Avoiding Scams in Publishing

New writers: #Scam #Vetting

It can be difficult to avoid scammers (who often operate under labels such as “vanity publisher” or “hybrid publisher,” so be extra careful when you hear those terms!) if you’re new to this industry.

You just got here. You don’t know what’s helpful or harmful, who is trustworthy and who isn’t.

Some people will flippantly tell you to “do your research,” but what does that even mean? Where can you find honest information? How do you know what they’re telling you is accurate and ethical?

Fumbling around and doing research without any kind of support can often lead you right into the teeth of predatory people.

When it comes to people or companies claiming to be “publishers,” there are two huge red flags to look out for. These are based on my decades in the industry and (unfortunately) having to be the one to help authors regain their confidence and get their literary career back on track after being victimized by a vanity or hybrid press (bank account drained, pending lawsuits, battles to reclaim book rights, etc.).

When you notice one or both of these, be aware that you are likely dealing with a vanity press or hybrid press as opposed to a traditional publisher or small press.

THEY CONTACT YOU FIRST

Imagine someone like Beyoncé going door-to-door looking for backup dancers to hire. Or Steven Spielberg cold-calling people to try to find a screenplay to produce and direct. This would be bizarre behavior for them because they are such popular celebrities in their respective industries.

They don’t have to seek out what they need from random people by sending unsolicited DMs on social media or spamming them via email. They have plenty of people who are begging to work with them and they get to pick from those pools of hopefuls.

Traditional publishing works the same way. There are thousands of manuscripts being submitted each and every day to traditional acquisitions editors all over the world. So it would make no business sense for someone from a traditional, commercial publisher to call / email / message / text you out of the clear blue sky saying that they’re interested in publishing your manuscript. They have plenty of manuscripts to sift through, and those have been vetted and submitted by literary agents in most cases.

If someone claims to be a “publisher” and randomly reaches out to you, there’s about a 99.99% chance you’re dealing with a vanity publisher (more on them below) or an outright scammer.

The same goes for “publishers” who are advertising that they can publish your book for you with display ads across the web, including ones fed to you through social media sites like Instagram or Facebook.

Just like you won’t see Beyoncé purchasing display ads to find a personal assistant or driver, you won’t find HarperCollins advertising that they will publish your book for a four-figure fee.

In situations like this, ignore the ad, end the interaction, and block the number / email / profile to keep yourself safe.

THEY WANT MONEY FOR PUBLICATION

When working with a traditional commercial publisher such as Penguin Random House, Hachette, or HarperCollins, this doesn’t happen. That’s because being a traditional publisher means you are going to accept a manuscript and gamble on your ability to develop and sell that book in order to make a profit.

These publishers normally provide the author with an advance against their royalties. This means you get a check once the publishing contract is signed.

The publisher pays you, not the other way around.

So, if someone is saying that they will publish your book in exchange for money (often to the tune of thousands of dollars), they are (at best) a vanity / hybrid publisher (a scheme much more concerned about getting money out of you than your project’s ongoing success, though they’ll talk a great game!). In the worst cases, they are just an outright criminal and will take your money and run.

Historically, vanity publishers will publish whatever you hand them. It might be more helpful to think of them as “printers” as opposed to “publishers.” Just like you can go to Staples or a Walmart print center and ask them to print and bind a document for you, a vanity publisher will do the same, just for exponentially more money.

Traditionally published books generally go through a rigorous gauntlet of revisions performed by multiple people, multiple times. Which is one of the reasons that, even after signing the publishing contract with a traditional publisher and getting your advance payment, it can be 12 to 24 months before the book hits the market.

A vanity publisher doesn’t want to eat into their own profits by taking the time and money to hire editors, designers, publicists, and illustrators for a book. It’s in their best interest to simply publish it as quickly as possible in order to start working on getting you to pay them for a second book and / or move on to squeezing money out of their next victim.

To add insult to injury, many vanity publishers will also claim royalties from any books you sell ON TOP OF having already charged you fees up front.

Some will also demand that you order a minimum number of copies of your own book and charge you wild prices for it.

In one contract that a potential victim brought to me, they would have been charged just over $10 per copy of their book and the “publisher” would set the price for the book at $20. So, after having the books shipped to them, the author would end up paying closer to $12 per book and then attempt to sell it for $20 and maybe make a profit of $7 or so (and, of course, all this is contingent upon them being able to find someone willing to pay $20 for a book that wasn’t even 30,000 words long).

Meanwhile, on platforms like Amazon, a book that small might have cost the author about $4 per copy, allowing them to sell it for closer to $10 per book, making it a lot easier to convince people to buy. They also wouldn’t be sharing any of that $6 profit through direct online sales with a vanity publisher, it would all go in their pocket.

Again, the vanity press just wanted as much money as they could get. They didn’t do pricing research for this author’s market because they didn’t care. Most of the vanity press’ revenue would come from charging authors exorbitant fees for publication, selling them copies of their own books at a huge markup, and then taking hefty royalty percentages on the rare occasion that someone did end up paying the full $20 retail price for the book.

If you’re just looking for help with developing books that you are going to publish independently, you can reach out to individual professionals (book designers, illustrators, copy editors, proofreaders, cover designers, etc.) or what are called “editorial services firms.”

Editorial services firms are made up of teams of professionals in various disciplines who can help you with specific book development tasks. This would include services like outlining, manuscript evaluations, sensitivity reads, or copy editing. This group of experts assists you with preparing your book for publication so you can produce a polished finished product.

You can find these kinds of professionals on sites like Get Book Help, The Editorial Freelancers Association, or The Society for Editing.

To reiterate: If someone is calling themselves or their company a “publisher,” but they (1) contact you without you contacting them first, and / or they (2) demand money to publish your book instead of offering you an advance on royalties, you are dealing with a vanity / hybrid press, not getting the traditional book deal that you may be looking for.

And, the vast majority of the time, dealing with a vanity or hybrid press means dealing with a scammer who will take your money and do little or no work related to strengthening your manuscript before they print it.

If you have doubts about a professional or a company, in addition to the two red flags above, you can look online for clues about how ethical they are.

? Google: “[company name] scam” or “[company name] lawsuit”

Do this with “Dorrance Publishing” or “AuthorHouse” and you’ll see exactly what kinds of problematic results you get. If you see stuff like that for the company you’re curious about, run away!

? Check Writer Beware

Writer Beware is part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and was created to be a hub of information about scams related to the writing and publishing industry. This includes fake literary agents, fly-by-night editorial professionals, and the unethical practices of vanity and hybrid presses.

They have a list of predatory companies on their website. You can also send in a request that they research the practices of whatever “publisher” you’re considering working with. They’ll get back to you with a report on what they found so that you can make an educated decision about how to move forward.

? Check with the Alliance of Independent Authors

Similar to Writer Beware, ALLi has a watchdog desk that vets companies before adding them to a list of service providers. For example, if a firm is a Partner Member, it has been vetted and placed on their “Approved Services” list. Other companies listed will have warnings next to their name, including a list of the problems that caused them not to be rated favorably (overcharging, not delivering promised services, etc.).

Anybody can run into a problem with even the most seasoned, well-meaning firms and professionals. We’re all human beings, after all, and everyone is capable of honest mistakes.

But if you check for the two big red flags, then vet through Google, Writer Beware, and ALLi and find no issues, at least you can feel confident that you did your due diligence in avoiding getting taken advantage of.

Be careful out there, newbies! ?