I'm currently co-authoring a book on virtual world addictions with a pair of psychologists and recently attended an addiction seminar in Las Vegas (of all places--no triggers there!).

After speaking with a number of professionals, I learned I what I had been telling people regarding royalties was wrong. For years I had stated new authors could expect royalties around 50 cents per book. "Fifty cents a book! Who are you kidding?" exclaimed one published author and psychologist. "I'm lucky to see FIFTEEN cents per book!"

You do all the work. They take all the risk. They make all the money.

Vanity publishing is similar to short-run publishing—both print and bind books. Only one has a reputation for insanity. Publishing companies of both types may offer services for the following:

The main difference between vanity press and short-run publishers is in the name, and vanity press has become a four letter word.

Subsidy publishers sit in the middle between royalty publishers and self publishers. Subsidies may pay royalties, but without advances. The author and the subsidy publisher will set an agreement in which the publisher will provide certain services in exchange for payment, royalties, and/or copyright. Usually, the publisher retains all the rights, the author will pay for all the copies he/she needs and the publisher pays royalties for books they sell.

On the surface, this may sound like a good deal for the author. No money upfront is great for the bank account. Hand over your manuscript and get a book in returen. However, an author needs to look at the whole picture.

As a traditional media or new media artists, people love your work, but in tight economic times, they might not be willing to spend hundreds or thousand dollars to hang a single piece of artwork on their wall. Just don’t let them sit on the sideline during a recession, waiting for the opportunity to purchase art from someone else who is at their right place at your wrong time.

A fine-art coffee table book of your work provides you the opportunity to pitch and sell your entire art portfolio in one package and keep front of their mind as economic times improve... and all the while you generate cash flow from book sales.

In the last article, I began exploring the many different types by covering the basics of royalty publishing. In the next few entries I will examine the other types of publishers, the names they may go by, and the pro and cons of each type of publisher.

In reality, names mean very little. Services, copyright ownership, contracts, and added value are what really matter to an author. The costs for printing, binding, and additional services; like editing, marketing, warehousing, and distribution; may be paid in part by the publisher or in full by the author. I provide the following definitions as groundwork for future discussions, with understanding that all publishers vary in service, support, and quality regardless of what they may call themselves: