(no subject)
Via Writer Beware, the tale of Chronicle Books endorsing a vanity publisher for kickbacks.
The original Newsweek article demonstrates that the writer of that article has not the slightest fucking idea how real publishing works. Tony Dokoupil may be a professional journalist, but he's just as ignorant as any deluded self-publisher who doesn't understand that merely having printed books is not publishing. Even while telling the story of E. Lynn Harris "personally peddling the book to a mainly black readership at beauty salons, sorority houses and Southern book clubs," Mr. Dokoupil is somehow not processing the notion that a self-publisher's hardest work comes after the book is bound.
But enough eyerolling at Mr. Dokoupil. He's just a practical example of the problem: ignorance of the industry is rampant, even amongst people who ought to know better. And it's that problem that makes the Chronicle/Blurb arrangement so invidious.
There are two sorts of people who will submit manuscripts to Chronicle: those who have been shot by the Clue Gun and those who have not (a/k/a Nitwits, as long as I'm stealing Miss Snark's terminology).
The former sort will say, "You're referring me to a vanity publisher? WTF? If I wanted to self-publish, I wouldn't be sending my manuscript to you."
The latter sort, however, will say, "Oh, I should have it printed myself? Well, you're the professional publishing house. I guess you know what you're doing." And another Nitwit bites the dust.
Is what Chronicle's doing technically a scam? Not if they reveal the kickback scheme to rejected authors. But just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it right, or even responsible. There's disclosure, and then there's full disclosure, and I say that any endorsement of a vanity publisher without a full rundown of the whys and why-nots of self-publishing is not full disclosure.
Chronicle has just gone into the snake-oil business. And while the FDA (foolishly, IMO) doesn't regulate "supplements," they do draw the line at products that are actual poison. Chronicle is pushing poison: encouraging the ignorant in a high-risk venture that may hurt them. (How does it hurt them? First, because they might have sold the book to the next legitimate publisher they subbed it to. Second, because they have a very small chance of recouping enough money to justify the time and effort of self-publishing, never mind their cash outlay to buy copies of the book.)
Some people have floated the notion that Chronicle won't recommend every book for self-pub, only the ones that they feel have a chance. Forgive me if I am skeptical. If this business works, their bean-counters will apply pressure to recommend more books and increase the revenue stream. This doesn't make them evil; it makes them human. Regardless, the outcome is easily predicted.
And Crom help us if this shit works. How long before other publishing houses follow suit? When Xlibris pitched the same offer to agents and publishers, the uproar in the industry made them back off. But the mainstream publishing industry, notably the nitwits at Simon & Schuster, has been making forays into this kind of conflict-of-interest bullshit lately. It's become like a game of Whack-a-Mole: no sooner does one idiot, dishonest scheme get shouted down than another pops up. The lack of furor over this latest iteration says to me that people are getting tired and jaded, and that's really all it will take for this idiocy to win: a lack of resistance.
Come on folks: publicly denounce this crap. Spread the word. The only surefire way to protect people is to educate them.
9/28/07 ETA: Via Writer Beware, Chronicle Books has disavowed that they receive any money for recommending Blurb.com.
Linky here.
The original Newsweek article demonstrates that the writer of that article has not the slightest fucking idea how real publishing works. Tony Dokoupil may be a professional journalist, but he's just as ignorant as any deluded self-publisher who doesn't understand that merely having printed books is not publishing. Even while telling the story of E. Lynn Harris "personally peddling the book to a mainly black readership at beauty salons, sorority houses and Southern book clubs," Mr. Dokoupil is somehow not processing the notion that a self-publisher's hardest work comes after the book is bound.
But enough eyerolling at Mr. Dokoupil. He's just a practical example of the problem: ignorance of the industry is rampant, even amongst people who ought to know better. And it's that problem that makes the Chronicle/Blurb arrangement so invidious.
There are two sorts of people who will submit manuscripts to Chronicle: those who have been shot by the Clue Gun and those who have not (a/k/a Nitwits, as long as I'm stealing Miss Snark's terminology).
The former sort will say, "You're referring me to a vanity publisher? WTF? If I wanted to self-publish, I wouldn't be sending my manuscript to you."
The latter sort, however, will say, "Oh, I should have it printed myself? Well, you're the professional publishing house. I guess you know what you're doing." And another Nitwit bites the dust.
Is what Chronicle's doing technically a scam? Not if they reveal the kickback scheme to rejected authors. But just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it right, or even responsible. There's disclosure, and then there's full disclosure, and I say that any endorsement of a vanity publisher without a full rundown of the whys and why-nots of self-publishing is not full disclosure.
Chronicle has just gone into the snake-oil business. And while the FDA (foolishly, IMO) doesn't regulate "supplements," they do draw the line at products that are actual poison. Chronicle is pushing poison: encouraging the ignorant in a high-risk venture that may hurt them. (How does it hurt them? First, because they might have sold the book to the next legitimate publisher they subbed it to. Second, because they have a very small chance of recouping enough money to justify the time and effort of self-publishing, never mind their cash outlay to buy copies of the book.)
Some people have floated the notion that Chronicle won't recommend every book for self-pub, only the ones that they feel have a chance. Forgive me if I am skeptical. If this business works, their bean-counters will apply pressure to recommend more books and increase the revenue stream. This doesn't make them evil; it makes them human. Regardless, the outcome is easily predicted.
And Crom help us if this shit works. How long before other publishing houses follow suit? When Xlibris pitched the same offer to agents and publishers, the uproar in the industry made them back off. But the mainstream publishing industry, notably the nitwits at Simon & Schuster, has been making forays into this kind of conflict-of-interest bullshit lately. It's become like a game of Whack-a-Mole: no sooner does one idiot, dishonest scheme get shouted down than another pops up. The lack of furor over this latest iteration says to me that people are getting tired and jaded, and that's really all it will take for this idiocy to win: a lack of resistance.
Come on folks: publicly denounce this crap. Spread the word. The only surefire way to protect people is to educate them.
9/28/07 ETA: Via Writer Beware, Chronicle Books has disavowed that they receive any money for recommending Blurb.com.
Linky here.