Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Vanity publishing, also described (often inaccurately) as "subsidy", "joint-venture", "shared responsibility" or even "self" publishing is a service whereby authors are charged to have their work published. Vanity publishers generally offer to publish a book for a specific fee, or offer to include short stories, poems or other literary or artistic material in an anthology, which the authors are then invited to buy.
In the early 1990s, marketing by vanity publishers became an area of concern for CAP and lead to the publication of an Advice Note in January 1995. Following continued complaints about the misleading nature of vanity publishers' marketing, in May 1997 CAP issued a more detailed Help Note on Vanity Publishing to highlight the continuing problem and clarify the type of evidence the ASA or CAP are likely to expect in support of claims made in primary advertisements and follow-up material.
The Help Note provides detailed guidance on four key issues:
1. merit - unlike publishing houses, who reject many more manuscripts than they publish, some vanity publishers print work regardless of quality. They should not give the impression that they, or an independent reviewer, will judge whether an author''s work warrants publication if no such vetting process or evaluation occurs. In order to claim that work is considered on merit, marketers should be able to provide documentary evidence that shows they reject, on merit, a significant number of manuscripts submitted to them. They should also provide a list of the contact details of all the people who have submitted manuscripts over a reasonable period. If the marketers' responses show that all, or most, manuscripts were rejected they will have proved that there is an element of selection;
2. costs - vanity publishers rarely share production costs with the author. If they wish to claim that they do, marketers should be able to provide invoices, or similar, showing that they contribute to the costs of authors. The nature and extent of all costs borne by the author should be transparent in follow-up material;
3. financial gain – it is rarely possible for authors to be able to recoup their costs or gain financially from book sales. Marketers should be able to provide documentary evidence to show that a reasonable number of authors have benefited as claimed; and
4. marketing and promotion – if vanity publishers want to claim that they, or an associated marketing organisation, market an author's books in a way that increases sales, they should supply a list of those retailers, wholesalers, mail order companies and library suppliers who carry their titles. They may also be required to provide documentary evidence such as invoices showing that a reasonable number of authors have benefited financially from increased book sales as a result of their marketing programme.
Last modified : 16 July 2010