Published authors self-publishing - all together now

Over recent weeks I've interviewed nine published UK children's authors who have also self-published. I asked them to give tips for any of you considering doing the same and they have come up with generous and wide-ranging advice.

The reason I wanted to focus on writers who have already been published in the traditional way is that this is a blog about getting a publishing deal with a high-quality selective publisher, not about self-publishing (which may also be high-quality but is not what I'm here to talk about.) I wanted to highlight the fact that published authors may have an extra understanding of the realities of being published in any form and that they are likely to bring this understanding to their own publishing. I also believe that all writers, whatever their aims and ambitions, would do well to listen to a wide range of views. There are few definitive answers and many grey areas, many things that will work for one writer/book and not for another. The more we know, listen and understand, the better we can curate our words.

As you know, I am a published author who also self-publishes. (See here for my forthcoming double ebook - and don't forget to enter the competition!) I have a great relationship with my main publishers, Walker Books, and have a book coming out with them next year, The Teenage Guide to Stress. Walker Books have done a brilliant job for me, with Blame My Brain in particular, and they have done things I couldn't possibly have done myself. People often say that publishers only focus on your book for the few weeks around publication. To an extent that is inevitably true; however, you should realise that publishers (good ones) behave like excellent business people (as self-publishing writers must, too) and will take opportunities to push books that have been around for much longer. Blame My Brain was first published in 2005, revised slightly in 2007 and revised again this year. And this year, Walker have really pushed the boat out for it, seven years after publication. Why? Simply because they see it doing well and see an opportunity to make it do better. That's sensible. They have chosen to put resources of time into it, which they can't do for every book. (And that's one of the advantages of self-publishing: you, the author, will continue to work hard for your book. But it's also one of the disadvantages: you have to continue to work hard for it to the extent that you will probably have less time to write your next book.)

Why was Blame My Brain doing well? Because Walker did a good job at the start, because I worked hard to keep promoting it and because the nature of the book meant that it became more and more popular, with more and more schools and parents seeing the need for it. So, partly me and partly the book, and partly the fact that the Walker publicity people took the right opportunities, being both reactive and proactive where there was a realistic benefit in being so. AND, crucially, luck. Publishers and authors often do a great job but luck is not with them and the book (most books) disappears, leaving a little tear-stained shape on an author's heart.

It's really important to keep your feet on the ground and be very realistic, hard-working and decent to work with. Attract the fairy dust.

For all the interviews with fellow published self-publishers, see:

Lynne Garner with Anansi the Trickster Spider

Katherine Roberts with I Am The Great Horse

Julia Jones with The Lion of Sole Bay

AT Boyle with The Typing Man

Diana Kimpton with There Must be Horses

Rhiannon Lassiter with Little Witches Bewitched

Miriam Halahmy with Secret Territory

Joan Lennon with Diary from the Rim

Daniel Blythe with Emerald Greene and the Witch Stones

All children's books, all ready to buy for your young readers. And advice for you, from all of us.

Work hard and keep the faith!

Don't forget that you can ask me a publishing or writing related question for me to answer on this blog. Contact me using the link at the top of the page.

Caveat writer

A writer emailed me the other day asking for advice about a submission she had just made to a "publisher". She did not tell me (and I did  not want to know) the name of the "publisher" but she did mention one thing and that's why I have put the quote marks around "publisher".

She said the "publisher" had said in the "terms and conditions" that writers would be asked to contribute to the costs.

Please read my lips: "Proper" publishers do not ask authors to contribute to any of the costs of publishing, marketing, distributing, or anything. OK? Not ever. Yog's Law states that money flows to the author. Don't forget it.

With self-publishing, the author pays all the costs and receives all the income. With selective trade (which I mean by "proper") publishing, the publisher pays all the costs and pays the author a royalty on each book sold. The publisher works hard to sell as many books as possible because this is how they cover their costs and, with luck and skill, make a profit. The publisher is highly selective (unless stupid) because the publisher needs to make a businesslike decision as to which books he believes he can publish profitably. If a publisher is being supported financially by the author, the publisher carries less risk, is therefore less selective in the first place, and may work less hard to sell the books, because he has less to lose. This is precisely why selective trade/traditional publishers so often turn books down. They take on the number of books they can manage, according to their resources. That is wise behaviour. Anything else is reckless and doomed.

