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Magdalena Ball

The Sharks are Circling: how to avoid the scams

It didn't take long. I thought I was a seasoned author who knew all about the pitfalls and dream merchants who preyed on authors desperate for publication. But my first novel was the culmination of three years' work, and I'd received quite a few rejections and was starting to become just a little too eager to get this book out in the world. When I saw a call for submissions from a publisher whose name was reasonably familiar to me in a writer's newsletter I trusted, I decided to send off a query. Yes, I know that good publishers don't generally advertise for submissions, but I also know that many writers' newsletters trawl the Internet for publishing opportunities. Besides, I had nothing to lose with an e-query. They might just ignore it like most other publishers have done.
 
They didn't ignore it. Instead, I received a very positive letter asking me to send the whole manuscript, which I promptly did, after checking all of the warning notices, looking up the publisher on the Internet, and finding only good things. The letter I received back said that my manuscript was "important and beautifully written," and that they would be happy to publish it if they could find a way to fund the costs. The costs, put together in a carefully laid out quote, turned out to be nearly $2,000 which included $900 for typesetting and manuscript layout. This did not include editing, a cover, or any other ancillary costs which I would no doubt find out later. For my money, I would get 50 books which I would have to sell myself. They would earn so much from the publishing deal that there would be no incentive to promote the book. In other words, this was a classic "Vanity" press and I'd been suckered in.
 
I wasn't really suckered in, since I politely declined their offer and was only out of pocket the hefty postage costs of sending out a hard copy of the manuscript, but I was pretty disappointed, as much with myself as with the Press. They called it "collaborative publishing," and insisted that it "empowered authors." They were also quite nasty when I declined and told me that it was a "scam—the idea, that artists can't fund their own work. Sort of like the notion that women should be secondary beings." Scam indeed. The very same week I received a letter from a notorious literary agent (this one was fortunately well documented as problematic on the Internet) requesting my book. So, authors, the sharks are circling. How do you avoid them? Here are six tips.
 
1. Don't let pride or disappointment cloud your judgment. The publishing world is cutthroat and commercially oriented and breaking in with a first novel is difficult. Try to distance your work from your sense of self, and treat it like a commercial product. Every rejection is a step closer to acceptance. Unless already very famous, a new novelist is going to get a welter of rejections. It goes with the territory. Try joining a club which encourages rejections. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/100rejections/ The idea is to both simulate an increase in queries and to help you view rejections in a positive rather than negative vein. If you aren't getting rejected, you probably won't get accepted.
 
2. Don't be fooled by nomenclature. "Real" publishers take on an author at their own risk, and therefore have an incentive to sell the book. This is one of the reasons it is so difficult to break in. Collaborative publishing, subsidy publishing, cooperative publishing are all terms which should get those warning bells going. Any publisher that asks you to pay needs careful investigation. Unlike self-published books, vanity books remain the property of the vanity press and you may not have much control (they also tend to cost much more than self-published books). Vanity books have difficulty selling, getting reviews, aren't taken by bookshops, are generally not taken seriously, and will cause you more pain than fame.
 
3. Familiarise yourself with what it really costs and takes to produce a book. Even if you don't self-publish, this is valuable information which will help you understand what is on offer. Probably the best online source of information on self-publishing is Dan Poynter at http://www.parapublishing.com/
 
You should know what it generally costs to print a book, to hire an editor, a proofreader, to do layouts, to procure ISBN numbers, and to promote your book. It will help you judge that contract.
 
4. If you are really having trouble getting published and you know your market or are really desperate to get your book into print, self-publishing is a much more respectable option than going with a vanity. It isn't easy though. See #3 and really do your homework.
 
5. Keep current on warnings of predators. Here are a few useful sites:
 
Writer Beware
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/
 
PublishAmerica Sting
http://critters.critique.org/sting/
 
The Society of Authors report on Vanity Publishers
http://www.societyofauthors.org/vanity.htm
 
And report the sharks. Others may not be as cluey as you. Two places you can go to report (and keep yourself current) include Writer Beware, and WritersWeekly Whispers and Warnings:
http://www.writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings.php
 
6. Don't discount the small presses. They aren't necessarily less selective than the big houses, but are often more focused and may be more willing to look at unagented submissions and work that is less commercially oriented such as poetry and experimental literary fiction. The best place to find legitimate small presses is within the current edition of the Writer's Handbook or Writer's Marketplace for your country. Read their books, and query appropriately. And if any of them asks you to pay heavily for the privilege of being published with them, think very carefully.


About the Author
Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader web site. Her publication credits include university journals like Imago and Drexel Online, popular fiction venues like Skive Magazine and Perigree, and review publications like Midwest Book Reviews and Relix Magazine. Her nonfiction book, The Art of Assessment: How to Review Anything, is available from http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/assessmentorderform.html, and her first novel, Sleep Before Evening, is currently under consideration.