Lara's Wanderings

Update from 3/9/2023 – Westbow press has refunded every penny they charged. I have not received any communication after the refund, but I appreciate them making this right considering the deception that happened,

I have self-published my novels since 2016, so I strongly support self-publishing. I have also been part of various societies and guilds and support the idea of having them. This post, though, is going to be harshly honest. I have been around enough authors who are NOT internationally famous or making a full-time living on their work to see how predatory and ruthless businesses suck money from authors.

Publishing was not always the way it is today. Since the invention of writing, anyone could hire a scribe to write down their words. During the middle ages, we have records of people hiring scribes to create multiple manuscripts of their writing. Once the press was invented, you can read biographies of many authors paying for their books to be printed. In the 1700 through the 1800s, many different kinds of contracts were created for the mass printing of books. Sometimes a printer would buy the copyright for a book outright, but most of the time there was a contract for some kind of royalties in which the author received 90% of the profits and the printer received 10%. It wasn’t until after the 1900s that these numbers were reversed.

Many vanity presses will point to this information and say how wicked traditional publishers are for paying authors peanuts. Yet vanity self-publishers are worse. They do not make almost any money from selling books at all. They make their money from authors. An author will pay thousands of dollars for what they can do themselves and get may 200 books to sit in their closet.

Here is mu personal experience. I have self-published, successfully, 5 young adult fantasy fiction novels through Amazon’s KDP. They require you to do everything from typesetting to creating your cover. They keep between 30% to 70% of the the sales price per book, but charge nothing upfront. It isn’t a spectacular deal considering the cost to them of selling an ebook or the paper to print, but it is the best price out there if you are capable of designing and selling your own book.

I was trying to publish my 6th young adult novel, but this time go through Westbow, so I didn’t have to do so much myself with the arrival of my third child. Westbow clearly and boldly lied about what was included in the contract. I specifically asked for editing/proofreading to be included. They said that they would add “Editorial Review” (which is not editing but the recommendation to get editing) to be included. After signing the contract and paying my first payment, they decided they wouldn’t publish my book because it was fantasy. I very clearly said what genre it was over and over again from the beginning. They then wanted to transfer my project to another publisher, which revealed the lies in their contract. I asked for a refund, but they said that $475 was nonrefundable even though they were the ones who broke the contract.

I do not want other writers to go through what I went through. so I advise you against Westbow. I have used Amazon KDP and even talked with Bookbaby, who are both safer, more honest self-publishing options. My experience with Westbow is not unique. Just do a simple Google search. In fact, Westbow is not the only predatory vanity press out there either. I thought that I could be safe going that route since I was a professional graphic designer who has worked for a publisher before. If I got robbed, I know so many other people are too. Please, please, please writers, beware!

Check out my young adult fantasy fiction novels HERE for something optimistic and fun.

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