4 Times Nearly Fooled: A Vanity Press Story

 3

Times

Nearly

Fooled:

A Vanity Press Story

The journey to having your book published can be short or (exceptionally) long. Your hopes will rise and fall the stock market, but you must watch out for those who wish to crash those hopes. Those who make half full promises and sometimes deliver nothing but an empty bank account. I'm speaking of vanity presses. This is how I was nearly fooled four times into publishing with them. I'll also provid their names.

1.Page Publishing

I was introduced early in my publishing journey to a vanity press by way of a tv commercial. I thought it was odd that publisher need one but was ignorant of how it all worked at the time. It didn't take long after submitting that my hopes flew to the skies to find out my story was to be published. And then I was sent several items in the mail about the publisher. One unfolded in such a way that it formed an uneven cross. I still wasn't deterred and soon sent my manuscript by email. I found out soon after that to recoup their money until I earned out the publisher wanted $900 a month. My face went white and I immediately withdrew before more damage could be done. And for a few months after the publisher kept call to convince me to reconsider. I held my ground. No thanks.

2. Something and Other Publishing (Please forgive my memory of this one. They had weird name.)

The second time a publisher tried to loop me in was during what is called Pitmad. A pitch contest on Twitter requiring a few lines to describe your story. I caught a publisher's attention, but they weren't your average press/ They also weren't a vanity press that charged money. They had one request and that was  drumming up excitement for a novella I had pitched. The novella came close at one point to earning me an agent, but was ultimately unsuccessful. With this second scammer as I began to understand they were, votes for my novella needed earned. Votes equaled what the publisher was willing to do for me. I needed over seven hundred just for them to read the darn thing. I went so far as to hand out homemade business cards to remind people where to vote. Two people followed through and the rest likely threw the cards away. Again, I had to pull out of what was thought to be an opportunity.

3. Armand Rucci (He was a standalone publisher that contracted out to others for edit and such)

I entered another Pitmad years later. I decided to pitch my most recently completed manuscript and the novella. A man with his own publishing company showed interest. Red flags rose quickly from giving me two days to make a decision to his website. The red flags rose as fast as his wish to publish me. I was again asked to put up money but this time it was $1500. I had the money. I was feeling desperate at this point and the year had been rocky. With a gut feeling that said this guy is no good I said no.

4. Austin Macauley

The final time a vanity press nearly fooled me was this year. I had submitted to them after four years of work on the same manuscript. I sent them the whole thing. A week or so later I heard negative whispers about them. I retracted my manuscript. The kicker is for some god awful reason I changed my mind and resubmitted. November came. I received a 'Yes' after several rejections. And then I read the contract. It said because I didn't have a previous record of publication that I needed to contribute to the production of my manuscript. The starting price was $3,000. It wasn't even seven two hours later and I decided to send them a polite NO.

The Stories of Before

 The

Stories

of

Before

We don't always start out with pen and paper. We don't always start out with laptop or typewriter. As creatives those tools sometimes don't find our hands until later in life. It was my mid-twenties when I first started writing down any of my ideas.

Childhood provides many choices for where to bring physical form to our stories. Often those stories are child's interpretation of an existing character on television. I was Batman before Bale or Affleck. I fought crime and even got into an actual fight. This brings me to dressing up. Halloween costumes, old clothes and towels can come in handy when inventing your own world. Back in the 90s toy swords and guns were in abundance. You could be a warrior and cowboy at the same time. My parents made me a spear from a broom handle and piece of rubber cut to resemble a spear head. It was great for battling friends because the spearhead flattened on contact.

Another way stories begin to unfold from a creatives mind is Lego's. They provide limitless room for storytelling and if you forgive the term world building. Cities, space stations, whole galaxies can be assemble brick by brick. It all takes time and a delicate hand because if you press too hard your world will collapse in seconds.

Drawing has its limits but if you practice it enough you'll have an impressive portfolio. One picture alone can speak volumes and give your audience fuel for interpretation. I have one rule as a creative in regards to drawing and that is to not trace another's work. It's cheating.

And finally, there is the more messy items a creative on the rise can use. From playdough to sand the possibilities are really only limited by one thing. The elements. The weather can take its toll on sand while playdough (or clay) can dry out if you leave it sit unpackaged.