Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
Ok you guys have got me totally confused.
Without doing an extensive search (ok technically scrolling way down on the Amazon page), how does one know a book is self published?
I just found a set of books that are published through Down Island Press. Are they self published or did they go through an actual publisher?
Or what about that one writer that had done a cookbook through either self publishing or a vanity press. She then took advantage of someone. She represented herself as a professional author to get his story so she could write a new version about his dog to hopefully make a movie. The catch was she told the guy she couldn't afford to pay him anything right now because of "costs". The book was not even proofread or edited. Yes, she put a publisher name on the book.
The reason I know about this is when I caught a very glaring error, I thought the guy it was about might not know about it so I tracked him down and called. We had a nice conversation.
So now is there an easy way to tell self-published from small press or vanity press or even the bigger publishers.
Heck if I didn't hang out in places about books I wouldn't know Baen and Tor were big.
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Well, how do you know that
anything went through an "actual" publisher?
Obviously, you look to find out the publisher...
And then ask yourself if you've ever heard of that publisher.
Oh, and that vanity press author was a professional author. And the only thing she "took advantage of" is peoples' natural gullibility when they hear the words "professional author" and assume it means something.
An "author" is another word for "writer", and "professional" is defined as "(of a person) engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime."
Neither says anything about how skilled they are, or
who published them, (or even if they were ever published,) or how much money they make in doing so.
But by gosh, it impresses people!
