Before my first book was published, I spent hours upon hours researching and exploring the different avenues available to publish books. I had already finished writing the book, and it had been revised multiple times. While using search engines to conduct this research, I noticed the numerous sponsored ads for companies like AuthorHouse, New York Publishing Labs, Book Writers Hub, and Authors Publishing House were pushed to the top. They raved about publishing your book and handling all steps in the process for you. There were lists and lists of these companies, called vanity publishers, but no information indicating that self-publishing was even an option. Today, the popularity of self-publishing is on the rise, and these vanity publishers have to work harder to gain clients. Let's discuss the differences between vanity publishing and self-publishing and the pros and cons of both.
Vanity Publishing
Vanity publishing companies such as those listed above have been around for ages, which says one thing about the industry: there are people who are still using these companies. Vanity publishers are companies that offer "author services" such as book publishing, marketing and advertising, royalty handling, and distribution for a fee. The companies typically offer different packages whose prices increase based on the number of services offered, basically modeled after a tier system. With these companies, authors pay these fees--which can range anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per package--upfront and submit their manuscript for publishing. Many of the companies offer services such as editing, proofreading, and formatting and cover design, which the book will undergo before publication. Now, at these prices, you would think that you get top-notch services, resulting in a professional-looking, high-quality book. However, the sad truth is that most of these vanity publishers pocket most of the money paid to them for their services and spend as little as possible on the publishing process.
The biggest difference: Traditional publishers pay authors for the right to publish their books, and vanity publishers charge authors to do the very same thing.
With a signed contract with a traditional publisher, the author would receive an advance. The publishing company would then handle the rest of the process, from editing to formatting and design, production to distribution. This would all be at no cost to the author. The author would then receive a portion of the book's royalties as the book sales. The publisher would keep a portion of the royalties (percentages and terms are agreed upon in the book publishing contract) to recoup the money spent on those services. This is also how the publisher makes money off the book. Once the money initially spent is recouped, the company continues collecting their agreed portion of the royalties, and it is their profit.
Vanity publishers work the opposite way. The author would pay several thousand dollars upfront for these services and then collect all royalties him/herself. The problem? Most authors' first books don't sell enough to recoup such a large amount spent on publication. And vanity publishers know that. And because they already got their money upfront, there's no real incentive for them to effectively market the book to try to help make the book successful. Essentially, you're on your own after they publish the book.
Let's say you spend $5,000 on the largest package from a vanity publisher because, like most authors, your book is like your baby, and you believe in your baby and only want the best for him. You pay the $5,000, and the vanity publisher puts the book together and publishes it for you. The book drops, and you're all excited, but as you check your stats, you quickly realize that the book is not the overnight success you believed it would be. Because you're a first-time author. No one knows you. And even though the vanity company said they'd market and advertise, they did the very bare minimum, which was nearly nothing at all. Now, you're scrambling to run some ads yourself, but this is something that would've been most beneficial if done prior to the book being released. What's more? The company didn't offer any advice on how to help market the book yourself. So, now you're rushing to put together promo material, hoping it will help your sales increase, which it likely will, but not as much as it would have if you had been marketing the book two weeks or a month before its release. And you would have done this, but your vanity publishing company told you they had it and you didn't need to, to just sit back and let them work.
Now, those royalties you're getting? Let's not forget that you're splitting those with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and any other distributor being used. Amazon pays authors $0.0049 per page turned in Kindle and 70% of the list price for the purchase of eBooks. They pay authors 60% of the list price for paperbacks priced over $9.99, and 50% for paperbacks priced below $9.99. That means if your paperback is listed for $10, you'll get $6 per book sold. You would have to sell 70 books a month to recoup just the $5,000 you spent on publishing within the first year. When you're a first-time author with minimal marketing and are trying to build your following, that's no easy task. I won't say it's impossible. What I will say is that it's an uphill battle that is extremely difficult to conquer.
Independent Publishing
Indie authors get a lot of flack, which is understandable. Because self-publishing is so affordable and easily accomplished these days, the industry is full of independent authors. This means some of the writing quality is not the best, and the formatting, covers, and editing tend to lack for those authors who do not yet find the value in outsourcing these services to a professional.
However, when done correctly, self-publishing can render results just as professional as traditional publishing, and because you're not working under the promises of a vanity publisher, you know exactly what services you need and what work it will require. When self-publishing, the author pays for or performs all services needed. This means the author would commission a professional or a series of professionals to edit and format the book, create a book cover, and market and promote the book. The author would then upload all files to Kindle Direct Publishing, which is completely free to use, and set the book to be published. All money spent on the book would be upfront and out of pocket, and the author would then receive all the royalties from Amazon. That $5,000 the author would have spent at a vanity publisher? Unheard of in self-publishing! I've self-published 11 books and have never spent $5,000 on the publication of any one of them. In fact, I don't think I've ever spent $1,000 on the publication of one single book. And, again, because the author is not working under the promises of the vanity publisher, he knows ahead of time that he will have to do all the promotion and marketing groundwork himself. That means the author would create character visuals, ads, posts, reels, etc. to post on social media. There is also the option of commissioning a promoter to market and promote the book on social media as well.
Basically, you do everything yourself for a fraction of the cost!
Now, the biggest "con" in self-publishing is you have to do all the marketing and promoting yourself. That means you're going to spend a lot of time on content creation, and you'll want to be consistent in order to be as effective as possible. This is where the commissioned promoter I mentioned comes in. You may not be able to post as frequently as you like, but a paid promoter will create a schedule for posts on social media to continue getting the word out even when you can't. After your promotion has ended, you'll want to continue posting as much as possible, and even as you continue publishing more books, you'll want to double back and keep promoting your older work regularly. Just because it's been a couple of years since you released that book doesn't mean it can't still make you some money! There are still readers out there who haven't read it. Marketing is an entire subject within itself, something I'll likely touch on later, but it's a task the author has to be dedicated to for the long run.
Hopefully this post has helped to explain the differences between vanity publishing and independent publishing to help better inform all my new authors and aspiring authors on the responsibilities, pros, and cons of both. Do you have questions? Drop them in the comments, and I'll be happy to answer with the best information I have!