As a writer, you need to know that your publisher will really work to sell your books. Otherwise, you'd be better selling them yourself and keeping all the income. Of course, many published writers complain that their publishers don't work hard enough. That's a topic for another post

The heartache of seeing your book die through lack of expertise, energy and effort is worse than rejection, and the likelihood of this happening is far higher if the publisher is not carrying all the risk and costs.

Aim high, stay strong, become informed and be careful.

Note that Write to be Published is often described as a bible for writers. It is recommended by people in all areas of the industry as being a great way to understand every aspect of the publishing and writing businesses. If you read it, you will understand far more than I can say in one blogpost. I wrote it for you!

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 4: Publishing Yourself

Here is the fourth in my series of Crabbit's Tips for Writers. See the sidebar for links to the others. You can either read it in the post below or you can go here and download the complete document and print it out. Enjoy!

TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF-PUBLISH?

A blog reader, Magnus, emailed me, saying:

"After reading your posts on why self/vanity publishing can be a bad idea, I would love to read your thoughts about when s-p can be the right thing to do. Back in 2009 you blogged very briefly about suitable styles of book for s-p (and also what the s-p author should pay for) but it would be interesting to hear a little more detail, particularly if the situation has changed in recent years. And does self-publishing an ebook only (no paper book) make a difference?"

OK, let me say two things before I answer any of that:

1. I am not against self-publishing.
2. I am not against self-publishing.

And some more:

1. I am going to be self-publishing some things myself very soon. Like, tomorrow.
2. I am not against self-publishing.

I say that to stave off the angry people who usually appear on a blog as soon as any published writer dares suggest that self-publishing is not the answer to all the world's ills. It isn't the answer to the world's ills, ok? Or even to publishing's ills. The answer to publishing's ills is good books, properly edited, properly priced, honestly reviewed, fully appreciated.

Yes, the situation has changed in recent years. And is changing all the time. I've moved my position on it, too, because anyone who doesn't move position when the world changes will fall over. Self-publishing is becoming easier; there have been some notable successes; many successful published writers are turning to it, sometimes because they are fed up to the back teeth of being treated by publishers as if expendable and as if they can live on air, sometimes because they can see a way to earn more by doing it themselves, and sometimes just for the sheer freedom of it.

Anyway, to Magnus's questions.

A. Does self-publishing an ebook only (no paper book) make a difference?

Yes, because there is very little cost to you and so you have less to lose. I would be reluctant to recommend s-publishing in print unless you have a whole range of skills and knowledge that most of us don't. You will come up against problems with reluctant bookshops, distribution, warehousing, delivery, print quality etc. You may consider a POD service to support your ebook for things such as launches and to offer an option to customers, but otherwise the economics do not at this stage stack up nearly as well as for ebook only.

However, I recommend Catherine Ryan Howard's seminal book, Self-Printed, for how to do both.

B. What should the s-p author pay for?

I recommend that you maintain complete control by buying in separate bits of expertise, not signing up to a package. I have heard horrible stories of people thinking they were paying for marketing and exposure and getting SFA.

Here are the things you should pay for but in each case I recommend that you hire each expert yourself:

1. Editing and proofreading. Never ever ever rely on software, or on an ordinary reader. There is so much more to it. But it's not always necessary to pay a lot of money, although I believe experts should be paid properly for their work. It can sometimes be done collaboratively if you know the right people - get yourself on Twitter and meet the right people!
2. Cover design. See Catherine's book for advice and warnings. (I am using and fully recommend Andrew Brown of Designforwriters.)
3. Marketing help - OK, you might be able to manage without this. In fact, if you're active on Twitter/blogging etc, you can almost certainly manage without for an ebook. In fact, forget that this is on the list. (But only if you know what you're doing and have the right connections. And are prepared to spend time doing it.)

Layout and typesetting (for print) and formatting and conversion (for ebooks) are also expert skills but if you're doing an ebook only, it's simplified by the fact that ebooks have to be simple. Follow the instructions in Catherine's book. But be careful: she's very bossy, even bossier than I am! I am frightened of her :) Also, her instructions work well for Kindle, which is the easy bit, but Smashwords (allowing you access to the other e-readers) seems way more complicated.)
 
NOTE: As a post script to that, let me tell you what I did. I had intended to format and convert the documents to ebooks myself. I established (by means of a sneaky secret trial during which I published part of Tweet Right and didn't tell anyone!) that I could do the Kindle version perfectly. However, at short notice I decided to call in an expert because a) I didn't want to take the risk of it not being perfect when I did the whole book and I knew she/he could do it better, quicker, more reliably b) I wanted my book to be available on all devices, not just Kindle, and I knew that this was harder and more time-consuming c) I want to publish quite a lot of ebooks, very professionally, and no way did I want to format them all and d) I'm a wuss. I will be blogging about this later and I will then tell you who my ace formatter was.

