I have found your blog only this afternoon whilst trawling for “stuff” that I would encourage people to find and read.

As with Earlyworks Press, is it of any use to you if I promote the blog (as I do various other poetry publishers and small presses/booksellers) on my Facebook pages?

If you do not want new readers, just say so, and I shall not mention you.

That being the case, you have looked at the cost of independent self-publishing and decided you aren’t ready to invest that much so yes, in your case, I’d say there isn’t much to lose - you are testing the system on a work that otherwise probably wouldn’t see the light of day. I only have one remaining quibble then.

What a shame that YouWriteOn didn’t see fit to allow for some free author-copies! If, as you say, you have a bit of experience in marketing books, having a boxful of your own for exhibitions and readings could just do the job, and lift the book into what you describe as a ‘mid-list title’. As such, it could enhance your reputation and pay you a small but encouraging sum. Well, maybe you’ll manage that anyway. I wish you the best of luck. It looks as though you have the experience and the vision which tend to create luck.

I’m still pummeling my Ms into shape for YouWriteOn - and I shall hand it over, plus my £40 and try and make an opportunity out of it. I don’t have the resources to produce my own book. I do have some contacts and some nouse and I shall do my best to market it.

I consider that, if there was still a mid-list, I’d be a mid-list author. There isn’t, so I’m not published. The novel that I’m sending to YouWriteOn is nearing the end of its shelf life. Several largish and smallish publishers to whom I had an ‘in’ have rejected it. I don’t know where else to send it. I have another project to work on now. If I’m to reap any reward for 5 years of work and worry over that book this is IT. There’s nothing else.

I’m happy to be a guineapig and see if this IS vanity publishing. I’ve certainly been mildly singed by more blatant and MUCH more expensive vanity publishing enterprises in the past.

Arts Council funded YouWriteOn.com will publish the first 5,000 writers who contact us for Free - Fiction & Non-Fiction

I don’t think that counts as making it absolutely clear that the project isn’t Arts Council endorsed or funded.

AND I’d like to underline once more that this ISN’T a self-publishing scheme. If it was, the writers would own the books themselves and get 100% of the profit, not 60%.

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Dear Geraint

Thank you for your enquiry.

Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. Arts Council England’s main funding programme is Grants for the arts. It is open to individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work.

YouWriteOn.com receives funding from Arts Council England to run its website forum and professional critique service for writers.

Arts Council England has not funded, and has not endorsed, the separate Print-on-Demand self-publishing service offered through the site.

As with any self-publishing service, Arts Council England would encourage writers to read the terms and conditions carefully and make an informed judgement about the service on offer. If in doubt, you should contact the Society of Authors www.societyofauthors.org who have information sheets and guidance about self-publishing and vanity publishing.

We have asked the site moderator to make this absolutely clear, so that there is no confusion about the involvement of Arts Council England.

Kind regards

Gemma Thorpe
Customer Service Advisor, Enquiries
Arts Council England

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Thus I think the answer to the blog title is ‘NO’, however the points made by Kay are equally valid. Out of curiosity I set an application and managed to receive two invitations back to publish my work. I am concerned that my work has been accepted due to a 50 word synopsis and that the publishing will take place in the form I sent, so no proof-reading or editing just straight out, warts n’ all. It seems a bit too gimmicky for my liking.

But back to that word ‘vanity’ is there any writer out there who can honestly say they don’t want their work read, approved of, paid for? Is that vanity, or legitimate, professional ambition? The problem is, we tend to think of ‘vanity’ as self-regard - or as a tendency to over-value your own work - but the first definition in the OED is ‘futility’ - and there’s the key. If someone is offering to display your work, you need to ask yourself, ‘what is the purpose’. If you can’t see a useful purpose, it’s all in vain. For someone seeking a career as an artist, that primary school drawing re-appearing is totally futile - in fact it will probably have a negative effect on their career.

I still maintain that money itself isn’t the key. To quote writer Sarah James in a very thoughtful piece she recently posted elsewhere, ‘ask yourself where the money is going.’ In this case, if it’s going to pay a printer, fine - as long as, when the printer’s done his job, you own the product you’ve paid him for. If it’s going into a publishing house which truly values and markets your sort of work, great. If it’s going straight into your own pocket, better still but if it’s going into the pocket of someone who’s just sold you a dream, and has no intention of marketing your work - forget it, it’s in vain!

I completely agree that Mark should not talk himself down. If he doesn’t think his work is good enough to be published properly (either by a small press or a large one) then he should use sites like the one mentioned above to help him improve. However, paying to get published does not help one improve (unless you realise your mistake and vow never to take that route again).

Having read Mark’s response, I feel he must admit, surely, that he is in favour of vanity publishing - indeed, he says himself (and I quote) ‘but the real gain is the pride of seeing our work on display.’ That quote, if the context is the way I read it - and feel free to correct me if I’ve misunderstood you, Mark - demonstrates a position completely in favour of VANITY publishing.

Writers write for many reasons, including compulsion, bliss, excitement, etc. However, if any writer is writing simply to ’see their work on display,’ then vanity publishing is for them. I’m not making a value judgement, if that’s what you want and you go into it with your eyes (and pocket) open, fine. However, in my opinion, a good deal of potentially good, potentially successful writers are, I feel, stifled and suffocated at an early stage in their career because they fall into the trap of publishing for vanity instead of working at their craft a few more years - yes, years. Of course, not all great writers get published, but not all published work is by great writers. I for one would rather write til I’m on my deathbed having never been published at all IF what I’ve written wasn’t good enough artistically and technically.

One last point, and I’m really not trying to have a go at you personally, Mark, it’s just that your comments strike me as a tad naive and I’d rather try and help you and get lambasted for it than keep quiet when I might have made a positive difference, so forgive me but your comment that ‘it seems to me that YWO have only the authors’ interests at heart’ would only make sense if they were not going to profit financially from their scheme. They are, patently, going to profit from it so how can you say they only have the writers’ interests at heart?

You, Mark, are one of the ones I’d call vulnerable. One of your stories was, as you know, chosen for one of our Earlyworks Press anthologies and whilst we do produce the anthologies with the intention of encouraging and developing new writers, we NEVER publish anything we aren’t willing to stand by as professional standard work - so what are you doing suggesting that YouWriteOn pod books are the best you can hope for?

And to any YouWriteOn buffs who are offended by my choice of example, I am sorry, I am not critising your critiquing and workhshopping efforts but I chose this one specifically because it represents so well one of those dangerous ‘grey areas’ - the YouWriteOn forum is, as far as I know, a useful and positive resource for writers, the website is Arts Council Funded, so everything looks hunky dory - but a pod publisher that charges the writer for copies of their own work is NOT. The Arts Council DO NOT want their name attached to that scheme.

It’s the apparently deliberate blurring of the positive with the exploitative that worries me.