Member-only story
Beware the “Vanities” Who Will Fleece You for Your Money, Not Your Talent
Writers who want to be published authors are prime meat for hawking publishers, who wait for them to fall prey to their traps.
"Published author" is a seductive riff that too many writers find to be the siren song that Ulysses fell victim to. Like the tragic Greek hero, they are unaware that there are at least three ways to publish: brick-and-mortar, vanity, and self-publishing.
Today, any writer can publish a book for free if they write the manuscript, format it, and provide the cover. It's no longer necessary to go hat-in-hand to a publishing house or seek an agent to take your proposal to these publishers. Thanks to the Internet and digital technology, you can be an author and a publisher of your own works and do it all freely on an Amazon website called KDP.
But not everyone knows this, nor does everyone, especially neophyte writers with stars in their eyes, know that there are those out there who present themselves as bona fide, honorable publishing houses. This could not be further from the truth. They are in it for the money, and they will publish anything you give them as long as it's not tied to someone else's copywritten material.
You can find books that have fallen out of the copyright restriction (in the public domain) and publish…
