Scammers are working overtime, #writers. No legit publisher will ask you for money for their services. (vanity presses notwithstanding, but imho vanity presses are mostly terrible) Money flows to the author, not the other way around. They prey on our desire to be successful. #writingcommunity - ThreadSky

kirkrafferty.com • 24 days ago

Scammers are working overtime, #writers. No legit publisher will ask you for money for their services. (vanity presses notwithstanding, but imho vanity presses are mostly terrible) Money flows to the author, not the other way around. They prey on our desire to be successful.
#writingcommunity

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braxtonstewart.bsky.social•24 days ago

This right here. If you are self-publishing don't pay anyone but freelancers you use.

kirkrafferty.com•24 days ago

💯this.

#selfpub authors are a scammer's number one target, unfortunately.

braxtonstewart.bsky.social•24 days ago

I legit told someone who said you have have to go through a self publisher that you shouldn't pay to be published but pay for the services. They got mad and blocked me

kirkrafferty.com•24 days ago

Ugh. Some people have to learn the hard way, unfortunately.

I have a real-life friend who paid $12,000 to have their short story collection "published." They knew I'd written a book, they knew I was querying for an agent, and I wish so much they'd asked me about it before they did it.

braxtonstewart.bsky.social•24 days ago

There is absolutely nothing wrong with self-publishing but to pay a company to publish your work is insane. I was almost scammed by the likes of Xlibris. I'm glad I found my editor though, she is amazing. KDP and ingram all the way for me as of now.

kirkrafferty.com•24 days ago

Oh yeah, and I want to be super clear that self publishing is absolutely a legit way forward, and often better than tradpub. But as you say, never pay a company to publish your work. Pay editors, artists, formatters, etc. But if a company wants you to pay them to publish your work, run away.

irwinsjournal.bsky.social•23 days ago

Seems like a hyper version of "vanity publishers." I remember radio commercials for "Vantage Press" in the late 1970s. And there's a recurring classified ad in my local weekly for Dorrance Publishing, which has been around since 1920 as a "subsidy publisher."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vantage_Press

sphoenixwriter.bsky.social•24 days ago

Same goes for writing contests with monetary awards...but you have to pay them an 'entrance fee'.
A red flag is if the 'award' is low-end but the fee is high.

kirkrafferty.com•24 days ago

💯

johnwgant.bsky.social•24 days ago

Thank you Kirk. I do see many attempts to sell me a service.

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