The head of the sales department for our self-publishing division, Michelle Brown, had a potential author meeting today in our conference room. Halfway through her meeting, Michelle came into my office and asked for help, like a cop calling in for backup. We had a Publishing Code Red: an author who had a terrible experience with another self-publishing company, and who was using the meeting mostly to vent at someone.
A few minutes later, I came into the conference room and introduced myself to the 70+ year old man called Jim (not his real name). He had published his novel in 2009 with a company that I consider one of the worst publishers in the universe (let’s call them Bullshit Press). Bullshit Press didn’t do anything that probably crossed any legal boundaries. What they did do was convince Jim that for the $2,500 he was going to have a huge success. Jim was a willing mark and was told what he wanted to hear. Bullshit Press never told Jim that a retail price of $22.95 for a 100,000 paperback novel by an unknown author would be a 100% loser. But, hey, Jim didn’t ask about the printing costs because he was getting 10 free books.
Bullshit Press also sold Jim a $400 email marketing package that would blast an email about Jim’s book to 500,000 people. When you read it and think about it, you know it can’t be right. First, there aren’t 500,000 people anywhere who want have signed up to get emails from anyone about novels by first-time authors. Secondly, if there were 500,000 of these people, you’d have to pay a lot more than $400 to reach them. Jim was ashamed to tell us about this. He teared up. It was hard for me to hear. I felt bad.
Then Jim showed us the first paragraph of the book and the extra “and” that got into the final version. Jim figured that the publisher would catch it. But, he didn’t pay for any kind of editing. And, he didn’t review the proof. It added insult to injury, but was totally Jim’s fault.
Then came the worst part of the meeting (make that the second worst part). Jim showed me the cover and asked what I thought the book was about. The cover was various shades of baby blue and white and had a water-colored painting of what appeared to be the Golden Gate Bridge on it. I told Jim that the book seemed like a romance novel that takes place in San Francisco. Well, it wasn’t. It was about a serial rapist. And, apparently, there’s a bridge in Jacksonville, Florida that looks exactly like the Golden Gate Bridge.
Michelle and I gave Jim the hard, cold facts about selling fiction from first-time authors. Forget the horrible cover and an unedited manuscript. We gently encouraged Jim not to spend any additional money on a book that has literally not had one sale. The book’s Amazon ranking was 8,500,000. I’ve never seen one that high.
Jim acted like he heard us, but he didn’t. At the end of the meeting, he explained that as soon as he can have the gasket on his 1996 Toyota Tercel fixed, he’s going to sell the car and give the book another go.
The whole thing was heartbreaking.
My wife and I have had a similar experience with our own version of BS Press. After “investing” $1400 and six months of our lives we walked away empty handed, no final draft, no distribution support, no responses to our emails, not even a phone number where we could discuss the matter.
Friends have encouraged us to sue for damages but we’ve chosen to share our story about BS Press in cyberspace. It’s already cost them many times that $1400 in lost business.
Bottom Line: You can never do enough due diligence. Your book is a part of your life, don’t give it away to a slick marketing campaign.
(Keep the posts coming Mark!)
Ron, I hear a lot of these stories. In more than half the cases, the authors didn’t take the time to understand the process and/or expected unrealistic services for relatively a low fee. For $1400, no one can reasonably expect that a self-publishing is going to proofread a manuscript several times. But, in the other 50% of the cases, the authors were promised one thing over the phone and delivered something else, even though it was in the contract.
I am a first time self-publishing author and I am totally lost in choosing a reputable publisher. Is there anyone out there that has had a good experience with one and if so which one?
I’d also like to know the actual names of the BS publishers.
Peggy, feel free to email me at mark (at) hillcrestmedia.com .
Very sad. Think I’ve been snookered by BS Press. Wished I understood the business before I had forked over a large sum of money. Wrote the story back in May 2009. My book has been in the illustration stage for the past 6 months now. Had to make lots of changes to the sketches because of inconsistencies in the characters from one page to the next. I’m not sure if I’m going to make my money back on this book based on the way others have said they haven’t received any royalties from their books. Afraid it may be too much of an embarrassment at this point for friends, family and buyers to see it at this rate. Are there any options for me at this point to salvage what’s left before it goes into the final production phase? Thanks!
One useful website, in addition to this one, is Predators and Editors. Until I started self-publishing, that was my first stop in considering anyone claiming to be a professional anything in the publishing world.
Preditors & Editors has unfortunately become an untrustworthy resource because it’s a complete free for all.