09/13/2026
Every time I hear a horror story about someone getting victimized by a vanity press (“hybrid publisher,” “shared-cost publisher,” or any other aliases vanity presses are going by these days), the tale inevitably begins with “they reached out to me.” This pattern of interaction has proven to me that the easiest way for predators to find new prey is to contact that prey first.
▬▬Consider Cold Contact Spam▬▬
If any supposed “traditional publisher” contacts you out of the clear blue sky, you can be about 99.99% certain that you’re dealing with a vanity publisher (again, they will sometimes hide behind titles like “hybrid publisher” or “shared-cost publisher,” but these are the same wolves in different kinds of sheep’s clothing).
These entities will contact you via telephone, text message, email, direct messages on social media, and even snail mail. These are the same spammy tactics that telemarketers use. Vanity publishers can get bots or underpaid humans to make hundreds or thousands of contacts each day to people they know may want to publish a book and are new to the industry. They prey on the fact that you don’t know “which way is up.” This lack of knowledge makes it easy for them to convince you that you should “publish” with them. Though this really isn’t “publishing” the way you have seen your favorite authors do it, either by publishing independently or getting a book deal with a traditional publisher. Vanity publishers amount to about the same as a printer, except that they will charge you exponentially more for the service than going to a printer directly.
Traditional publishers are inundated with people wanting to get book deals from them. So they don’t have the desire or the time to spend on randomly connecting with writers who may not even have finished their first draft—and who definitely aren’t yet being represented by a literary agent—to ask if they want to publish with them.
An analogy would be Beyoncé going door-to-door in a random neighborhood asking for people to be backup dancers for her next concert. This would be an extreme waste of her time and resources when there are miles-long lines of talented, seasoned professionals salivating over the chance to work with her in any capacity, let alone being able to share a stage with her.
So, if someone came to your door claiming to be / work with Beyoncé and offered you a chance to be her backup dancer for her next concert for “only” $10,000, are you going to buy that “opportunity?” For the sake of my blood pressure, I’m going to assume your answer is “no” and move on. :D
▬▬Protect Yourself▬▬
It can be tempting to disbelieve me, I know. I can understand how, being a newer writer, the idea of getting a traditional book deal can still seem super glamorous to you as you dream of becoming a celebrity author. And I hope you keep that dream alive. That’s part of what makes writing fun for some people, so don’t let what I’m telling you take that away.
All I want you to understand is that thinking that a traditional publisher uses spam tactics to get new authors is a direct path to regret and bankruptcy. And I don’t want that for you.
These predators will find you in a multitude of ways. If you’ve done any of these public things, or similar, you’re at risk for vanity press bots and human agents finding you and trying to get you to buy their services.
— You are part of a writing group in your area.
— You are a member of a writing organization such as the Atlanta Writers Club, Sisters in Crime, or the National League of American Pen Women.
— You have attended events (Eventny, Eventbrite, etc.) related to writing or publishing.
— You are part of an online group or recurring chat event involving publishing on sites like Bluesky or Facebook.
— You engage with content from traditional publishers like Macmillan, HarperCollins, or Hachette.
—You’ve publicly commented or posted about wanting to become a published author some day.
—You’ve submitted a copyright registration.
What’s so awful about these being the ways vanity publishers find their victims is that you are simply doing what is going to help your literary career: you’re plugging into the global writing community. This is how you grow your author support network, find new fans, learn new writing techniques, and learn about the technology and experts who can help you at various points throughout your career.
This means that the strongest defense you have against getting wrapped up in vanity press nonsense is knowledge. Now that you understand that a traditional publishing house doesn’t resort to telemarketing in order to find authors to publish, this makes protecting yourself much easier.
▬▬Keep It Simple▬▬
If you get an unsolicited contact (meaning you did not reach out to them first to ask to be contacted) from a person or company claiming to be / represent a publisher about publishing your book, I suggest you just walk away. Hang up, block, and report their phone number. Block and report their email address or social media profile. Once you realize what they are doing (contacting you out of nowhere about publishing), just end the interaction. You don’t owe predators an explanation or even a good-bye.
▬▬Are Exceptions Worth the Risk?▬▬
You will likely come across people who swear by the rando who emailed them out of the blue offering to publish their work. You may see this as an exception to the pattern of cold contacts being facilitated mostly by nefarious entities. But on the rare occasions that I’ve seen an author be “satisfied” with a vanity publisher, it’s been for one sad reason: ignorance.
The author who is singing the praises of the predator that victimized them by making them pay thousands of dollars for a couple of steps the author could have done for free on their own (or for closer to something like $500 instead of more than $5,000) honestly has no clue that they have been scammed. They genuinely believe that they simply swapped out struggling for a traditional book deal with paying someone to publish it for them, and that’s it.
Because they are new, they have no idea how little of what was promised was actually delivered, how much more money they paid than they needed to, and how many other ways they’re getting taken advantage of (for example, annual “distribution” or “storage” fees, or having to buy egregiously marked up copies of their own book).
Again, this can easily happen because scammers target people who don’t know any better. That’s the crux of their operation. If they went after seasoned authors who are more savvy about publishing, they would never find any victims. So of course Jack thinks he got a great deal on those magic beans and wants you to trade your cow so you can get some, too.
Jack’s endorsement doesn’t mean anything. Keep your cow! 🐄 You’ll find someone willing to give you what it’s worth.
