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"The publishing business is a cruel and
shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run
free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative
side."
Although this quote and many of its incarnations (including references to
the music business, show business, corporate business et al.) are often
attributed to Hunter S. Thompson (1935-2005), no one is certain who
actually wrote or said it. But it certainly reads like a Thompson
creation.
When dealing with legitimate publishers, this quote is seldom
correct. But when dealing with self-publishers who claim to be
legitimate publishers, then get ready for the alleged Thompson quote to be
a prophecy-come-true.
Before You Sign A Publishing Contract
When dealing with a legitimate publishing company, an author is required
to sign his or her name in only three places.
1. On the publishing contract
2. When autographing the front leaf of his or her book
3. On the back of a check from his or her publishing
company when depositing royalties in the bank
Should a publisher require an author to sign the signature line on the front
of his or her personal check, beware. This requirement
means that the author is dealing with a self-publishing company
masquerading as a legitimate publisher.
These pay-to-publish companies are the bane of the legitimate publishing
world, and are referred to in the industry as "vanity"
publishers. They appeal to a writer's ego by representing themselves
as regular publishers and, in doing so, they may take advantage of authors at every opportunity.
Before signing any publishing contract, do your homework.
Thoroughly research the publisher, and if any red flags begin snapping in
the breeze then avoid that publisher especially when they request
up-front money from you to bring your book to fruition.
Another clever tactic that vanity publishers posing as legitimate
publishers will undertake is to employ no in-house cover designers or
editors. They will contract this work to take advantage of those
creative individuals just as they take advantage of their authors.
They promise the contract cover designer or editor a percentage of the
book's profits when, in reality, the vanity publisher never intends to pay
those creative individuals for their work.
If you've no time to thoroughly research a publisher, at least visit the Preditors
and Editors warning list and the Caveat
Scrivener area of the Speculations website, or contact
us to
perform research for you.
Our publisher research rates are $20 per hour. For this
service, we'll send you a detailed report of our findings, complete with
links to both compliments and complaints regarding the publisher(s) you
specify.
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