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dandelion:

Maybe it's about time some sort of plug is pulled...

_

Wait, Dandelion! Not yet!


"Gee, Mr. Carpenter, are those real diamonds?"

"I like you, Mr. Carpenter.
You're a real screwball."
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/TheDayTheEarthStoodSTill.html

And I was just about to go get my ukulele too. But now that the moderator has given a gentle, moderate nudge in the direction of some relevant talk�and though I usually hesitate in asserting my own opinion in these hallowed halls--I�ll take a stab at it.

I�m really not a big fan of Print-on-Demand or Vanity Press type publishing. I think it can be, but not always is, like cheating on an exam. You either get a grade based on merit or the one you manipulate by other means. If an author has worth, more often than not, eventually, they�ll get published. In that case, I assume that the work is worth my time. But if they are the only judge, well� That not withstanding, I�m sure there are exceptions. But as a reader I don�t want to take a chance on wasting my time in the investigation. I would prefer to rely on edited works.

Even so, I do have respect for those who use that method of publishing and I wish them well. However, I would hope that if they�re going to post on this site that they would declare what they are doing and not use evasion. In this I sympathize with grasstains. I would sooner be run over by a haystack than incur grasstains ire-- and I haven�t seen hide nor hair of the desperado since there was a question about the AE-35�s reliability.

Chapter 31, and above:

Hear hear!

Did not Edgar A. Poe vanity press himself? I think the great young black poet Lawrence Dunbar (Oh, so magnificent!) did the same, with a book title "Oak & Ivy".

...& Other authors as well. Many!!
(Dunbar link: http://www.dunbarsite.org/

Ha! Should make a list of all great authors who originally started by a simple vanity pressing of their works...

Why, Bradbury published ""Futura Fantasia""... that's a self published works of sorts.

However, today, with the internet, EVERYBODY is self publishing.
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[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 01-11-2006).]

Nard,
You point out some interesting exceptions but I guess I�m doomed to lurk about in the musty guaranteed stuff like Ray�s next book or the O�Henry I haven�t read yet etc, etc.

There wasn't any offense intended with my mention of vanity presses earlier in this thread. One summer some years ago, I helped research a mid-1800s murder/lynching. Some of that research is now part of a vanity press published book. The author, a friend's father, spent years collecting details about the story. The book itself is of fine quality, and the author can be proud of his accomplishment.
Yet, I can't help but wonder if the book would've been more successful if a New York house had published it.

Many kind readers, myself included, often make buying decisions based on the perceived validation of a major publisher. But there are also days when it's great to kick back with some university's English Dept. chapbook.