BS: United Press: any info?

Subject: BS: United Press: any info?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 12:55 PM

Anyone know anything about a UK firm called United Press Ltd? They publish poetry, and advertise poetry competitions in libraries from time to time. They do vanity publishing, as far as I can tell: you pay them to publish your stuff, rather than they pay you. I put a short piece in for a comp last year; it didn't win, but they're asking for several more pieces to go in a collection with nine other writers. There's a rather scary line in their email, 'As time is of the essence please reserve any questions until after you have submitted your work'. So I can't expect to be told if they expect me to pay any money until after I've sent my work in. Nothing I've found on the 'net suggests they're dishonest, but they won't be getting any cash from me; but I'm not giving anything away to them unless I can be sure I'm not being ripped off.

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 02:13 PM

Vanity publishers ALWAYS want your money. They will tell you you've been accepted, then tell you the price of the book in which your poem is printed and pay you nothing.

There are others who've tried them out: CLICK HERE and others HERE. If you enter the name of the company and "scam" or "rip off" you'll find others.

If you want to self-publish, you can do an ebook for free at places such as www.bookbrewer. They charge to create a PDF and print an actual paper book, but it's a good deal after seeing what percentage you get as the author and publisher. You can also get a book done through www.cafepress.com for no more cost than 1- to however many copies you want to order. You can also sell it there, you set the price, but they aren't books only, so you can't expect much business from there unless you really market it well.

Might want to check out a thread Resources for Writers and Self-publishers.

Good luck!

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 10:53 AM

With todays computers and cheap printing and imaging equipment there is no reason not to self publish. You have total control of and responsibility for your product.

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 03:01 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Kat, I Googled 'em, but didn't find much, so extra thanks for your links.
I've a friend who prints & distributes her own poetry volumes, and she'll sell me an ISBN if I want to do a proper job (copies to British Library, etc.). I've been considering it: I can do the design, artwork and so forth; I may end up with a big pile of unsold books. Ah well -- watch this space!

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: Songwronger
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 06:57 PM

I was curious, so I ran that sentence, "As time is of the essence please reserve any questions until after you have submitted your work," through an analyzer. I came up with THIS.

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Nov 11 - 11:17 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: United Press: any info?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Nov 11 - 11:27 AM

Good one, SW!

Steve, the beauty of going through an POD (print on demand) place like CafePress or, Create Space, at Amazon (if you can jump through all their hoops,) is you don't have to put out any money except for however many books you want to have on hand, from as few as one to however many, so no big pile of unsold books.:-) Good luck!

kat