Little Prince Publishing

They charge a fee of $499 to publish, so yeah, that's a vanity press.

And the website is remarkably unprofessional. On the bright side, they say they're closed to submissions until August, so.

A lot of vanity presses claim to vet manuscripts. Most of them actually do, in fact, to prevent lawsuits (Google "Rebecca Brandewyne lawsuit"). Many of them offer some type of editing--for a fee, or the cost is included in the fee.

They're still vanity presses.

Yog's Law: money flows to the author.

LillyPu:
I saw this publisher, who claims to be an Independent Publisher, mentioned in a writer's blog, but I can't figure out what kind of publisher they are.

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Like IceCreamEmpress said, they're a vanity publisher through and through.

Was the writer's blog promoting the publisher or one of their books?

In terms of the publisher itself, again basically what IceCreamEmpress said, but I'd add the following flog:

Little Prince Publishing:
At Little Prince Publishing, authors are King.

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Yes they are. So long as they've paid for it.

Little Prince Publishing:
We want YOU to be able to make the decisions about your own work and have creative control every step of the way, from cover design to marketing plans.

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Sounds to me that the author is doing everything then. What exactly do they get for their money?

Little Prince Publishing:
We want you to make money and keep your hard-earned royalties.

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If you've paid up front to be published, then that royalty rate will have to be very high (and you'd really need to be keeping practically everything from any sale) and you'd need to be making hundreds of sales to make that money back (i.e. just to break even).

Little Prince Publishing:
So, what kind of publisher is Little Prince Publishing if we don't want your arm or leg or one cent of your royalties?

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It's the kind of publisher that wants you to pay up front.

Little Prince Publishing:
LPP is an independent publisher, offering a fresh approach to publishing, a writers' umbrella if you will, under which quality authors can publish works, plan their own career paths, join together and help one another succeed. But, we are highly selective about the works we take into our fold.

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The fact that they charge up front means that any claim for quality control is meaningless.

Little Prince Publishing:
It is very important to us to have quality work under our name, so we do not charge any fees for reading or or our in-depth editing service.

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Oh that's so good of you not to charge for reading or editing. Does this mean that you don't read or edit them?

Little Prince Publishing:
We do ask for a nominal fee of $499 for our unbeatable package plan.

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Since when has 500 quid been "nominal"?

Little Prince Publishing:
$499 would include:
. custom, professionally designed cover based on your preferences and ideas
. interior formatting for paperback, Kindle and other electronic formats
. ISBNs & barcodes
. distribution setup on all major online stores
. 2 proof copies
. 10 ARCs (advanced read copies for reviewers)
. Goodreads giveaway with 3 ARCs
. a press release
. e-book giveaway of 50 copies on LibraryThing
. month-long blog tour
. customizable and flexible e-book pricing
. invaluable marketing advice
You can also purchase these additional services:
. back cover copy ~ $50
. book trailer ~ $75
. promotional materials ~ banners, ads, flyers, postcards ~ $50 each
. special advertising merchandise ~ T-shirts, bookmarks, mugs ~ contact for an estimate

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And what are you getting here that you couldn't do for yourself, probably for a cheaper price?

Little Prince Publishing:
Remember, you keep every dime of your royalties. The nominal fee, a dedication to excellence and your willingness to cross promote other LPP authors is all we ask for.

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I see. So not only do you have to promote your own work, you're expected to promote other people suckered in by Little Prince as well.

So nice that you've got to pay a fee to do that.

Little Prince Publishing:
It is not our intention to get rich off your talent and back. We are all about BOOKS. We just love amazing stories and are thrilled to be a part of getting special gems noticed and into the hands of eager readers.

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Uh-huh. It's because you're so much about the BOOK that you're charging 500 quid up front rather than invest your own money in making a title profitable.

Little Prince Publishing:
We use both Createspace and Lightning Source as our printers and distributors, and you can choose which best suits your sales plan. The pros and cons of each will be explained to you after you sign the contract with Little Prince Publishing. If you choose Lightning Source, the price is $100 more due to their higher setup fees.

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So if you want Lightning Source then you're paying a 600 quid fee. Good to know.

Little Prince Publishing:
We do not pay any advances, but we also do not take any of your royalties.

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Given that a royalty, by its nature, is a percentage of sale, I'd suggest that they are taking something from the sale of each book.

Little Prince Publishing:
These are the only genres we are looking for:
Adventure
Romance
Urban Fantasy
Inspirational/Christian
Paranormal
Suspense
Mystery
Thriller
Horror
Mainstream
Contemporary
Womens Fiction
Genre-bending, hard to classify
Upper MG ~ all genres
YA ~ all genres

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The fact that they're not specialising in a particular genre or genres means that they won't be able to target their marketing. But that's okay because as the author you'll probably have to do all your own marketing anyway.

Little Prince Publishing:
We are closed to unsolicited submissions at this time. We will likely be reopen to queries in August. Please refer to this page.

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Thank heavens for small mercies.

All in all, avoid.

MM

Isn't the little prince a story of a boy who rules a planet that contains only himself and a very vain rosebush? That seems overly apt.

I get so tired of seeing "indie" presses brag about the high royalties they pay. Here's how royalties work:

1. Your publisher sells copies of your book.
2. Your publisher takes some of the money they got from those sales and pays you royalties.
3. In other words, 100% minus your royalty percentage is the amount of money your publisher kept for themselves. Money that would've been yours, had you self-published.

Now, if your publisher gave you something that's worth that money, like say, great distribution and shelf space in brick and mortar stores around the country, that could be a good deal for you.

But a publisher who did nothing other than what you could've done yourself for free is not being "generous" with royalties no matter how high the percentage is. They're taking money, your money, for doing next to nothing.

The fact that some companies have the gall to charge you hundreds of dollars for the privilege of taking that money blows my mind. If I want to blow several hundred dollars on a self-publishing venture, I'll give it to independent artists, cover designers, and editors. You know, honest people who take their fee, do professional work, and leave me the profits of my book.

</rant>

LillyPu said:

Or is "independent publisher" now interchangeable with vanity publishing?

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No, not at all.

I think it's a fairly meaningless term, but it's used as often by legit small presses and micropresses as it is by buffoonish organizations like Little Prince Publishing.

And yes, anyone who asks you for money but stands in a publishing relationship to you vis-a-vis rights is a vanity publisher. I would distinguish that from publishing services that you pay money for the production of your book, but in which you still retain all assignments of rights.