If you are printing your book, you will have some extra costs, I'm afraid. I can't even face going into them. Put it this way: I will be publishing as ebooks only.

C. When can s-p be the right thing to do? What questions should you ask yourself?

1. When the author has a following and a platform. Ideally, you need an established blog, Twitter and Facebook presence by the time your book comes out. Do you know how to go about this? (By "FB presence" I mean more than the usual FB personal page; I mean an author or product page, with followers.)
2. When the book has been rejected or is likely to be rejected not on the basis of its not being good enough but on the basis of: length (usually, as in too short); mixed genre; too small a market for a publisher to profit from; poetry, short story collections. But be very careful how you interpret rejections - you need objectivity. Can you be realistic about its quality? Will you take the necessary steps towards expert editing?
3. When the author has a memoir that would be interesting to a selected group of people but not more widely. People far too often think their lives are fascinating to everyone. They are usually less fascinating than you'd think. S-p, though, can work well enough for this, as can any niche non-fiction. Are you realistic about your goals for this book?
4. If the book is sci-fi or fantasy - because these genres have enormous fanbases who spend a lot of time online and a lot of time reading. Still need an editor, though.
5. If the type of book lends itself to the e-reading experience. Do your intended readers use Kindle, for example? If not, then you'll reduce your market. Also, books with lots of pictures will be very difficult to produce as ebooks - Kindle is at present in black and white, for example. Pictures and diagrams are tricky to format for ebooks.
6. When the author has huge energy, understanding of using social media, and readiness to work very very hard at promotion. Increasingly, this is the case for ordinary publishing, too, but in s-p you're on your own.
7. When the author has a good understanding of publishing, knows what it is that publishers do well and badly, and believes that he can do as well or, preferably, better.
8. When the previously unpublished author has managed to get over the feeling that being taken on by a publisher has kudos. Personally, I believe it has. I believe that one of the affirming things about being published by a publisher is that they believed in your book enough to put money behind it. But, if you don't feel that strongly, that's fine. Success in s-p will bring its own kudos, but you do have some mental barriers to cross, in your readers' minds, too. This will change only when good s-pubbers focus on quality and stop getting so ansgty, working together with all good, open-minded writers.
9. When a previously published author decides to do it himself. We already have readers, profile, and objective (as far as possible) evidence that we can write and therefore that our book is likely to be good enough. It just means we have a headstart, often a very substantial one.
10. Only when your book has been properly edited. And copy-edited. And proofread. By people who know what they are doing.

There are, of course, no guarantees. There never are. More s-p books will sink without trace but at least you know you tried. And you were in control. I'd rather blame myself for failure than blame a publisher. I'd rather try than always wonder whether I could have succeeded.

An important thing for all writers to realise is this: readers buy fewer books than we'd like. (Some surveys say that UK readers buy as few as 6-10 books per year) and there's vast competition. We must try to achieve some degree of objectivity about our prospects and that only comes through knowledge. Again, plug into Twitter and get meeting people with knowledge!

Here are some questions for you. There are many more questions to ask but these are core. And please adapt them to your particular book and circumstances.

If trade publishing is not a choice for you (as per the criteria above), ask yourself:

1. Have I the time, energy and expertise to run this as a business, on my own?
2. What are my goals and definitions of success? How realistic are they and how much will I mind if they fail? 
3. Can I be patient and do this properly? In other words, how much do I care about my book and its readers?
4. What will buying in expertise cost me? Can I afford it or can I learn the skills myself? Am I prepared to set myself high standards of production, to make the reading experience good for the reader?

If trade publishing is a choice for you but you are considering s-p, ask yourself:

1. Does the likely extra income from self-publishing outweigh the prospect of seeing my physical book in actual shops and any feeling of kudos from publishing? (Bearing in mind that there is also kudos in successful self-publishing now.)
2. Can I acquire or buy the skills I'll need to do this well?
3. Again, have I the time, energy and expertise to run this as a business, on my own?

Magnus, I hope that answers your questions!

I do think that knowledge is power in this game. So, get all the knowledge you can. Don't just believe what you want to believe. Be critical, too.

