SeattleCPA

Just to show that "always" is a dangerous word to use (see above), I was having breakfast with Dan and Sandy Gookin one morning (Dan was the guy who created the whole "... For Dummies" deal)...

We seriously talked about him paying me money to publish a new book he'd written. Note that at this point Dan's books had probably sold, oh geez, something in excess of 10 million copies. Shoot, for all I know, in excess of 20 million copies.

Was Dan being conned by a vanity press? No, of course not! Dan was considering essentially a joint venture where rather than getting 10% or whatever, he'd get half of the profit....

Moral: Any multiple choice answer with the word "always" is (almost) "always" wrong...

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DKL88

16 by Sutton Publishing actually, Criminal Wirral and Wirral Tragic Tales. Their recent change in management has forced both some staff and authors to 'jump ship' as it were.

I'm not here to argue, just saying there's a new publishers, name to be decided, looking for authors who think they can sell alone with a higher royalty percentage than the average 10%.

So agrumentative

Mike C

I hear what you're saying, but I didn't use the word 'always', I said generally. However this venture so far is a carbon-copy of many others in the UK, and it's not good. Aside from anything else some of the math (or all of the stated math) is flawed, suggesting selling 100 books at £10 - $20 - each to break even. At a 50% royalty (or discount if you're selling them yourself, as indeed you'd have to) means you'd have to sell 200 to break even. Most vanity published novels don't ever sell that many. Add in cost of sales and you'd probably have to sell 300-400. Then consider that mainstream 'hot' titles in the UK sell in bookstores (before they're discounted) for an average of £7.99. Nobody's going to buy a book out of the trunk of a car by an unknown for 25% more than they can buy a best-seller.

This also suggests they're charging the author £5 - $10 - a book to print. That makes Lulu look like a far better prospect.

As we've agreed before, self-publishing has it's place, and if I had a non-fic computer-related book to market, I'd consider offering you money too, but this is a different deal. The intention may be good - I'm not suggesting they're actually out to steal from authors - but they're offering a really bad deal.

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Erik Buchanan

Thank you for listing your previous publisher and your books, and I withdraw my comment about disbelieving that you were an author.

Did Sutton Press (now Tempus Publications) also require cash for publishing?

I stand by my definition of a vanity press. As I said before, if you wish to go that way you can, but unless you have a very good product and are a good marketer, your chances of breaking even are slim.

Money always flows to the author.

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dhyre

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