Zimbell House Publishing

[Bubastes]

If it looks like a vanity press and quacks like a vanity press, it's a vanity press even if the publisher says otherwise.

http://www.zimbellhousepublishing.com/?page_id=207

Side note: this is the third vanity press in my area that hosts a Meetup writing group. Is this a common thing?

 

[aliceshortcake]

The facts are that Authors are expected to also promote their work. Most books that seem to ‘fail’ are due to lack of author involvement in promotions. Zimbell House includes an Author’s Marketing Kit to help you with your self-promotions.
http://www.zimbellhousepublishing.com/?page_id=6

And as so many PA authors discovered, if there's no real distribution your marketing efforts will be in vain. Nice bit of victim-blaming there, Zimbell House!

I also can't help noticing that there are no books on the website, just some information about a couple of contests in which the winning stories won't be edited. Nor could I find any books from this company on Amazon.

 

[CaoPaux]

Updating URL: http://zimbellhousepublishing.com/

 

[Rufus Leeking]

Someone I work with is asking about paying Zimbell House to publish her work. She knows it is a "vanity" press. Any feedback on this company?

 

[Old Hack]

Someone I work with is asking about paying Zimbell House to publish her work. She knows it is a "vanity" press. Any feedback on this company?

If she knows it's a vanity press that's all the feedback she needs. Stay away.

 

[Rufus Leeking]

She is starry eyed and wants her thing published. there used to be a forum here where some of the companies were evaluated/roasted. is that still here?

 

[Polenth]

She is starry eyed and wants her thing published. there used to be a forum here where some of the companies were evaluated/roasted. is that still here?

The thing to remember is we see vanity publisher and think scam, bad idea and not worth it. A lot of hopeful authors only see the word publisher. They see bookshop placement, telling people they're a published author, interviews, a stepping stone to an agent or other book deals, and a dream come true. They want to hold their book in their hands. Rainbows and kittens will rain down upon them.

It's not enough to say it's a vanity publisher in cases like this. You have to explain what that means: that this is not actually a publisher. They use the word publisher to hook authors like her and play on their dreams. These services sell the warm fuzzies, and those fade very rapidly once the reality sets in that vanity publishers aren't actually publishers in the way authors think, and the 'publisher' name on the book is worth less than the paper it's printed on. You won't find horror stories for every vanity publisher she finds. What she needs to be told is why vanity publishers are a bad idea in general principle.

If she still won't listen after that, you've done all you can.

 

[JulieB]

From their anthology page:

All contributing authors will receive a free copy of the book in softcover. Authors that are chosen for the anthology will not be paid nor receive royalties for their submission. Again there is no charge for the submissions. This is an opportunity to build your platform.

There are very few circumstances under which I would consider submitting a story to an anthology that doesn't pay. (Charity is one exception that comes to mind.)

Exposure doesn't pay the bills.

 

[Lorelai Watson]

Um yeah, inadvertently submitted when I created an authors.me profile. They came back, months later, saying all these great things about my novel, and that it would only be a mere $2500 investment to publish. Lucky for me, financing is available! Glorious! In some not so sarcastic words, it's a major vanity press. Stay away.