This is a response to a comment I received in my blog about the Harlequin Horizons vanity press venture. I won’t post her comment here (you can read it here if you want to), but basically, the commentor in question was refuting the fact that Harl Ho was vanity press, saying it was ‘assisted publishing’ instead. I did respond to her comments there, but I thought it worth putting up here on the main blog page, because given some of the comments I’ve read elsewhere online, she’s not alone in thinking ‘assisted publishing’ is a different kettle of fish to vanity press. So, here goes:
Eva, Harl Horizons (Or Dellarte Press as they’re now calling themselves), is NOT assisted publishing. It’s vanity publishing, pure and simple. YOU PAY THEM to publish your books, and then you give them half of your royalties as well. That does not sound like a good deal to me. How our they assisting you? All they’re doing is providing editorial services (at a cost), printing your book (at a cost) and providing distribution services (at a cost). And those distribution services are nothing that you, as a self pubbed author, cannot do yourself (amazon don’t charge authors to list books–anyone can do it if you have an isbn). I have nothing against self or vanity publishing if that’s the route you want to go, but please be aware that there are cheaper options out there.
As for your comments on traditional publishing and royalties–5% is on the low side. Most authors get around 8%. Which might not sound much, but consider the fact that with traditional publishers you’re getting your books in store and online–with self/vanity publishing, you’re only available online, and then only minimally. Also, trad publishing provides all the publicity and backing, and they’re taking the risk cost wise, not the author. The author is paid an advance and may never get more than that, but at least they have money in hand, up front. With a self/vanity publisher, the author shells out money upfront, and takes all the risk themselves. They may never make their money back, let alone a profit, as the average number of sales for a self/vanity press book is around 79 copies sold. The average trad published author will sell at least several thousand (although if they only sold that, it’d be unlikely they’d be offered another contract).
Agents are worth their weight in gold, and don’t ever believe otherwise. For a start, they get your books in front of editors. Most traditional houses nowadays don’t take unsolicited manuscripts, and unless you’ve got an agent your market options has shrunk considerably. Plus, they often not only negotiate better money, but better contract conditions–a vital service in this day and age of publishers wanting everything they can get, believe me! And they also handle overseas sales–which can be a legal minefield for those who have no idea (which is most of us, lets be honest)
As for those figures you quoted–did you actually read the full breakdown? Because yeah, it may cost a publisher $58,000 for a Trade, and $90 000 to publish a hardcover, but those figures include author royalties of $15 000 and $25 000. So as a self/vanity press author, you can deduct that figure for a start. You can also greatly reduce the printing and binding costs, because they’d be based on print runs of at least ten thousand, which no self/vanity author would generally do. Warehousing costs can also be taken out because why would you need to rent a warehouse when a garage or a room in your house will do? Because I’m not sure whether the sales mentioned is sale staff costs, or not, I’ll leave that in. Which brings the totals down to $18 000 and $26 000, and that is the type of money I’ve seen some self / vanity authors spend. The major difference is, in one model, the author is taking all the risks, shells out all the money, and has very little hope of getting any returns. In the other, the publisher is taking the risk, the publisher is providing the warehousing and staff, the publisher is providing the marketing, and the publisher is offering the means of getting your book onto store shelves. Which, despite the kindle, e-readers, and the advent of online sales and stores, is still where 95% of book purchases occur.
As for your comments about second class authors, well, I’ll just say I very much doubt any agent or editor has ever said that. Yes, they more than likely have said your work is not ready for publication, but that’s something every published author has heard more than once in their publishing career. Hell, I read those words in rejection letters for at least ten years. And they were right! My work wasn’t ready for publication, even if I thought otherwise at the time.
As I said, I have nothing against authors choosing to go the self published or vanity press route, but I certainly wish more would see past the glossy images and carefully worded promises offered on glossy websites.
edited to add–for those wanting to check out Rachelle Gardner’s post of the cost of publishing, head here
November 29th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Keri, you make a wonderful argument in favour of traditional publishing and agents as if I have a choice. I have no choice- that’s why I am grateful WestBow and DellArte now exist- and be careful not to bunk them all in the same category of “Vanity Publishing” you may burn yourself in the process. Have a nice Sunday.
Eva
November 29th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Everyone has a choice, Eva. Why on earth would you think you don’t?
November 29th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Now, I have a choice- WestBow!
November 29th, 2009 at 6:58 am
but why would you think traditional publishers aren’t a choice?
don’t get me wrong, if you’ve considered the costs, think the price is worth it, and understand all the implications of self publishing, then by all means, go for it. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t first exhaust every other available option.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Keri, traditional publishers are not a choice because you have to be agented in most cases before they take a look at your work- and what if agents don’t want you? I thought being in the business I would not need to explain such an obvious fact to you. And please don’t tell me work until I get it right- I have things to say about that too but it will take up too much space on your web and that’s something I don’t want to do.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Keri I thank you for first of all for your original post, and for this follow-up. It was very eye opening. I am thinking of eventually publishing my work and found this very helpful. I like what you said about sometimes feeling your work is better than what others may think.You are right…sometimes we aren’t ready. We often times get fed up and impatient because things are not happening fast enough for us. If being an author and getting your work published was extremely easy, everyone would have something out there. I will not insult you by saying what you should or should not know because your are “in the business”. What I will do is say thank you for all the people out there who may have walked into a bad situation if not for you and authors like you who have decided to get the word out.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Eva, I had ten years of rejections from agents. I was writing a book no one wanted, because at the time, the genre just wasn’t selling. That genre was paranormal romance. Which, of course, is now selling like hot cakes. It did help that I wrote Full Moon Rising at the exact right time–it was that book that got me an agent and sold me to Bantam. It was just the right book at the right time–and sometimes timing is everything.
But I could have gone the self publishing/ vanity route any time I wanted to during those ten years. I didn’t, for several reasons. One, the cost. I couldn’t see the point in spending thousands of dollars printing books no one was ever going to see and that I’d never recoup my outlay on. Two, I wanted to be able to walk into a bookstore and see my books on the shelf. Three, I wanted to make some money from my writing.
As for your comment about working until you get it right–well, traditional publishing is all about making money and to do that, the publishers need to cater to what that market wants. Which does mean authors cannot always write exactly what they want. But then, there’s very few jobs out there that allow you to do exactly what you want. There’s always restrictions and rules about what you can and can’t do. Writing is no different in that. And yeah, sometimes you need to polish your baby. Sometimes they need to be rewritten, and then rewritten again, to make them perfect–or maybe that should be acceptable–for a publisher. Either way, it’s a fact of writing life if you want to make a living from writing. I do (and I am) but I can only do that because I’m with a traditional publisher like Bantam.
Of course, not everyone wants to make a living from writing, and there’s nothing wrong with that. As I said, I have no problem with people going the vanity/self publishing route, as long as they go into it with their eyes wide open, knowing all the pitfalls and costs. But please don’t put down traditional publishing just because you believe it’s not right for you
February 4th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
As an inspiring romance writer and diehard Harlequin reader, I heard it through the publishing grapevine that Harlequin’s imprint, DellArte Press’s first release is a women’s fiction and it received rave reviews. I can’t wait to read it to see if it lives up to the hype.