Vanity, thy name is Penguin.

There's been a lot of news around lately about the latest "service" being offered to epublishers. And I use the term service with a sneer, 'cause folks, it ain't to help you. It's vanity publishing with a new name. Publish America, anyone?

It seems Penguin, a big name publisher, has decided to fleece unsuspecting writers by charging them to upload a file and get published, for a fee plus a large percentage of royalties, forever.

Depending on the tier you choose, they don't even do the formatting for you, and there's no editing or cover design. People, if I can learn to format and upload, anybody can, if they are willing to take a little time.


It's a scam, people. They don't really do anything for you that you can't do for yourself, or get done for a flat fee. And if you don't believe me, check out how others are reporting this.

I won't give you a lot of links, just google it. Man, you're on the internet, use it! (Here's a tip, though:  check out the links in my sidebar to J. A. Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith. If you're at all interested in epublishing, you should be reading their blogs anyway.)

The sad thing is, Penguin isn't the only one to try this road in the new world of publishing.

If you're interested in a brief explanation of the "services" from Penguin, and some links to how/where to publish your own books and keep the profits, check here:

http://www.davidhburton.com/?p=6502

Anyway, I'll turn my rant face off, I've got loads of work to do, and that editing won't do itself. Drat it.

Until next time, Gentle Readers,