What is a Vanity Press?
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a publishing house that publishes books at the author’s expense. Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. A vanity press will generally agree to print and bind any author’s work if the author is willing to pay for the service; these fees typically form a vanity press’s profits. In contrast, commercial publishers, whether major companies or small presses, derive their profit from sales of the book. Publishers must therefore be cautious and deliberate in choosing to publish works that will sell, particularly as they must recoup their investment in the book (such as an advance payment and royalties to the author, editorial guidance, promotion, marketing, or advertising). To better help sell their books, commercial publishers may also be selective in order to cultivate a reputation for high-quality work, or to specialize in a particular genre.
