Anomalos - Yet Another Publish America?

Bah. I went over to the Writers Beware blog and saw the entry on yet another printer playing at being a publisher.

The one in question is called Anomalos Publishers, and you can read the post here.

In their FAQ is the same, tired old crap that makes you want to run away screaming. Stuff like:

"...nearly all traditional publishers have scaled back or eliminated altogether their willingness to publish new authors."

"Anomalos authors often order as many as 10,000 to 20,000 copies in the first run, but 1,000 is the minimum we require."

Sheesh.

Guess what? "Traditional" publishers (a term I think Publish America (PA) came up with) still publish new authors; they do it all the time. Because authors decide to stop writing. Because authors die. Because authors don't necessarily come out with a book every year (like Nora Roberts, who I think writes up more than one book a year - wow!!!).

Anyway, remember, all authors - yes, even the bestselling ones - were once newly published. (Fancy that!)

As to buying your own book...sorry, that's straight from crappy old PA's way of thinking (after all, they market to writers rather than readers, so from where do you think they get their money?). And a minimum of 1,000 books? Math isn't my strong suit, so you should look at one of the anonymous posters who made a hypothetical example.

The amount of dough you'd have to shell out in that poster's example? Something like $9,000!!

Uh, no.

That's not how it works. How it works is that the author never shells out any money upfront. What incentive is there for the "publisher" to market your book if you give them money right away? Right, zippo. Real, legitimate publishers give you money; a bigger publisher even gives you an advance. So the publisher is in the hole from the get-go (and you get to keep the advance, whether book does well or not).

Don't leave out the smaller publishers, especially if you have a book that you think is hard to place (too quirky or whatever). Although smaller publishers generally don't give out advances, you also (usually) don't have to worry about getting an agent; you can submit to them directly.

Always, always, always do your research before sending out your baby. You'll save all those extra dollar bills in your wallet.

As for Anomalos - meh, pass, of course. If all you want is a book in your hand, head on over to Lulu.com.

~Nancy Beck