Vanity Press, Thy Name Is Mudd

My first novel, The Leopard Man, was published through a nefarious book publisher called PublishAmerica. Some of you may know of them and their reputation. I did not renew my contract with them and have since self-published The Leopard Man, even offering it for free on my website. This is an account of my experiences good and bad putting a book out through PublishAmerica.

1. I had just spent 9 months working on
my new manuscript. It was an involved process, and I was very proud
of the story. But I was intimidated by the process of seeking an
agent and publisher. I had failed previously with two other
manuscripts, and I wanted desperately for this one to succeed. I was
also unemployed, and I was spurred on by the rags-to-riches stories
of Tyler Perry and Michael Moore. They succeeded by working hard and
believing in their dreams, and I wanted to do the same. I was
jobhunting when I came across an ad for PublishAmerica on
Careerbuilder.com. I was a little wary, wondering why a book
publisher would be on a job hunting website, so I looked them up. I
thought I was researching them. I visited their website, where they
implicitly said they weren’t a vanity press. So I took their word
for it and sent my query and then my manuscript to them. They
accepted it without any problems. I was elated to have my book coming
out, and told all my family and friends as much.

I missed a few clues that something was
wrong. First of all, I had to edit my own book. In addition to that,
I only got a $1 advance, they offered a bare minimum (not even that)
of promotional support, I had to approach bookstores myself to get
the book stocked. Also, The family & friend list idea seemed
unprofessional, and I didn’t see any books by this publisher in
bookstores near me.

I had made plans to go on a deep,
involved marketing campaign. I had read Terry McMillain’s article
on self-promotion, and took it all to heart. I was determined to make
this book a bestseller, if I had to do everything myself (which I
eventually had to do anyway). I had gotten quotes from various
publicists. I had contacted numerous Writers conferences about
setting up booths or doing appearances to promote my book. I had
found an alumni from my college who would help me set up shop in
Chicago. I had talked to an uncle who had a Movie producer friend
about maybe getting the producer to buy the movie rights. I designed
my own book cover, and programmed the promotional website myself. I
told everyone at my high school reunion about my book and signed
everyone up to my mailing list. I contacted both my Creative writing
professors (Jonis Agee, who wrote Strange Angels) and a
novelist who was an old classmate of mine (Anne Mallory, who wrote
Masquerading the Marquess) about reading my manuscript and
endorsing it. I was going to approach my church about endorsing the
book, and had planned on taking out ads in local newspapers and
magazines. I had gotten price quotes from merchandisers for
book-related items like t-shirts and mugs I could give away or sell.
I talked with a local bookstore about having a book signing the month
my book was released. I had even talked to some music producers I
knew about putting together a movie-styled score for my novel. I was
thinking up sequels to the book, also.

Then a strange thing happened. I was
applying for the Poets & Writers author database and was
rejected. They said my credentials weren’t good enough. I wondered
why, so I looked up the rules. It said “we don’t accept book
published through Vanity Presses…like Publish America.” My heart
hit the floor. “vanity press” is one of the most reviled phrases
in the writing community. And I felt that I had basically been lied
to.

That’s when I did some REAL research
on Publish America. I googled them and found a plethora of
information, mostly from authors complaining about them or warning
others not to do business with them. There were complaints logged in
the BBB about them. There was an extensive pro vs. con site about
them, with the vast majority of comments being on the con side. Book
Reviewers, magazines and industry resources didn’t consider their
books as legitimate. Book stores would not carry anything published
by them. Legitimate agents and publishers held any works done through
them against you when considering future books for publication.
Basically, publishers like PA don’t make their money off of
actually selling books, they make their money off of the author
buying the books from them. And my book was under contract with them
for seven years. I saw my hopes and dreams of being a full-time
author slipping out of my hands.