Everyone - please do add your comments. There's so much more I could have said and maybe some things you disagree with. I know there are lots of s-pubbers out there and you are most welcome to come and add your experiences.

_________________

PS You know I said I was publishing a book tomorrow? Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It is a complete secret and NO ONE must know. It's not called Tweet Right or anything like that. And it is obviously not available for anyone to buy. Anywhere. Not even here.

IN WHICH SOMEONE ELSE SAYS WHAT I THINK ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING

This blog is not about self-publishing but it's right that you know what my position is on that. Happily for me, my views match those expressed here by Mary at Kidlit.

What she says is clear and coherent. Many of you may disagree with her and me. In fact, some people did disagree with her, using the usual arguments, but Mary deals efficiently and truthfully with them in this subsequent post here. In both posts there is good discussion in the comments, too.

Here's what else I think: good self-publishing will only gain the status that good writing deserves, when we (readers) find better ways to discover which are the writers worth reading. That's what the publishing industry does at present, not 100% effectively but a hell of a lot more effectively than authors simply saying, "I'm good - read me." Would you believe any author saying that? Would you believe me saying that?

Very often, the "traditional", selective publishing industry sucks. Very often publishers make decisions which look inexplicable. It's certainly riddled with unfairness and frustration, much of it unseen by the average reader. But for me as a reader, books chosen by publishers are preferable to those not chosen by publishers because the chances that I'll enjoy them are vastly higher. This is simply becuase there's been a selection process in which someone other than the author has decided it's worth investing money. I know that's terribly frustrating for good self-published writers but somehow they are going to have to find a way to get their books under my radar and the radars of lots of other readers who simply don't have time to read everything.

Anyways, let's not have an argument about the merits or otherwise - I have a much more constructive challenge for you. Do you have any suggestions as to how good self-published authors can get their work seen and read by mainstream readers? Thing is, when I read a published book, I know someone selected it, edited it and believed in it enough to invest money in it. That's a powerful endorsement.

How can self-published books compete against that endorsement? I'm genuinely keen to know. And if you are contemplating self-publishing, you absolutely must know the answer to that question.

QUALITY STREET

Now here is someone speaking sense. It's allied to the post I did recently on the dangers of being "published badly".

It's a tough message but in these days of easy self-publishing, it's really important for serious writers to look after their work properly.

Here's what I take from Joe Konrath's post and what I'd like you to copy out and place under your pillow, literally if necessary:

1. Just because you can easily self-publish an ebook (or physical book) doesn't mean it's always a good idea. In fact, it could well be a very bad idea. The dangers of self-pubbing an ebook are much worse than for a physical book: chances are that few people will see your physical book but your ebook will be much easier to sell and spread - which is GOOD, but only if it's good...

2. If your self-published ebook is crap, it will be ripped to shreds and your reputation will be materially damaged, ruining your chances of successful publication of any sort later. Unless you grow a literary beard of such proportions that no one will will ever recognise you.

3. Your self-published ebook almost certainly is not good enough if you have not had quality feedback on it. That goes for me, after many books published, just as much as it goes for someone completely unpublished. 

I am not against self-publishing, honestly. What I'm against is writers thinking they're ready when they're not, and thereby storing up huge disappointment and wreckage for later.

But Joe has much more to say and many more sensible, practical and honest tips, including how to get that feedback and make sure your writing is good enough. Go read - and let me go and unpack some more boxes.

PS - edited to add: this post was originally written before I moved house, when I thought it was just going to be a matter of unpacking boxes and then filing my nails. OH GOD HOW WRONG I WAS! As many of you will know from my anguish on Twitter, I find myself broadbandless and therefore unable to edit posts and comment etc. So, how come I am editing this post?? Because, sound the trumpets, I AM IN STARBUCKS. 


Anyway, I'm very stressed and overwhelmed. I have massive deadlines and tasks to do, and I can now only do them in a café, which is better than nothing but not ideal. On the other hand, maybe I could be the new JK Rowling? That would be nice.


Meanwhile, I haven't been able to use the lovely fact of being shortlisted for the Author Blog Awards, or do anything to promote Wasted. I haven't been able to use the fabulous comments I've had about it so far. And this coming week is the week of phoning plumbers, electricians, joiners, floorers, not to mention my agent and publishers to ask for help. To yell for HELP, to be precise. Meanwhile, thank you to the wonderful Catherine Hughes, who has been a voice of calm and efficiency. I would be nowhere without her. (She's being my assistant for the blog-tour for Wasted.)

