File under: Hope for the hopeless

"The Kirkus Bribe List"? Is this the end of Kirkus or the evolution of a new fleecing niche?

While Publishers Weekly and Library Journal might correctly predict the success of a novel, you can always count on Kirkus to draw blood.

Now, though, the reputation of this journal which won't even contaminate its pages with advertising, is on the line. VNU Business Publications, which owns Kirkus, has introduced two new e-newsletters that critics say blur the line between reviewing and marketing.

Kirkus Discoveries, rolling out later this year, will allow self-published authors, long ignored by the trade journals, to buy a Kirkus review for $350.

My hope is there will be a lot of slightly poorer, totally disappointed authors out there -- but that every now and then, something will actually slip through. You'd almost think it was noble... if money wasn't involved.

Of course, the 350 bones won't set this dude back...

With deep pockets and an even deeper belief in his inner Hemingway, first-time novelist Rich Shapero is taking vanity publishing to a new level.

The Silicon Valley venture capitalist wrote his novel, founded a company to publish it and then launched one of the biggest and most colorful individual book giveaways ever.

I try to be a good person. I really do. I want to wish the best for people. I really do. But sometimes I also want to wish redhot fire pokers in the urethra. I really do.



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Buyer beware

The vanity press* gets a makeover with PublishAmerica. Once these predators are brought to bay, let's go after those cheating fuckers at the International Library of Poetry. (On the other hand, these people ARE keeping a lot of trash out of the slush piles... it's a toss up.)



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When POD means Print Often, Damn it!

PODed all the way to the Orange Prize.


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Edited by author 04-07-2005 09:34 AM
Just download it off the internet

Naomi Klein is encouraging readers to do just that.

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Taking matters into your own hands

Self-publishing can be good or bad, depending. Hm. Sounds like not self-publishing.

The difference between traditional vanity presses and modern print-on-demand publishing is essentially technology. Instead of expensive offset printing, which mainstream publishers use, print-on-demand relies on a glorified digital printer. The top three self-publishers -- AuthorHouse, iUniverse and Xlibris, based in Philadelphia -- all use the technology, and introduced a total of 11,906 new titles last year, according to R. R. Bowker's Books in Print database. By contrast, one of the few remaining old-style vanity presses, the 56-year-old Vantage Press in New York, produces between 300 and 600 titles a year.

Meanwhile, for as little as $459, iUniverse will turn a manuscript into a paperback with a custom cover design, provide an International Standard Book Number -- publishing's equivalent of an ID number to place the book in a central bibliographic database -- and make it available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and other online retailers. (Vantage charges anywhere from $8,000 to $50,000 for a limited quantity of copies, some owned by the author and the rest warehoused by Vantage.)
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Unfortunately, aspiring writers eager to believe that a publisher has chosen them can also be led astray. Last year more than 130 writers petitioned the attorney general of Maryland and other government agencies to investigate PublishAmerica, a print-on-demand company in Frederick, Md., which describes itself as a ''traditional publishing company'' on its Web site.

The authors say they were duped when they signed contracts with the company, because it is actually a vanity press. In press accounts and in promotions to its writers, the company has maintained that it is highly selective. But Dee Power, an Arizona writer in the forefront of the petition campaign, questions that claim. She says PublishAmerica accepted a bogus manuscript from her that repeated the same 10 pages eight times and changed the main characters' names halfway through. She and other writers say they were shocked by the sloppy editing of their manuscripts and falsely led to believe that stores would stock their books. (The government agencies have so far declined to investigate.)


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Edited by author 05-16-2005 12:13 PM
Where the hell do you get off?

That's my favourite transit joke. Sean Lerner will tell you for real though. He's written the guide book on where to stand to be most efficient on Toronto transit systems and here's his website for an insight into one man's adorable little obsessive compulsive disorder.

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Punk publishers?

Well, I'm not too sure how I feel about co-opting "punk" for self-publishing, but then again, what does the damn word mean anymore when Green Day and other lollipop bands are called punk?

Melbourne writer Euan Mitchell likes to think of himself as a "punk publisher". He's not waiting for the establishment to get his drift. Instead, Mitchell published and sold 7000 copies of his first book, Feral Tracks. It cost about $20,000 to produce, including art and film work, printing and promotion and made a profit of about $4000. Never mind that he quit his job to write it, or that his family gulped at his grand plan.

(Hey, I like Green Day, I just think they belong on the shelf next to Britney, not the Pistols.)


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Self-publishing is the best thing that ever happened to me

When there's nowhere else to turn. Or when you can't wait. Or when you can't be bothered.

"I'd been looking around and I'd talked to some people who'd said, 'Don't waste two years of your life as a first time author trying to get the attention of a mainstream publisher.'"

When you put it that way...


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How bad can self-published POD titles really be?

Real bad. Atlanta Nights bad. A bad so bad it makes Anne Rice-bad look good.


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Edited by author 10-30-2005 01:34 PM
The POD realm is nothing more than an undifferentiated aspect of the promordial soup of all creative material. On the most part, it's a great cauldron of unmitigated crap. Poppycock. Hoooey. And I admit, in the area of non-fiction it can be misleading and even dangerous if the information is not properly researched or presented to the public. However, occasionally an author GETS AN EDITOR, learns how to type set and put together a book up to a professional standard, makes use of her/his artist/designer friends in the creation of an engaging title page, and really makes a go of marketing and getting it out there. The unrestricted freedom of this realm allows for the exploration of new forms and literary possibility where the industry is unwilling to take risks. Occasionally, and I mean occassionally, a tasty morsel will emerge. A hit. And by hit, I don't necessarily mean a blockbuster success story; I mean a piece of literature that truly sings with vision and mastery. Those who are too jaded to search through it all, have faith. I may be naive, but I like to think these pieces eventually float to the top and stay there, POD or otherwise.

Edited by author 10-30-2005 03:22 PM
I meant COVER not TITLE PAGE. I guess that's what I meant about getting an editor. Did I mention I was Hung Ova?

Can you give examples of POD titles that have floated to the top?

Not off hand. But give creativity a forum and it inevitably emerges. I don't see much difference between a self publisher and the plethora of small presses.

POD saves academia

Now the eight people who read each book can buy all eight copies. It's so crazy it just works. (From Maud)


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