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What is Vanity Publishing ?
According to the British Advertising
Standards Authority (1997) vanity publishing is defined as “any
company which charges a client to publish a book or offers to
include short stories, poems or other literary or artistic
material in an anthology and then invite those included in it to
buy a copy of that anthology”. Due to its derogatory
connotation, vanity publishing prefers to be known as joint
venture publishing, co-operative publishing, subsidy publishing
and shared responsibility publishing.
Who is a vanity publisher ?
A vanity publisher is a book printer who charges money as fee
from authors for publishing their books. In short he makes more
money fro the author than from the public.
Origin of the term
The term “vanity publisher” is believed to have been coined in
1959.
Difference between vanity publisher
and commercial publisher
Commercial presses and publishers perform the conventional roles
of editorial selection, binding, review and marketing rather
than at the expense of the owner. However a vanity publisher
charges the author for publishing and other services that they
offer. A vanity publisher’s intended market is the audience
while a commercial publisher considers the general public as his
audience.
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Since commercial publishers get
their profit from the sales of the book, they need to be careful
in choosing the right books which will sell. They must invest in
advance payment, royalties, promotion of the book to get
recognition in the book industry and build a faithful clientele.
Vanity presses need not be as selective. The vanity publications
are not regarded or accorded the same status as commercial
publication. However they offer more independence for the author
than the commercial or mainstream publishing ad their fees are
higher too in comparison.
Disadvantages of vanity publishing
Unlike the commercial publisher who selects and edits the work
and provides for marketing and distribution, vanity publishers
do not provide any editing service and is not selective. They
usually print works by anyone willing to pay a fee. The lack of
selection is the main reason for the low quality and
ill-reputation of vanity publishing. |
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Some vanity publishers charge
excessive fees but their marketing strategies are poor. Unlike
earlier years when they did no distribution, now the offer
web-based sales, sell online books. Usually libraries do not
attempt to stock and exhibit self-published books as they do not
pass the test of selection, revision, copy editing which is
common for commercial publications. They do accept them,
especially local history books which are of specialized
interest. However they take a written agreement from the author
that they have the right to do anything with the book, even
disposing it in the annual book sale.
How do vanity publishers operate ?
Vanity publishers always works things to their advantage. They
offer contracts with high fees for mostly substandard books.
Sometimes they even resort to outright marketing using
techniques like popular add-on services. They use a print on
demand technology based on the modern digital printing. Some are
accused of practicing debased things like scamming the authors
to make them write faster to suit the publisher’s demands. The
selling strategy of vanity publishers is to sell the books to
authors who resell them through their own possible means.
Vanity publishing in literature
Writers have portrayed vanity publishing in fiction. In Umberto
Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum he talks about the inside
operations in a vanity press. David Mitchell in a sub story of
his novel Cloud Atlas discusses a vanity publisher by name
Timothy Cavendish.
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Article Contributed By: Sabina
Zacharias
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