Dorrance Publishing Company? - Writers Forum

Indygo · 10-24-2005, 10:59 PM

I recently submitted a manuscript (a collection of essays/stories/poems/pictures about my time in Japan) to Dorrance Publishing Company, among others, and I got a packet in the mail today saying that they had accepted it, and were going to publish it both in paperback form and as an ebook. It's a small company, the publicity wouldn't be too great, and I'd most likely lose money, but it would get me into the 'published author' category, which would probably help for future works.

I just wanted to know if anyone had dealt with Dorrance before, or heard anything about it.

Thanks!

Nickie · 10-25-2005, 02:15 AM

Stay away from them! They're just a vanity publisher, and they probably ask a big amount of money from you to have your book published? If you want to self-publish your book, better go to Lulu.com You don't have to pay anything there, and they have a good reputation.

Nickie

mammamaia · 10-25-2005, 09:01 AM

nickie's right... i posted a message to you in your other thread about this vanity publisher... unfortunately, the only way to get into the 'published author' category, is to be paid for your work, not the other way around... self-publishing won't do it, either...

if you have really great artwork and exceptional text, you might interest a 'coffee table book' publisher in your project, but the printing costs are very high for full-color art or photography, so having connections and/or a good agent would be the best way in...

there are some printing companies and a few pods that do full-color and photo work, but even the best won't do much in the way of editing, so your books are likely to come out with errors, if you don't do all the editing yourself... i was asked to edit and correct some illustrated children's books for someone a while back, and they had all kinds of goofs throughout, even though the writer was paying for them to be printed... the company was 'trafford' which is one of the least bad of the bunch...

if you decide to go the pod route, it won't help you get future books accepted, if you want to be a 'published author'... it's generally considered best to not even mention to traditional publishers or to agents that you've self-published... i advise those who want to do it, to use a nom de plume, and save their real name for paying publishers who won't want to bother with vanity-published writers... it may not be fair, but it's the way of the world, sorry to say...

best of luck with your work, whatever path it takes... hugs, maia

Indygo · 10-31-2005, 11:22 PM

Thanks for the warning. I'll stay away from Dorrance, and look over that list linked in the other thread before submitting my work to anyone else!

Stewart · 11-01-2005, 04:25 AM

An example of Dorrance Publishing: click here...

mammamaia · 11-01-2005, 10:28 AM

here's what preditors and editors has on them:

Dorrance Publishing: Not recommended. A vanity and subsidy publisher.