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An Examination of Publisher Scams
The most popular of the publisher scams is an ad placed in the paper asking for submissions for a new publishing house or claiming that you can become a published author almost overnight. Unfortunately these ads draw hundreds of manuscripts from unsuspecting authors. Often these ads will appear in the back pages of writers magazines or guides. They will all require that the writer pay a fee of some kind, such as a printing fee or reading fee. Authors should know that fees are never charged by reputable publishers for publishing your book. Co-op or joint venture publishing is another popular scam used by some publishing companies. While these publishers do print and market your book, and pay royalties, just like reputable publishers, they will require that the author pay for half of all the production costs. Remember that reputable publishers will never ask you to pay to publish your work. Often the nave writer will end up paying a fee which is much higher than the actual production costs without ever knowing it. The internet has become a boom for these types of scam artists. They charge authors a monthly maintenance fee, but promise electronic publication of an authors work for a small set up fee to reel you in. There is almost no trick that wont be used by these scam artists in an attempt to capture the money of a hopeful but nave writer. Many will use names that are strikingly similar to real major publishing houses. Others will claim to have special relationships with major electronic publishing websites that enable them to get your book placed there. Any publisher that charges you a fee to publish your book is not legitimate. Self publishing is always an alternative offered to the author and is different than any of these publishing scams. Authors of specialty books with small markets may find that this is a profitable avenue for them when it comes time to publish their work. Any self publishing company that is used should be completely researched so that you can avoid falling victim to these scams.
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