Self Defense for Writers — Avoiding Predatory Publishers

Photo by Andrew Mantarro on Unsplash

Many years ago I was young and desperate to be a writer. I wasn’t remotely ready yet (I was in my thirties before I developed the maturity and staying power).

I got an offer to publish some of my poetry. There wasn’t any pay, but I was young and desperate and thought it might lead to great things. Not to put too nice a face on it: I got scammed. It wasn’t that terrible a scam, I just got tricked into buying a hardcover book of bad poetry for a high price. Worse has happened.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

If you’re young (or even new) and desperate to be published, then you may find offers out there that look really good…but are actually scammy or predatory. So, what are the red flags?

1. The publisher advertises primarily to authors. The website talks all about how it’s so hard to get published these days. About how you deserve a chance to get your book published. The thing is, authors are not a publisher’s customers: Readers are. If they are advertising to authors you can be sure they are a “publishing service” and if they are not honest about this up front…
2. Most of the books on the publisher’s website are by the same person. Now, there…