Wanting to be published so bad that I flirted with Predatory Publishers

I worked for about 3 months on a line by line edit, which I thought was a real drag. I also pulled Kristine into the editing process and she was much better at it than me. After completing the edit to the best of our ability, I sent the revised manuscript with many less dashes to my pseudo agent – with my hope renewed that getting the manuscript published was just a few months away.

My optimism seemed to have some firm grounding when my agent contacted me to let me know about a publisher that was looking for first time authors with real talent. They were looking for authors like me. She wanted me to contact them directly by email with the first chapter of the manuscript attached. I did as she asked and within a couple of days, I received a very promising email in return asking for the whole manuscript. So far they liked what they saw, and they wanted to see more.

I rushed off an email thanking them for the opportunity with the full manuscript attached. Within a few days there was another email. This one was as breezy and upbeat as the previous ones had been, but it did not take long to figure out that they were not offering me a “traditional” publishing deal. Traditional means that they will buy publishing rights (in other words they pay you), and then get your book into print.

They were offering a modification to the “traditional” plan. In the “modified” plan I share the risk with them by paying them to publish my book. I certainly understood the risk I would be taking, but I struggled to understand the exact risk they were taking. It seemed like they were getting paid on the front end, and whether I ever sold a book they were already paid.

I sent a polite email declining their offer to share the risk.

For about a year and a half I would receive bulk emails from my “personal” agent and the firm in general. Usually they included a line about “all the email flying around,” something about all the books they had been selling, and how they hoped the next one would be mine. I agreed with this hope, but with each month the hope dimmed a little.

As the time passed, I began to think that it was increasingly unlikely that my agennt would ever get my book sold. So I did some searches for publishing companies that publish first time authors, but are not Vanity Presses. A Vanity Press is a place that you pay to publish your book. I guess the idea is that it is vanity to want to see your book in print so badly that you are willing to pay for it. I would really like to see my book in print, but I am not at a place monetarily where I can afford this type of vanity.

I found a publisher that said it specialized in first time, undiscovered authors with real talent. I thought that sounded like me.  There web-site also said that they read every manuscript, but accepted less than 5%.  I thought that they must be pretty serious. There was also an offer from the president of the company to call him directly to let him know that you had sent in your manuscript. If you did that he would make sure that your manuscript got sent to the head of the line. I sent my manuscript in and because I am not a terribly patient person I called the president and got my manuscript moved to the front of the line.

A few days later I received a pretty bulky package via Federal Express. The opening was a warm congratulatory letter. They liked and wanted to publish my manuscript. There was a lengthy contract for me to sign and date and return. There was one other thing, since I was a first time author there was some risk on their part. I mean after all no one has heard of me, so in some ways it was a pretty big risk. It just seemed fair to them to share the risk. Here was the deal, they wanted to split the risk about 80/20. They would assume 80% of the risk and I would assume 20%. They were going to put about $20,000 on the line in blood, sweat and tears and – oh yeah – printing the book. All they were asking which seemed more than fair to them was $5,000 from me.

Here’s the sad part: I was so dazzled by the letter and how talented they thought I was, and that they had sent along a return Fed Ex package with the shipping pre-paid, that I thought they must really be serious. This seems legit. This is finally my big break. I thought this is expensive, but worth it, and after all they were taking a bigger risk.

I set-up a little celebration with a little wine and a special presentation of the acceptance letter for Kristine. Kristine was really excited for me, but a little nervous about the $5000. She said we should definitely do it, but maybe it would be a good idea to check out the publisher on line. I thought she was right we weren’t exactly swimming in money; I mean we would be after the book, but at the moment it was a little tight.

First, I showed her the publisher’s web-site. She thought it looked nice. Next she suggested that we search for the publisher on the general web. The first hits after the publishers own site often involved the word “fraud.” One helpful website about publishing said never, ever, under any circumstances, pay an agent or a publisher. Agents and publishers, who are asking for money, simply are not on the up and up. All in all the search was pretty depressing. I decided instead of a celebration I would throw a pity party.

In all this there was one silver lining. At the least I had made the “publisher” spend money on mailing me the contract, and for the return Fed Ex package. It was small, but it was a little victory. The bigger victory in all of this was not sending them the check for $5000.