True story…
“Can you help me?”
The single mom, subsisting on a meager fixed income, was on the verge of tears.
“I decided to publish my book with another company because they were cheaper, and now they won’t return my calls or emails.”
“How much did you give them?” I asked.
“They asked for all the money up-front—about $1,800.”
“I’m so sorry,” I replied. “I’m not sure you’re going to get your money back.” After giving her some advice on next steps, I hung up the phone.
I was furious.
Hopefully, after today, you’ll know how to avoid this happening to you.
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Last week, I wrote about Six Dirty Secrets of the
Traditional Publishing Industry. Today I'm going to expose the dirty secrets of pay-to-play publishing.
True Confession...
I’m writing this post with a mixture of angst and guilty pleasure. The people at Illumify aren’t perfect, but there are so many bad self-publishing companies out there, it feels good to expose
their devious ways.
As I mentioned last week, I believe in the various forms of indie publishing because for too long, barriers into the market were nearly locked shut. When I ventured into traditional publishing 25 years ago, only two options
existed—traditional publishing and self-publishing. To put it another way, quality publishing and shoddy publishing.
Since the Great Recession of 2008, traditional publishing has been pretty stagnant, except for the last two years, due to covid. However, recent numbers are indicating traditional publishing is returning to their stagnant
ways.
On the other hand, the various forms of indie publishing have exploded exponentially since 2008. This has created a climate for just about any outfit, regardless of experience or expertise, to hang up a shingle and call themselves a
“publishing company.”
Just so you know, when I refer to “the various forms of indie publishing,” I’m talking about self-publishing (do it yourself) and hybrid or co-publishing (a cross between self-publishing and traditional publishing) where the author pays
for the services. We’re a hybrid publishing company.
Because most people group all of them together under the self-publishing moniker, for the sake of clarity in this article, I’m referring to the various forms of indie publishing as self-publishing. Even if we don't fit into the
self-publishing category.
Onward and downward…
Six Dirty Secrets of the Self-Publishing Industry
Secret #1. Crooks lurk everywhere
While hundreds of really honorable publishing companies exist, sometimes I feel like I’m competing with a bunch of used car salespeople.
I haven’t seen any statistics, but my guess is, probably half of all self-publishing companies are crooks (even the ones who call themselves hybrids). They’re interested in only one thing:
getting their slimy hands on your money.
Self-publishing companies like Amazon’s KDP (yes, they’re a pure self-publisher) will take any manuscript in any condition. They just want your money.
A few words of caution—beware of any company that:
- Demands all your money up-front.
- Promises your book will be a bestseller. If there was a formula that worked every time, every publishing company in America would follow it and be making tons of moola. (But if you know the secret code, let me know and I promise I’ll share half of the profits!)
- Offers you an advance (usually $1) and then makes you pay for 2500+ copies of your book. They're just trying to pull the wool over your eyes and convince you that you're traditionally-published.
Secret#2. Author Solutions looms in the shadows of many companies
I believe there’s a special place in publishing Hades for Author Solutions.
You may know them as Alliant Press, AuthorHouse, Balboa Press, Get Published!, iUniverse, Westbow Press (seriously!), or Xlibris, but they’re all just fronts for a company called Author
Solutions.
David Gaughren, the world’s preeminent authority on self-publishing, whom I hold in high regard, says this about them:
Author Solutions operates more like a telemarketing company whose customer base is the authors themselves. In other words, unlike a traditional publisher, Author Solutions makes money from its Authors, not for them. It does so by selling books
back to its authors, not to a general readership, and by selling its authors expensive publishing, editing, and marketing services that are effectively worthless.
Over 200,000 people have been suckered by them. Don’t be their next victim.
Secret #3. You get what you pay for
Some authors go the cheap route after toiling hundreds, even thousands, of hours writing their manuscript. Doesn’t make sense, but that’s their choice.
Good book cover designers cost money. So do experienced typesetters and professional copyeditors (you are planning on a copyedit, right?).
A good artist doth not a good book cover designer make.
An English major in college doth not a good copyeditor make.
I know I sound like a broken record, but once your book is released, it’s out there for the next fifty years or more…and it ain’t coming back.
Larry Yoder, a traditional publishing veteran (20 years with Macmillan) who worked with us until he retired at the end of last year, recently emailed me about two authors he tried to sign to Illumify contracts. Both decided to go the cheap
route and were so disappointed with their product that one took his book to another publisher, and in the end, spent twice as much as he would have spent with us.
But he still ended up with an inferior book.
The other victim paid a ridiculous amount of money to get out of the contract and gave up.
Secret #4. Your book will likely look self-published
Because there’s money to be made in this growing market, people with absolutely no experience in publishing could be pitching their services to you.
If you’re going to publish a book, wouldn’t you at least want to work with people who have actually written a book?
Some companies will take your money and then offer no advice on your book cover. You want butterflies and unicorns on the front cover of your business book? No problem! You want the artwork to distract the reader from seeing your title?
You got it!
No joke—I’ve read “copyedited” manuscripts from other companies, and realized the editor lived in the Philippines. Do you want someone copyediting your manuscript who likely doesn’t speak English as their first language? Me
neither.
Secret #5. The numbers in your contract might work against you making any money
A few years ago, a women showed me a copy of her self-published book.
“Looks great, doesn’t it?” she said with a huge smile on her face. I did my best to hide the inner wince I was feeling.
“That’s an interesting cover,” I said. It was bright orange and grainy and had no business being there.
“Oh, I love it!” she replied. "It’s a picture I took with my cellphone."
Makes sense.
“How much is your publisher charging you for copies of your book?”
“Twelve dollars.”
“And your retail price is $13?”
“That’s right.”
That is a business model that will never work. Our authors make $10 to $12 a print copy that they sell in person.
Most publishers—traditional or indie—charge their authors 50% of the retail price plus shipping to purchase hard copies of their book. Our authors purchase copies of their books at cost.
Most indie publishers keep between a third to half of the royalties and give the authors whatever’s left. Not trying to blow my own horn, but our authors keep 100% of the royalties, paid into their
bank account every month.
And here’s the kicker: most indie publishing companies hold the rights to the authors’ books for the first three or four years. Think about it: the author just invested thousands of dollars into publishing their book, and then they’re
forced to wait three or four years before getting the rights to it.
That’s why our authors hold the rights to their books from day one.
Secret #6. Some companies will try to sell you marketing services you don’t need
If a publisher invites you to join them in New York City to launch your book in a red carpet ceremony…run. You’ll walk the red carpet, but cameras won’t be flashing because no one from the press will be there.
And speaking of the press…
If a publisher includes a press release in their promotional strategy…run. I gave up on that idea years ago because they generated no responses. None. The media is drowning in so many press releases that few if any are read or taken
seriously.
We’re constantly evaluating what’s working and what isn’t and then make adjustments.
