I asked them the difference in them and a self-publisher yesterday. Here's his response:
Mr. Harbison,
In response to your questions, we offer the following. Yes, we market your book. We send copies to a variety of book reviewers, including your local newspapers and other media, as well as national reviewers, including the New York Times. (Can't promise to get you on the best sellers list, but we do submit). We also enter your book in the Barnes & Noble search for the Next Great Author contest (which is not open to self-publishers) and to the Amazon Booksellers contest for best seller, also not open to self-publishers.Virtually every book store acquires their inventory through distributors. The largest in the world is Ingrams, serving primarily Barnes and Noble, Borders Books, and Walden Books as well as many independent stores. Second largest in the world is Baker and Taylor. Both offer international sales as well as U.S. sales. These distributors do not accept self-publishing efforts. Your book will be listed in their catalogues that are sent to all of the bookstores in the US.Special efforts are made by our sales staff to introdue your book to all of the local booksellers in your area. This includes telephone, email and personal visits to the buyers at the various stores. We also work with those booksellers to generate book signings and other special promotional events. The fact that our organization is a standard publisher gives us additional weight with those stores, and of course, we provide their inventory at our expense.Vanity publishers require you fund the entire cost of publishing a book, which is often in the four to five thousand dollar range, and require that you do ALL of the work. Self-publishing is the road that many take but few are successful. If you are a marketing pro, and if you have the money and the time, you could possibly be one of the successful ones. If that is the route you choose, you do not want to accept our offer.A little more information. The standard rate that professional editors charge us is $2.00 per page. To develop a custom front and rear cover averages over $500.00. Proof copies cost between $30.00 and $50.00 each, including postage and shipping. It is only when the number of copies printed reach 1,000 does the costs become reasonable. When you add in the cost of marketing, you can easily see that the heaviest part of publishing a book falls on our shoulders.Hoping this gives you what you're looking for, we are
Respectfully,
William J. Connor, Jr.Managing Director