Vanity press

A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher,^[1] is a book printer that is paid by authors to self-publish their books.^[2] A vanity press charges fees in advance and does not contribute to the development of the book.^[3] It has been described as a scam,^[2] though, as the book does get printed, it does not necessarily rise to the level of fraud.^[4] The term vanity press is derogatory, so it is not used by the printers.^[2] Some self-publishing businesses prefer to market themselves as an independent press, and some authors who are self-publishing through CreateSpace and Amazon Kindle prefer to market themselves as indie authors instead of as self-publishing authors.^[3]

It is not to be confused with hybrid publishing, where the publisher and author collaborate and share costs and risks, or with assisted self-publishing, where the authors, sometimes styling themselves as authorpreneurs,^[5] pay various contractors and publishing services to assist them with self-publishing their own book, and retain all rights.

^ Bernstein, Leonard S. (1986). Getting published : the writer in the combat zone. Internet Archive. New York : W. Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-06423-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Self-publishing, Hybrid & Vanity Presses: A Simple Guide". 28 August 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
^ ^a ^b Biel, Joe (5 December 2018). People's Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up. Microcosm Publishing. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-1-62106-313-1.
^ Walsh, Pat (7 June 2005). 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-12683-7. Is a vanity press a scam? Kind of. But it is not necessarily fraud. Clients generally get what they pay for, but what you are paying for is not much despite how it is packaged. You pay to produce copies of your book and share any profits with the printer.
^ Biel, Joe (5 December 2018). People's Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up. Microcosm Publishing. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-1-62106-313-1.

[1] Bernstein, Leonard S. (1986). Getting published : the writer in the combat zone. Internet Archive. New York : W. Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-06423-5.

[:0-2] "Self-publishing, Hybrid & Vanity Presses: A Simple Guide". 28 August 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2023.

[:1-3] Biel, Joe (5 December 2018). People's Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up. Microcosm Publishing. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-1-62106-313-1.

[4] Walsh, Pat (7 June 2005). 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-12683-7. Is a vanity press a scam? Kind of. But it is not necessarily fraud. Clients generally get what they pay for, but what you are paying for is not much despite how it is packaged. You pay to produce copies of your book and share any profits with the printer.

[5] Biel, Joe (5 December 2018). People's Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up. Microcosm Publishing. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-1-62106-313-1.

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