in a book being ‘good’ (they filter in according to their perception of the buying trends of the book market) and in selling well.

Vanity Publishers on the other hand tend to lose their motivation the moment they have your money. After all the job, for them is done. As all their money comes from what you pay them, the moment you paid them any extra time they spend on you and your book is money they lose off the bottom line of their balance sheet. So, after you pay the tend to do next to nothing.

This means your book will not be edited (why should it), it will not be marketed (get real, sales people cost more money than they bring in) and it will not be promoted (for all the obvious reasons I mention here). Which means you will be left with a book that has not sold (but it does have your name on the cover) and a few dozen copies you can distribute amongst relatives and friends.

Vanity publishing is an old term. It dates back to the time people with money had the vanity to pay so they can call themselves authors. It is stigmatized in the publishing industry (and rightly so) and it has tried to re-invent itself taking advantage of technology to bring its operating costs down, broaden its reach and increase its profits.

These days Vanity Publishers call themselves ‘author-published services’ and they say they are no different to POD services (they tend to forget the “one-off registration fee of $xxxx” they tend to ask for).

Is there a difference between true self-publishing and the rip-off kind just mentioned? Yes, there is. In self-publishing (which is what Dickens did after all) you write your book, edit it (or pay for someone to do it), get it packaged with a nice cover and proper formatting and pay to have it printed (conventionally if you want 5,000 copies at one go or POD if you need a few copies at a time) and then market it yourself. You are under no illusions of the uphill battle you face to make sales as you wear all the hats all the time and you know that every copy you sell is a battle fought and won.

This is what no Vanity Publisher will tell you.

We offer a comprehensive editing, ghostwriting, book packaging service which includes book cover design and even a website where you could sell your book from. We do not offer printing or publishing in any shape or form and because we love books we hate Vanity Publishers – they are a disservice to the industry. If you have a book project and need some no-strings attached, straight-talking advice drop us a line. We will get back to you fast.