Book deals aren’t always open and shut
If you are a would-be author and have had no luck in interesting a publisher to purchase your manuscript, you may be tempted to submit the work to a vanity book publisher.
Conventional publishers accept manuscripts and review them. If the publisher thinks the book (or story) will sell in the marketplace, the publisher will pay you a flat fee or royalty and assume the expense of printing the material.
Vanity or subsidy publishers, however, ask you pay part or all of the publishing costs up front. The risk to the publisher is nominal; you stand to lose money if the work does not sell.
Promotion is often the difference between success and failure, and the costs for promotion may come from your pocketbook. Be sure you understand exactly what the company is offering before signing or paying anything.
While there are honest vanity publishers that fulfill contract promises and produce a decent, quality book, there are many who engage in a wide range of unethical or fraudulent practices. These can include promising services they do not deliver, failing to disclose fees, charging inflated costs, reneging on contract obligations, producing shoddy books, failing to print the number of books contracted for, and providing kickbacks to agents that refer manuscripts to them.
Persons who deal with vanity book publishers should recognize their books might have little or no commercial possibilities, especially if their manuscripts have already been rejected by a number of better known publishing houses. Vanity publishers seldom put out a commercially successful book. Your only satisfaction may be seeing the material you wrote set in type.
The Better Business Bureau advises consumers who want to use a vanity or subsidy publisher to do some careful research beforehand.
• Review other books the publisher has produced to ascertain quality. Have the books been proofread? Are all the pages in order? Is the cover art attractive? In other words, do the books produce a professional impression?
• Ask for references and check them out. Contact the Better Business Bureau for a reliability report on the publisher that you are considering.
• Verify any claims the publisher makes. For instance, if the publisher claims to have an arrangement with a book distributor, contact the distributor to make sure it is true. Check out all marketing promises. Ask to see catalogues, ads, publicity releases, etc.
Be sure to check these items for quality. If the publisher promises to get your book into bookstores, check bookstores to make sure you can find the publisher’s books.
Be suspicious if the publisher:
• Refuses to provide a firm price. The exact cost of the book should be stated up front and in the contract.
• Claims the offer is for a “limited time only” or that unexplained circumstances require you to “act immediately.”
• Makes verbal promises that are not duplicated in the contract, like promising that he/she can get you on national talk shows, or will organize a speaking tour or a national book signing campaign.
Before investing your money, check it out with the BBB. Call us at (615) 867-0032 during regular office hours and 24 hours a day at (615) 242-4222 or toll free at (800) 989-4222. You can also access our web site at www.middletennessee.bbb.org for a reliability report on a company.