Vanity press
A vanity press is a publisher that charges writers a fee in return for publishing their books. They are so called because the customer can then tell others they have published a book. These companies often call themselves subsidy publishers.
Unlike conventional publishers, vanity presses pay no royalties and have no distribution apparatus. Vanity presses earn their money, not from sales of books to readers like other publishers, but from sales of books to the authors. The author receives the shipment of books and may attempt to resell them through whatever channels are available. In many cases, the copies are not even bound.
Writers considering self-publishing often also consider directly hiring a printer. According to self-publisher and poet Peter Finch, vanity presses charge higher premiums and create a risk that an author who has published with a vanity press will be "tainted" and have more difficulty working with a "real" publisher in the future.
See also Print on demand
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