Apparently, AOL are deigning to re-connect my broadband account (which I am still paying for) on Weds. After that, and when everything I fully sorted, I plan to dump them, as they have been massively less than helpful. Any suggestions as to who is best to sign up with? 


When I am "in a better place", I will reward you all for your lovely support, but meanwhile I need some more time before I can be back to full blog-power. I will be back. Actually, I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of yesterday's free prize draw for Wasted. Meanwhile, don't forget to become a follower on the Wasted blog if you want a weekly chance of a free book.


Off to drink some more coffee - thank you, St Starbuck.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

An awesome post over on Editorial Ass the other day had me cheering in my seat, somewhat inappropriately as I was on a train at the time. She (I always assume Ed Ass is a she) makes some essential points about the panic and stress that sets in while authors are submitting their work, warning that this panic and stress can cause poor decisions and end in inferior publication.

EA says:

"It's better not to be published at all than to get published in an inferior way. Doors begin to close if you try to take shortcuts. Instead, take your time to do things right. Accept no compromises. You will be much unhappier with a published book that has gone awry than with an unpublished book that still has potential."

Thing is, the zen which EA asks us to conjure up is nigh on possible, and she acknowledges that it is at least very difficult. As writers desperate to get our writing out there, we desire publication and we desire it NOW. Or sooner if at all possible.

But every bit of her advice is absolutely right. Difficult or impossible though it is, we must put that burning desire aside in favour of another burning desire: to get the right book published in the right way. Successful publishing is not just about this one book: it's about you as a writer, and you will carry your first book with you for the rest of your writing life. Yes, if you go on to be stunningly successful, you may not mind too much, but a poor first book nowadays can make it difficult to go forward, partly because poor sales figures can no longer be hidden. Thanks, Nielsen Bookbloodyscan.

EA says, crucially:

"Book publication is affected by many factors. A book may deserve to get published, but the market may be wrong. A book idea may be wonderful, but the execution may not be really up to snuff and need more work. The author may be a fantastic writer, but maybe this particular manuscript isn't the best book on its own, or maybe it's a good book but not a good debut. In all of these cases, if the author pushes, pushes, pushes for publication no matter what, they will damage both their future career as a writer and their relationship with their art."

Those are the very good reasons why your very good work may not have achieved publication. Yes, it's maddeningly, teeth-gnashingly, finger-chewingly, gut-wrenchingly horrible when we can't get published for these reasons. (Remember that I have been there: 21 years of anger and desperation gnawed at me while I failed to be published but somehow succeeded in smiling at the world and pretending nothing was wrong.)

The problem nowadays, more than ever, is that it's actually easier than ever to get published - if we include being published badly. What do we mean by "published badly"? There are two main ways:

• when a genuine publisher doesn't know what it's doing. Anyone can set up a publishing company and it's a very laudable thing to do, but it's a case of Author Beware. If it's brand new, what relevant background and back-up does the publisher have? How do they plan to get your book into shops? If it's not brand new, what sales figures, reviews and exposure did they achieve for previous publications? How aggressive are they in the industry? (They need to be. An example of a good small and newish publisher - about five years old now, I think - is Strident Publishing. Strident by name and strident by nature! I know Keith Charters well and he's tireless in selling his authors' books and has a business background behind him, as well as being an author himself.) Crucially, ask about copy-editing, proof-reading and design processes - does your proposed publisher outsource and pay properly for this?
• when a company masquerading as a publisher is actually part of the self-pubbing industry - there's nothing wrong with decent self-pubbing, as long as it isn't masquerading as something else. (Google the name of the company plus the word "self-publishing"; and, just in case, with the word "scam"...) Too many authors don't know the difference and then laud their "publishing deal" as though something more had happened than that they'd paid for a service. Note: if you pay anything for publication or have to sell your own books rather than receiving a % on each book sold by the company, you have not "been published"; you have paid for publication. This is not just a matter of semantics - I explain below why you should be careful.

But does this matter? Can't my first published book just be a toe-in-the-water thing, an experiment, a stepping-stone to future success? After all, it will show publishers that I'm serious, won't it?

