{"id":25475,"date":"2013-10-08T20:45:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T20:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/?p=25475"},"modified":"2025-10-29T17:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:38:01","slug":"publishing-predators-stalk-authors-how-to-spot-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/content-creation\/publishing-predators-stalk-authors-how-to-spot-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Publishing predators stalk authors: How to spot them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you want to publish a book, there&#8217;s a Publishing Predator around the next corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They call themselves publishers, but they&#8217;re anything but.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re better known as the &#8220;vanity press&#8221; and the fist sign that they&#8217;re about to fleece you is when they tell you that YOU have to pay THEM to publish your book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that&#8217;s just the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once they know you&#8217;re interested, they&#8217;ll keep <strong>calling and emailing and pestering<\/strong> you relentlessly. Some authors just give in and say yes to stop the phone calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After you sign a contract, they keep trying to upsell you to more expensive things like marketing and publicity&#8212;services that a legitimate publishing house should be providing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re <strong>wolves in sheep&#8217;s clothing<\/strong>. And book experts Judith Briles, Amy Collins, Georgia McCabe, Penny Sansevieri and I usually get phone calls from authors after they&#8217;ve already signed contracts and have been taken for thousands of dollars with little to show for it except piles of books that fall apart.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judith Briles has <a href=\"http:\/\/authoru.org\/self-publishing-publishing-predators-put-you-and-your-book-at-risk.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">written extensively<\/a> about these publishing rip-offs at her blog, and many <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/Does-anyone-know-anything-about-2603729.S.107918157?qid=3daff9e2-c04a-4467-a16f-de22ad96e614&amp;trk=groups_most_popular-0-b-ttl&amp;goback=%2Egmp_2603729\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">authors have added to her complaints<\/a> in Judith&#8217;s Author U group on LinkedIn.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Learn About the Publishing Predators Oct. 10<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m hosting a free webinar with the four other women I mentioned above at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on <strong>Thursday, Oct. 10. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.gotomeeting.com\/register\/622991398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register for Authors Beware: What You Must Know to Avoid Being Fleeced by the Publishing Predators<strong>.<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll tell you how to spot the companies that have a far greater interest in your checkbook and credit card than in developing you as an author and helping you create a book you can be proud of, market and sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>key phrases<\/strong> and <strong>marketing gimmicks<\/strong> that should set off your B.S. Detector<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key questions<\/strong> you should ask any book consultant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why you must avoid any publicist who promises you coverage in top-tier media.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What you can expect to pay for reasonably priced publishing services&#8230;and <strong>when to know if you&#8217;re about to be fleeced.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What to do <strong>if you&#8217;ve been swindled<\/strong>&#8230;lots of unsuspecting authors come to us after it&#8217;s too late<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t miss this deep dive 60-minute webinar with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You Can Win a Free Cruise<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll also let you know about the cruise we&#8217;re hosting for authors Jan. 18-23 to the Caribbean. It&#8217;s a working vacation where you can learn all about book publishing during more than 12 presentations and workshops. One lucky author will get to <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20131103100444\/http:\/\/publishingatsea.com:80\/category\/win\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>cruise free.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note: Come to the webinar with your questions! We&#8217;ll answer them all at the end of the program. If you&#8217;re listening in by phone only, you need to email questions to <a href=\"mailto:judith@briles.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Judith@Briles.com<\/a> or <a href=\"mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JStewart@PublicityHound.com<\/a> during the live webinar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope to see you on the call!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you want to publish a book, there&#8217;s a Publishing Predator around the next corner. They call themselves publishers, but they&#8217;re anything but. They&#8217;re better known as the &#8220;vanity press&#8221; and the fist sign that they&#8217;re about to fleece you is when they tell you that YOU have to pay THEM to publish your book.\u2026&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/content-creation\/publishing-predators-stalk-authors-how-to-spot-them\/\" class=\"rmlink\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":3,"wds_primary_category":603,"footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[608,434,43,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-25475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-content-creation","7":"tag-authors-publishers","8":"tag-book-launch","9":"tag-book-marketing","10":"tag-free-publicity","11":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25475"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43047,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25475\/revisions\/43047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}