5 REASONS TO BE CAUTIOUS OF PAY-TO-PUBLISH PUBLISHERS

By Nicky Hackett

The pay-to-publish world (also called subsidy or vanity publishing) includes publishers who sell their expertise to help launch unrecognized authors, unscrupulous pseudo-experts making as much as they can off inexperienced authors, and many others in between. Going with a subsidy publisher can be cheaper and seem easier than paying for quality editors, designers, and project managers, but it’s not uncommon to end up with a shoddy product. Here are five important things to know about paying to publish:

1. IT DOESN’T MATTER TO THE PUBLISHER IF YOUR BOOK SELLS

When a traditional publisher pays your publishing costs or if you self-publish, the customer is the reader. Every effort is made to market a quality product at a reasonable price to maximize readership and sales. It’s how the publisher makes money. But in the pay-to-publish world, the author is the publisher’s source of income, so the focus is to maximize the services sold to the author. Book sales are not essential to a subsidy publisher’s bottom line.

2. QUALITY DOESN’T IMPACT THE PUBLISHER’S PROFITS EITHER

When you are paying to have your book published, the publisher has no investment in the quality of the work, the editing, the cover, the formatting, the marketing, etc. The publisher may provide editing services for an additional cost, but make sure you understand what that means. Will they keep editing until you are satisfied, or will additional edits increase the cost? How qualified are their editors?

3. BEWARE OF THE BAIT AND SWITCH

Even legitimate publishing houses may have lucrative relationships with subsidy publishers. Here’s what happens: you submit your book to a traditional or independent publisher. They reject your manuscript, but refer you to a pay-to-publish publisher. Don’t rely on the referring party’s reputation! Do your own research.

4. WATCH FOR PRICE SETTING

Why would a pay-to-publish publisher set a too-high price for your book? Because they know they have at least one customer for your book: YOU! Likely you will buy extra books as you promote it, and you will expect to pay wholesale, about half the retail price. Let’s say it costs $6 (or less) to publish your paperback book. Normally the retail price would be around $12. But if the retail price is inflated to $20, the publisher will still profit from selling you your books wholesale. And if the retail price of your book is too high, it won’t sell well to readers.

5. MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONTRACT

Sometimes the terms of a contract are vague. Work through the contract with the publisher and make sure you understand everything clearly, especially regarding the publisher’s rights to your work, the scope of each service and when additional fees will apply, and how specific and personalized marketing services are. The article “Should You Pay for Publication” at Writing-World.com offers a detailed breakdown of what to look for in a contract.

Publishing decisions may seem bewildering at first, but take some time to become knowledgeable and realistic about the industry and the people you do business with. You may find that self-publishing (though perhaps slightly more expensive) is the best option to get the product you are hoping for.

This is not to say all pay-to-publish options are bad, but you should know what you are walking into. Recently I did some research regarding a Christian pay-to-publish firm. At first, I was horrified to see almost 40 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, all of which seemed serious and sincere. But then I noticed that the company had almost 400 reviews and a 4.84 star rating. The positive reviews sounded just as serious and sincere. As I looked at the complaints and company’s responses closer, at least some could be explained by misunderstandings and unrealistic expectations. Know what you can about your publishing options and thoroughly understand a contract before you enter into it.