Printing/Publishing: Be Careful!

​These are somewhat interchangeable terms in the industry. If you Google “Book Publishers,” you will get dozens and dozens of offers.  Most of them are not worth a tinker’s damn. Many of them are outright crooks. They will lure you with “mail or e-mail your book, if we find it acceptable, we will mail you a contract.” Guess what, they’re all acceptable. A few years ago a group of authors cobbled together a horrible novel on purpose to test one of these companies. It was accepted. The next step? Mail money, no surprise.  I was strung along twice (slow learner) by these outfits. It cost me money and time and was discouraging.
 

 If you’re intrigued you can check out this site. (www.writerbeware.com), or e-mail them at beware@sfwa.org for a direct and specific answer. They list dangerous and dishonest publishers and are being sued for being so direct and honest. Another source is Predators & Editors (http://pred-ed.com) It lists many editors and agents and highlights the bad ones.