AWESOME POST! I don't think you're missing the point between self publishing and vanity publishing at all. As you said, for people who want to publish a cookbook of family recipes for relatives can self publish successfully; people who want to pass down family stories/histories that the general public wouldn't care about can self publish for generations of their family to come; etc.
Where I have a problem, like you, is when a reputable publisher like Harlequin creates a vanity press option that simply preys on the impatient or the naive. The party with the biggest gain would be Harlequin--not the self published author. That's just wrong wrong wrong.
ETA: And it makes me wonder if they will be looking at their slush pile and passing on things that they might have accepted and taken a financial risk on in the past and re-routing these individuals to their vanity press. I see many of those hopeful authors being too afraid to say no thanks, I'll keep shopping this around and succumbing to the pressure to cough up a "nominal fee" for publication.
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Date: 2009-11-21 06:46 pm (UTC)Where I have a problem, like you, is when a reputable publisher like Harlequin creates a vanity press option that simply preys on the impatient or the naive. The party with the biggest gain would be Harlequin--not the self published author. That's just wrong wrong wrong.
ETA: And it makes me wonder if they will be looking at their slush pile and passing on things that they might have accepted and taken a financial risk on in the past and re-routing these individuals to their vanity press. I see many of those hopeful authors being too afraid to say no thanks, I'll keep shopping this around and succumbing to the pressure to cough up a "nominal fee" for publication.