Only if the book is a success. And I cannot tell you how unlikely this is. Have you any idea how hard the book-selling process is? It is hard enough for big publishers with their sales forces and marketing departments to achieve good sales, and often they fail. But it is far harder for anyone else. On the rare occasions when you hear of a runaway success from self-publishing or from a publisher who doesn't know what he's doing, there's always something untold in the story: for example, the author may have put many thousands of his own money, or at the very least had huge chutzpah, annoyed the hell out of every bookseller and librarian on the planet and had no time for writing or living. Or the author already had a background in sales / marketing and was perfectly willing to spend time and money using it. And certainly the author had some way of engineering many events to sell the book. Runaway success like this is enormously rare, which is why you hear the same-old-same-old few examples trotted out every time. I'm NOT saying don't self-publish, but I am saying go into it with eyes wide open because success comes rarely and at a huge price - if you're a writer, you are likely to love writing, not selling. And you're likely not to understand the business. If you do, and you do prefer selling to writing, and you have lots of money to invest in paying for help, fine.

But what if I don't mind about small sales? I just want my book out there. I need to see it between lovely covers, in a shop. Pleeeeeease!

I know, I know. Trust me, I do so know how you feel. But another aspect of bad publishing is that it probably won't be between lovely covers. It will be between crappy covers, looking all limp with cheap paper and print that goes too close to the edge because the publisher was cutting costs. It will be full of typos and weird fonts and widows and orphans and peculiar layouts. And the back cover blurb will make everyone laugh, for the wrong reasons. (I have several examples on my shelves, sent to me by authors furious at what has been done to them and their beloved books by unscrupulous companies masquerading as publishers.)

Oh, and it won't be in a shop. Most books published by most publishers are not in most shops. For self-pubbers, multiply that ten-fold.

And when you then write another better book, how you will wish that the first one wasn't published! I offer you Editorial Ass's wise words again:

"Some projects, however good they are, never need to see the light of day, because they've been stepping-stones on your road to self-development. They are what will train you to write the book that really matters."

The book that really matters. Isn't that what really matters to you? The thought that the book you are trying to sell now, that you have slaved and sweated and angsted over, may not be the book that should be published, is a terribly difficult thought to bear. But the moment when you come to that decision and start another book, gently wrapping the first one up and laying it to rest with an ausible sob, could be the most important and positive moment of your writing life.

You may be interested to know that I have two such novels, and about a week ago I realised that I am now ready to write them again, and properly. I have realised how to make them work. And gosh am I glad they were not published! I shudder at the thought.

I'd also like to you to read this older, excellent post from the Kidlit people here. Please. It underlines all the above.

Now, it could be that the novel you are writing or submitting now IS fabulous and will be published well and for all the right reasons. But it is statistically more likely that it isn't and that you are still at the practising stage. Think of it as being like wanting to be a concert pianist: you wouldn't want to go on stage before you were good enough, would you? You'd wait till your teacher said you were ready. Well, consider the distinct possibility that this piece of writing is not the piece that will happily launch your career, but that it is very usefully making you better, until you will one day be ready, and then you can launch your career, knowing that you really are on the way to success and that you will look at your first published book with pride.

It comes back to my oft-repeated "simple" theory of getting published: write the right book in the right way and send it to the right publisher in the right way at the right time.

And that right time might not be now because this book might not be the right one. But it will make you better.

BY HER SHOES SHALL THEY KNOW HER

Thank you to so many of you for good wishes yesterday. Here's my impression of the evening.


Normally, I find a "learning" for any picture or anecdote, but I confess that today's link is a bit tenuous. It is that I wish Vanity publishers would be as up front about their vanity as I am about mine. I keep hearing stories of people being sucked in and not having a clue what's going on.

Remember Golden Rule number one: the person entitled to earn money from your writing is a) you (first) and b) the people who work to help make your book into a proper book that anyone might want to read. If the so-called "publisher" offers you neither advance, royalty nor fee, EVER, it is not a publisher and you will not be published. You will simply be wrapped in a tacky cover that people will be amazed at for all the wrong reasons. (Oh, and btw, the fact that it's "Arts Council funded" doesn't tell you anything relevant.)

Edited to add: I just came across a very informative site by Johnathon Clifford, who gives a lot of pretty clear advice about how to tell what's a Vanity press or not (including how to spot the GOOD ones, for there are good ones and perfectly valid reasons why you might choose this method for certain books that could not be commercially published.)

Lynn Price and Jane Smith (through her guest blogger, David L. Kusminski) have also been thinking about the ways that unwary authors can be deceived by various scams and promises. As always, they bring you important insights. In fact, it was reading Jane's guest post that reminded me how annoyed I am by the traps that catch unwary authors.

So - cue learning point - keep on your toes: even if they are pointy and pink and somewhat decadent.