I was despondent for about two weeks. I
was embarrassed that I had asked my Teacher and Friend, both
established authors, to endorse what they could have easily seen as
hack work. I was ashamed to be telling people of a book they couldn’t
go to their nearest Borders (back when brick and mortar bookstores
were a thing) and buy, especially since a great deal of my friends
and family didn’t have access to Amazon.com, where my book was
being sold at. I canceled the majority of my promotional plans. No
more writers conferences. No more movie deal. No hiring of any
publicist. No merchandising or ads in any publications. No book
signings. I even canceled the soundtrack project. I stopped updating
the website. My story covered some powerful topics — one of which I
got the permission of a lady who had been through a very traumatic
experience to use in my story, and I felt that I had let her down in
not getting the issue addressed. I was on the verge of abandoning the
book — and my writing — altogether. I had even gotten to the point
of questioning how good the book really was, and whether I had what
it took to be a successful writer.

Then a few things happened. First, I
had gotten a response from the classmate, saying she loved my story
and would gladly endorse it. I had told her what happened, and she
gave me some words of encouragement, saying that this misstep didn’t
have to be the end of my writing career. Some of the friends and
family on my mailing list said they sympathized with what happened to
me and would support me and tell people about my book. And then the
book actually arrived. Vanity Press or no Vanity Press, NOTHING can
compare to the feeling of seeing your first book in print. It’s an
amazing thing. On top of that, I gave one of my two complimentary
copies to Ashlynn, my wife’s teenaged niece, who allowed me to base
the heroine of my novel on her mannerisms, opinions and personality.
Seeing her face light up as I gave her the other copy of the book
reassured me that I did the right thing in getting the book out. It
inspired me to redouble my efforts to promote the book, if only to
see how I could make the most of my situation.

I decided not to go all-out to promote
the book like I had originally planned. I didn’t have the time or
funds to sink into a huge promotional campaign (especially if I was
doing it all myself), and this was before internet and social media
book marketing became a viable thing to do. but I did manage to make
some things happen. I approached a few libraries in my hometown and
told them about my book. They ordered a few copies and even asked me
to autograph one! I got a kick out of seeing my book on their shelves
next to Grisham, Clancy, McMillan and Tyreese. I continued to update
the website, adding Anne’s endorsement and even moving the site to
my personal website when the domain expired. I contacted my college’s
alumni magazine and they reported the debut of my novel and how to
get ahold of it. I joined up with Amazon’s marketing partnership to
help direct visitors to my site to Amazon to buy the book. A middle
school English teacher who heard of my plight invited me to speak
about it and creative writing in general to classes of young writers
at a few schools in Ann Arbor. I still went to one of the conferences
— the Sweet Auburn festival in Atlanta — and passed out postcards
and flyers promoting my book. And, of course, I wrote this article.

A supporter of PA once said that they
were satisfied with PA. The company treated them nicely, and they
were happy to have their book published. And that really is fine and
dandy…if all you want to do is get a book published. For those
hoping to make a career out of writing, however, Publish America’s
sordid reputation is a serious detriment. I learned that from
experience. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken a more
serious look at them, and checked around before sending or signing
anything. It wasn’t all bad, though. For one, I did sell a few
books: the libraries bought a couple, and a couple of family members
bought books. I didn’t get much in Royalties, but with all of the
money I spent writing and promoting the book, it counts as a huge
benefit for me come tax-time. Since I lost more than I made, I can
write all of that off and get some of that money back. I still get a
kick out of seeing my book in the library, and my wife’s niece was
so happy to be the star of her own novel that she took her copy of
the book with her everywhere she went, up until she started attending
college.

And I haven’t stopped writing. I’ve
since gotten two other novels published with legit publishers or
e-publishers, and I made sure I did my homework on them before I
signed anything with them. Red Rose Publications, King Jewel and
Necro Publications have been very good to me and my novels. My
contract with PA finally expired, and I now offer that book as-is as
a free PDF download on my website, www.quanwilliams.com.
And now I am seeking an agent for two fantasy manuscripts I have
completed as of tis posting, and I am , I promisecrrently writing
follow-ups to both of them, But when I do finally garner the interest
of another publisher, I promise to look before I leap into a
situation with a suspect publisher. I don’t want to publish in vain
again.

The book in question, The Leopard Man, is available as a free download here.