J im Salisbury, president of Tabby House, a well-respected packager in Charlotte Harbor, Fla., struggles mightily to distance himself from vanity publishers. He adds that vanity houses often print an author's manuscript as submitted, with virtually no editing or custom design, then apply their own ISBN to the author's work and sometimes take the copyright, too. Though vanity publishers give authors 100 books for their own use, send out review copies and put the title in their catalogs, these catalogs are quickly dumped because book reviewers know the quality of vanity press books. The author can buy additional books from the vanity publisher for about 60 percent of the retail price. The authors end up paying more than we would have charged for 3,000 books and they get 100.
T here are many other differences, too.
Perhaps in some cases longer than they need it. We do not charge for our advice. Despite Salisbury's ethical efforts, book-sellers often are indifferent to distinctions between packagers and vanity publishers. Some packagers will encourage anybody to do anything. That's the dark side of this aspect of publishing, said a salesperson who works for a Midwestern book packager.