My Publishing Passion |
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I launched JC Publishers in 2007 so I could maintain complete control while publishing my first book. After spending nearly a year researching the publishing process I discovered a number of snares and pitfalls to avoid. I was shocked, almost to the point of disbelief, to find so many online publishers who are willing to take advantage of new, uninformed authors. I can tell you the good, bad, and the ugly about most of these publishing predators. JC Publishers evolved, almost as an afterthought, and is dedicated to helping new authors get published without getting ripped off. I never anticipated helping new authors publish their books. I love saving new authors from bottom-feeding, blood-sucking vanity publishers. Helping first-time authors get published has become a passion of mine, especially in light of the fact that the overwhelming majority of online publishers are taking advantage of unsuspecting authors. One of the worst offenses is vanity publishers' habit of setting the retail price for a book higher than it should be just so the company can make more on each book the author himself buys to resell. If the retail price is too high, people simply won't buy the book. It should be in line with comparable books on the shelf. The lure of discounted "publishing packages" with padded (and unneccesary) charges is lucrative for these vanity publishers. Authors receive little or no benefit from these overpriced packages (even with the so-called discounts). They make the bulk of their money from the author, not from book sales to the public. The typical "50%" discount off retail the author gets to print and buy his own book is still 20-30% more than he should pay. That 20-30% goes to the publisher who did not invest a penny in the book. The author (that's you) paid for everything. "Yes, but they were so nice!" I would be nice too if I was making two or three dollars off every book you print. We don't limit ourselves to helping authors who want to write books of faith and inspiration, but we will not be a party to books of questionable or immoral material. At the very least, this Website is a source of free information that will enable authors to realize their dream of seeing their book in print. I have a personal friend who spent several thousand dollars more than necessary for an unedited book produced by one of these vanity publishers. Sadly, it was one of the "reputable" Christian publishing companies who insisted he should have an ISBN "assigned" to his book. My primary problem with these vanity publishers has to do with their claim, "Authors retain all the rights to their book." Yet they insist on assigning a "unique" ISBN to the author's book. There is nothing unique about it. The ISBN belongs to the publisher, not the author. That means the author does not own the publishing rights to his book; the publisher does. The publisher (the true ISBN owner) will then get a "piece of the action" for every book sold. Every subsequent order goes through that publisher. If the author owns the ISBN, he/she keeps 100% of the profits minus actual print cost for each book. Their claim, "The author retains all rights," is not only misleading, it is simply untrue. I'm being nice. It's a big, fat lie. I find that unacceptable and unethical. If you plan to self-publish, the ISBN page is, perhaps, the most important informational area you should visit first. If you don't own your own ISBN, you will lose, big-time. You won't own squat. HOME Updated July 23, 2024 |