Well, yes, the books from vanity presses may indeed not be all that good, but they might be too. Self published and vanity press is pretty much the same thing. What it comes down to is that the publishing house just acts pretty much as just a printing service. The author submits a manuscript and for a fee the publisher prints up the books and delivers them. They will take anything and that does mean that they are likely to print up some pretty bad stuff. On the other hand, it might not be bad either. As I said, it is really dificult to get a foot in the door at the major publishers and that does not mean that you are a bad writer either. It just means that it is really difficult to stand out when there are so many others who are trying to stand out. Sometimes self publishing is your only option. Note that "An Involuntary King" by our own Nan Hawthorn was self published under the imprint of Booksurge. I have not read that one myself, but it is one of the most popular books at Bookshare and everyone else is reporting it to be really good. The point is that you take your chances when you read a book from a vanity press. I figure that the authors must have some amount of self confidence to even try in the first place. I have taken a chance myself. I am working right now on an old paperback book entitled "Lord of Blood," but when I finish it I intend to start scanning one called "Just another War" by Gelder Meyer. It was published by Vantage Press. There was one copy available on Amazon for a penney. With the shipping charge it cost me four dollars. It also had no sales rank at all at Amazon until I ordered it. I chose it by entering the Word Vantage into the publisher field in Amazon's advanced search and leaving all other fields blank except for using the combo box to specify the category of science fiction. I have no idea what the book is about nor whether it is decently written or not. I suppose I will soon find out. Without my efforts, though, there was virtually no chance that it would ever make it into the Bookshare collection.
_ _ _"Socialism can be built only by free men and women working together to lay the foundations for a new society and transforming themselves in the process." - Ernesto "Che" Guevara
The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html----- Original Message ----- From: "Kim Friedman" <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 8:43 AMSubject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Volunteer scanned books VS publisher quality submits
Hi, Roger, I think you have in mind the small presses like nightshade Books,The Ministry of Whimsy, Tachyon Books, Zebra Books, Carcanet Editions, (poetry anyone?), etc. Problem with vanity presses is the stuff may not be all that great. Do you mean self-published books also? Regards, Kim. -----Original Message----- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran BaileySent: Monday, July 26, 2010 6:44 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Volunteer scanned books VS publisher quality submits If you go to Amazon advanced book search and type either Booksurge orVantage in the field for publisher and leave the other fields blank, exceptmaybe the category combo box, you will get a list of books that are veryunlikely to ever have publisher quality copies in the Bookshare collection.There are some other such publishers too, but they do not immediately come to mind. The list of publishers that Bookshare provides that will not be submitting publisher quality books can be checked too, but they are largecompanies with very wide distribution of their books, so it is still likelythat an outsourcer will process them. _ _ _ "Socialism can be built only by free men and women working together to lay the foundations for a new society and transforming themselves in the process." - Ernesto "Che" Guevara The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lori Castner" <loralee.castner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 7:00 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Volunteer scanned books VS publisher quality submits Volunteer scanned books VS publisher quality submitsLarry, I had the sameexperience several weeks ago concerning a book I had proofread. The PQ bookmade it into the collection the same night I submitted my proofread book. My only suggestion is to check the publisher. In the case of my book, the publisher was a subsidiary of Random House one of the publishers that submits PQ books to Bookshare. You have my sympathy, but I don't know a solution except to avoide certain publishers and avoid their subsidiaries. Lori C. ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Lumpkin To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 1:22 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Volunteer scanned books VS publisher quality submits I sent the below to Scott. If I've missed something, someone tell me. Scott, I just had the experience of one of my scan submissions being rejected because a publisher quality book beat it into the collection. If I have missed it somewhere, I appologize, but is there any way of knowing whatbooks are going to be Pq submitted. I enjoy scanning books for the site but feel I am lacking my marching orders. What should I be scanning, or shouldI avoid scanning. To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list ofavailable commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signaturedatabase 5316 (20100727) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signaturedatabase 5316 (20100727) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signaturedatabase 5325 (20100730) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signaturedatabase 5325 (20100730) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
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