A quick public service address for my fellow authors out there: Vanity Presses are a scam. Avoid them at all costs.
What’s a “vanity press?” It’s a company that sells services to get your book published. Okay…so why is that evil? Good question. Here’s why:
A publisher pays YOU to publish your book. You’re giving them rights to royalties off of your work in exchange for them editing it, making a cover, marketing it, putting it up in a store etc. They pay for that stuff out of pocket. Them paying for that stuff is literally the only reason they even enter the equation. They didn’t write the book. Those ‘services’ are the only thing of value they offer to us…so damn right they pay for that shit.
Conversely, someone who offers services such as cover design, editing, marketing, distribution gets paid for their upfront…and do not get royalties. Of course they don’t! They already got paid. The work is done. I’ll repeat it again: they don’t get royalties.
A vanity press tries to double dip. They charge both for the services they offer—often at insanely inflated prices, but more on that in a second—AND they act as the publisher and retain royalty rights. Nope. That’s a scam. Important to note here that even without inflated pricing on such services, anyone double-dipping is still a scam.
Authors paying to give someone their publishing rights is a SCAM. And an effective one, because who doesn’t want a publisher?
Anyway…hope that’s helpful. Night night.