So many new authors have an illusionary expectation about their newly written works. It is this big expectations that "Vanity Publishers" exploit to defraud unsuspecting authors. So you have finally written that best seller. But, it won't be a best seller if it doesn't get published right?

The joy of getting published may likely drive an unsuspecting author to the hands of Vanity Publishers who will tap into this zealousness to exploit them with bogus publishing contracts.

Knowing fully well that any potential author will be searching online for publishers that can publish their works, this Vanity Publishers will usually run expensive ads to make sure you see them in search engines. They're always open to "manuscript submissions" without agent.

Once you click on their ads, it takes you to another page where you will be required to submit your manuscript and other details. Soon after that, they will email you with a contract offer. But, their signature offer is that you have to pay to get published. They will sweeten the offer by telling you that you will get your refund after certain sales volume.

However, it's all lies. To them, you are the customer, not the potential readers or audience. They want to reap you off because they don't believe your work deserves their efforts. As a matter of fact, they don't care if your work is the next Harry Potter series. All they care about is for you to pay for them to publish you. They won't edit your work properly and won't bother with promotion and marketing of the work. However, they will promise you that they will do all these initially.

They masquerade under a modern publishing format "Hybrid Contracts" but be rest assured that they won't be doing anything for you if you don't pay an upfront fee for your work to be published.

As a matter of fact, no real publisher will require the author they are offering a publishing contract to pay them for their work to be published. The money moves from the publisher to the author, not the other way round. As for the marketing aspect, an author may be required to use available means to also market themselves online and offline, including showing up for mandatory book related functions. But, that's just about it. The money moves from publisher to author.

Don't fall for the scam called "Vanity Publishers" who are collectively known as the "Vanity Press". You are better off doing your independent publishing with online publishers like Amazon, OkadaBooks, Draft2Digital, etc.

http://uptownerd.com/2021/12/15/dear-nigerian-authors-beware-of-vanity-publishers/