New Publisher Promises Changes in Current Subsidy/Vanity Format
Company notes that too much misleading has soured the subsidy/vanity industry and declares that it's time to re-establish faith in this aspect of publishing.
Westerville, OH (PRWEB) July 15, 2005 -- A new subsidy publisher states that
the negative views given to subsidy and vanity publishing is from poor business
practices, such as misleading potential authors –- and vows to change the
rules.
Pugu Press (www.pugupress.com) is a new subsidy publisher and the owner,
Ms. P. A. Grover, tells a tale that could come right out of a spy
novel:
"Most of the subsidy or vanity publishers in business today focus
on one thing -- driving the authors to spend more and more money. Most of the
time, the money they spend is far more than what they needed to spend. The
publishing world as a whole is confusing enough without someone muddying the
waters."
Pugu Press cites that the negativity toward subsidy presses
(commonly known as 'vanity presses') comes from the companies not being willing
to be up front about everything they do. "There have been plenty of cases where
authors have questioned sales," Ms. Grover commented. "It’s a simple thing to
have a complete accounting sent from the printer, directly to the author,
showing exactly how many copies are sold. Pugu Press is incorporating this into
our structure." Ms. Grover continued to comment that while the costs involved
are a bit more than the actual cost to publish a book, the additional costs are
necessary. "In the business world, there are many companies offering services.
Naturally, these services cost more than the actual service itself because of
overhead. The trick is to keep the cost as low as possible."
Another
point that Pugu Press maintains is that they don't cater to the old habits of
selling only to the author. "We don't offer 'volume discounts' or any of the
other gimmicks that a majority of vanities offer,” Ms. Grover stated. “When you
offer a volume discount, you are, in effect, giving the author the amount of
discount that you can give them anyway. This is the same with mailing lists. We
aren’t in the business of selling address lists to make money.” Ms. Grover’s
last comment was directed at reports that some presses request a mailing list
from the author so they can send out announcements -- lists which too often end
up being sold to marketing firms because the addresses are known to be valid.
Ms. Grover stated that while Pugu Press can, and will, send out announcements,
the author is not required to provide a list and will certainly not have to pay
for this additional service.
Hoping to cash in on a reputation for
honesty, Pugu Press claims that a majority of vanity presses don’t admit who
they are. However, Pugu Press is up front on their 'About Us' page: "Pugu Press
wants to clarify, up front, that we are a subsidy publisher. Subsidy publishers
are often called 'vanity' publishers. While this has been a black mark in the
past, we do not feel that this is a negative connotation."
Pugu Press
states that they will not publish anything that is immoral or offensive.
Otherwise, the field is open. However, they do reserve the right to refuse
publication, based upon the subject matter.
Pugu Press may be contacted
at:
Pugu Press
P.O. Box 261
Westerville, OH 43086
www.pugupress.com
(Note: Contact is preferred through
the company website as this filters information requests to the proper
departments in order to speed response time and track inquiries for improving
service.)
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/7/prweb261364.htm