Authors today face a very deceptive marketplace. With vanity publishers claiming they are helping authors to “self-publish” their books, these subsidy publishers don’t care about authors and their work. Just look at their websites. The first thing they ask an author to do is pick a ‘publishing package’ to suit their needs. After the author picks their package, the next step is to order and pay for it.
“Hey, wait a minute. How about looking at my book?” you might ask. But the only time you submit the book is after you sign the contract and pay.
One of the largest of these (we all know them…just search Google and look at their paid ads declaring they want your book) proclaims to have published 18,000 books over the last 12 years. Another says they have helped 30,000 authors publish their books in the past 11 years.
How do you do that? Well, first it helps not to have to read the book. You save a lot of wasted time right there.
The second way is you tell authors you can call a publishing consultant to help you decide. Well, guess what? That consultant is a sales person whose job is to sell you—you guessed it—a publishing package.
Finally, you outsource the work to a third world country to process the author’s book. After all, at 1,500 to 3,000 books a year, the vanity presses need mass production techniques.
So, if that process appeals to you, you really need to keep reading the installments of this series. Believe me, it does not get better for you the author.
John Paul Owles, Publisher
Joshua Tree Publishing