How to be a Scammer's Least Favorite Person

When it comes to self-publishing there are a wide variety of different scams and avoiding them can be difficult Complicating the issue is that there are a lot of people who figure that because there is a boom in self-publishing, they should cash in on the trend; this has led a lot of people who think their business management skills would be great for self-publishers as well as those who hope to parlay their experience into an actual business. This translates to having a lot of people who actively seek to separate self-publishers and their money, those who simply don't care, and those with the best intentions.

For our purposes, all of these people are considered "scammers," so this is the only time a distinction will be made between them. Avoiding most of them is pretty easy; while there is no foolproof method, there are a lot of easy-to-detect signs.

Let's Start With The Checklist

The Independent Association of Book Publishers has put out a list of recommendations for those looking to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. The problem is that because it's not a regulatory commission, it has no power to enforce these rules, so not everyone follows the recommendations, nonetheless it does provide a good starting point.

Briefly, the checklist is based on nine points: 

1. Publishers must have a mission and vision. 
2. There must be a vetting process.
3. They must publish under their own imprint and ISBNs. 
4. Books must be published to industry standards. 
5. Books must be of good editorial, design, and production quality. 
6. A range of publishing rights must be ensured and managed properly. 
7. The publisher must provide distribution services. 
8. They should be able to demonstrate respectable sales. 
9. Authors must be paid a higher-than-standard royalty.

However, as noted, this is just a list of recommendations, and some good sites may not follow this list (most notably, they tend to be lacking in the distribution department, and not everyone vets submissions). However, this list forms the basis of a number of suggestions for avoiding scammers, so it's worth noting.

There is one other guiding principle: Trust your gut. You're forming a partnership where you're trusting someone with your baby and possibly giving them a lot of money (this is an investment of at least several thousand dollars). Because of that, if you're not comfortable with the company, then don't go with them; it's as simple as that.

[One bit of advice you should ignore: "Don't pay to publish." While this is great advice when it comes to traditional publishers (Bonus Advice: If they claim to be a "traditional publisher" but ask for payment, RUN!), it doesn't really apply to hybrid publishers. Straight Up: You're self-publishing so someone needs to pay for the services rendered and you just need to decide if you want to deal with one entity of several. It's your choice.]

Let's Look At Some Reviews

So you have a company name and their website. The name is the first item on the list: If it resembles a major platform or company (KDP, Amazon, and Penguin seem to be big ones), that's a major strike. The second thing you should do is look up the reviews of the company. This should give you one of four results:

1. No reviews or very few: This usually means that the company is brand new or no one uses the company. As you're looking for an experienced company, go to the next on the list. 
2. Lots of bad reviews. Just go to the next one.
3. Nothing but good reviews. Read the reviews; if they're too "gushy" (i.e., "This is an awesome company and everything is perfect!") and there aren't a lot of 3- and 4-star reviews, this is a major warning flag: No one is perfect, and it looks like the company may have written a lot of the reviews themselves or paid someone. Unless you have a good reason, time to check out the next on the list. 
4. Mostly good reviews but even the good reviews point out problems.

[Yeah, I know it sounds sort of weird, but realize that most people who write reviews want to either reward exemplary service or warn others. Writers being writers, we tend to over-explain and we tend to want to balance things out. Thus, even if the service was, in fact, "AWESOME!" we're going to say something bad. Thus we avoid too many good or bad reviews and go for "good but…" reviews.

This is also why I'm hesitant to mention Writers Beware. Ignoring the anti-hybrid bias, there's no real transparency to a lot of their reviews. Nonetheless, it can be a good starting point for all of that.]

Let's Vet A Website

You should be seeing a lot of book covers; if they've had any successes, they should be bragging about them, and deservedly so. The lack of books that they've published should be a major warning flag. You should also be able to find these books elsewhere, especially on Amazon (they should be distributed somewhere, right?), so their absence elsewhere is an issue as well.

"Sterile" sites (the site doesn't have a lot of graphics or decoration) or typos are another major flag; the site was most likely put together quickly to establish a web presence and ensure the domain. You're also looking at the verbiage; if it guarantees success (no one can guarantee success), comes off as profit-oriented (yeah, we know it's a business, but…), or is aggressively highfalutin (writers love big words, right?), then be very wary. If there are a lot of typos, it just cinches that they're a bad idea.

Then there's the legal issues. First, look to see if there is a submission process; if they let anyone in, it's a red flag. There should also be a price list; you should have some idea of what services they provide, how much those services will cost you, and what kind of time frame they do them in. If they don't have this but have a "contact us for a quote," it's a serious red flag.

Lastly, look at the contract. You're looking at royalties (what percentage you're getting from each sale, or at least 35%) and publication rights (you should be keeping the copyright, be able to go elsewhere if you want, and have some control over the process). If not, it's time to go elsewhere.

In Short

Look at the name, then the reviews. The website should be looked at thoroughly, then where it gets its money. While this is not going to work every time, this should at least give you the information you need to cut and run or do business with the company in question. The best of luck on your publishing journey!