Editing Vanity press (section)

== Vanity publishing scams ==
Vanity presses often engage in deceptive practices or offer costly, poor-quality services with limited recourse available to the writer.  In the US, these practices have been cited by the [[Better Business Bureau]] as unfavorable reports by consumers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business-reviews/publishers-book/america-star-books-in-frederick-md-32010985|title=America Star Books, LLLP|access-date=22 May 2016|archive-date=23 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623224500/http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business-reviews/publishers-book/america-star-books-in-frederick-md-32010985|url-status=dead}}</ref>

One common scam is when a vanity press pretends to operate a traditional publishing arm, where the publishing house bears the full cost. However, when an author submits his work, he is told it does not quite meet the standards required for traditional publishing, but that the company will still publish it if the author pays for something—engaging their professional editor, committing to buying a large number of copies of the book, or another similar excuse. In reality, the exorbitant fee charged for these services will fully cover the vanity publisher's costs for producing the book.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://writersweekly.com/ask-the-expert/vanity-publisher|title=When a Vanity Publisher...Pretends to be Traditional|date=11 January 2017|website=Writers' Weekly}}</ref> Such a scam is a plot point in [[Umberto Eco]]'s novel ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]''.