Vanity Publishing: Difference between revisions

* ''The Great American Parade'', a novel which attempts at political satire by retired English professor Robert Burrows, was vanity published in 2002. Since then it's been called "the worst novel ever published in the English language" by a Washington post review. The story deals with George W. Bush organizing a huge parade to thank all the evil corporate robber barons who helped him get into office; somehow hardly anyone in America notices, except for a plucky band of college students who set out to single-handedly stop the parade, end the war in Iraq, and undo the Bush tax cuts. It features such brilliant dialog as this gem (spoken by a character immediately after witnessing the events of 9/11): "What an almost unimaginable tragedy! It will take a great deal of unity and hard work to recover from this crippling blow!"

* On a positive note, Marcel Proust had to pay for the publication of the first book of ''In Search of Lost Time'' - which is now considered [[Vindicated by History|one of the greatest novels ever written.]]

* E. Lynn Harris self-published his first book, and by tireless promotional touring sold a lot of copies and got it picked up by a regular publisher. Many of his subsequent books have been bestsellers.

* ''[[Latawnya the Naughty Horse Learns to Say No to Drugs]]'' is a hilarious [[So Bad It's Good|piece of vanity-published gold]]. It's the only children's book in which a non-anthropomorphic horse OD's from marijuana, with an illustration of his family (of horses) crying over him. The surreal illustrations and repetitive, [[Anvilicious]] writing seal the deal. While marijuana ''is'' toxic to horses, applying this to people may be an example of [[Fantastic Aesop]].

** "Visit the dark bowels of death as one victim after another will lead you to believe there is a reason for revenge; cold, hard, blood-curdling revenge. Who is the killer? And are you sure? It could be someone you least expect. Old Tavern No. Nine, set deep in the Santa Cruz hills, will never be the same and neither will you?"

* John Harrigan's ''The Professor and the Dominatrix'', published by PublishAmerica, was apparently sent out by the author to some atheist groups at its release. It was a murder mystery featuring sex and violence, which was hoped to draw the reader in and then lead them to question their religious beliefs more closely. One member of a receiving group decided to review it and [http://www.blaghag.com/2009/04/book-review-professor-and-dominatrix.html put her review online]. Unfortunately, she did not particularly care for the book. According to the review, much of it was basically a long [[Author Tract]], and the main character was a blatant [[Mary Sue]], to the point that he wasn't just an outspoken atheist like the author, but even had the ''exact same'' day job too (professor of psychology), and a mustache. The author [http://www.blaghag.com/2009/05/professor-responds.html responded to the criticisms by], among other things, pointing out the favorable review the writer of the foreword gave it, similar to what the one non-deleted [http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Dominatrix-John-Harrigan/dp/1605633682 Amazon review did] (the remaining review mentions other, critical reviews that were presumably deleted; it is implied they were sock puppets). It left many readers on the Pharyngula blog [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/oh_noan_atheist_can_write_a_ba.php thinking or hoping the book was an elaborate joke]. (Note, the remaining Amazon review is not from a sock puppet; it is a "real name" account for someone other than the author or foreword writer. It was the reviewer's only review though, so it seems to be purpose built).

* [[wikipedia:Poetry.com|The National Library of Poetry]], anyone? Sure, you don't ''have'' to pay anything to get published...but you know they expect you to buy the book, and pay to travel to the conference where your poem will allegedly be read, and so on and so forth. People, including [[Dave Barry]], have gotten in on the attempts to send something that's actually bad enough that they'll refuse to publish it; [http://www.wockyjivvy.com/poetry/shame/index.html so far, no dice].

* Orbit has bought the rights to the previously self-published six book series ''[[The Riyria Revelations]]'' by Michael J. Sullivan and will re-release it as a trilogy.

{{quote|'''Cyrano:''' Get kindly editor Sercy

To print my verses at proper expense? [[Defied Trope|No thank you!]] }}

* In-universe example in ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'': The three main characters, who all work at a vanity press that's been getting a lot of manuscripts from occultists and conspiracy crackpots, decide to one-up them all by creating the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory. Things then [[Gone Horribly Right|go horribly right.]]