DISCLAIMER: Some may assume we compete with this company. We don’t. They claim to publish “art books” that sell for “$60-$80 per copy.” Their authors pay “$25-$35 per copy.” (Quoted from their spam email). GULP!!! If you are looking for a publisher for a coffee table book, we recommend finding one that uses a traditional press…and preferably not one that SPAMS people.
Spam: “Unsolicited usually commercial messages (such as emails, text messages, or Internet postings) sent to a large number of recipients or posted in a large number of places.” – merriam-webster.com
Yesterday afternoon, at 3 different times (12:47 p.m., 1:05 p.m., and 1:09 p.m.), I received 4 separate emails from Vedere Press. They were all sent to the same email address.
First, if you’re going to be unprofessional enough to spam people, at least go to the trouble of deleting duplicate emails from your list. I mean really, Vedere Press, how dumb can you be?
If I’d received one email, I probably would have ignored it. But, they wasted my time so I figured I’d check them out.
The bottom of their email said, “You’ve received this email because you are a subscriber of this site.”
That is total B.S. I’ve never heard of them before and I certainly never subscribed to any of their mailing lists.
I responded to the spam email, asking how they obtained my email address. It’s no surprise that I did not receive a response.
They’re only four years old. Their website says they used to work for CreateSpace. If I were them, I really, REALLY would NOT be bragging about that!
Their website states that, after CreateSpace, “we created, built, and operated one of the most respected and highly-rated independent book publishing companies in the United States and published hundreds of titles a year.”
Uh huh… So, Vedere Press, what’s it called? Why didn’t you name it? Did it go out of business??? Did you sell it? WHAT HAPPENED?!
Don’t you worry, my dear readers, because I FOUND their previous company. The press release is RIGHT HERE.
I’m not going to put the name of that company in my article because it looks like they sold it (why, if it was soooooo successful??) and I don’t want the new owner to have to deal with anything. HE didn’t spam me, did he?
On their website, they first claim to be an art studio. Their website states they display art from painters, photographers, sculptors, blah blah blah. They claim to do events with restaurants and chefs, etc. But, now they want to publish books? Is the art sales business not doing so great? Is that why they’re publishing books again?
One thing that really irked me about the marketing verbiage on their website was that you’ll get “white-glove treatment.” That sure sounds expensive! And, what about all the printing ink? Won’t that ruin those white gloves?
All joking aside…their website also states it’ll take “102” days to get your book to market. Not 90 days, not 100 days, not 110 days – but 102 days. What?!?! That is ridiculous! And, why so long?
And, here’s the icing on the cake! They’re using the old 100% Royalties hook! And, their SPAM email says, “We simply charge $7 to pick, package, & label each book.” Does that mean a $7.00 HANDLING FEE PER BOOK?!?! WHAT THE HECK?!?! Keep in mind that does NOT include shipping!
That means they earn at least $7.00 per book (HOLY COW!!!). BUT, WAIT! If they’re printing and binding the books (that’s what their website claims), they’re getting that money, too. They’re not offering free printing. The author gets whatever is left over after the printing, binding, picking (never heard that one before!), packaging, and labeling, any discounts given to retailers/distributors, etc. That’s how everyone does it. Some companies are just more, shall we say, clear in how they describe how much authors will earn. Some authors may assume that 100% royalties means they’ll get 100% of the list price of the book.
“Royalty is a compensation to the owner of intellectual property or natural resources for the right to use or profit from the property.” – law.cornell.edu
I posted this to authors on my Facebook page yesterday:
Serious question for authors: If you see a company promising “100% of royalties,” what do you interpret that to mean?
Here are some of the responses:
“A scam.” -T.P.
“That I need to look for a different company.” – J.P.
“Whatever’s in contract. If it’s 20 percent they promise to pay you the whole 20 percent. Sounds like a scam like someone said.” – M.C.
“Also, if you have a piece of publisher’s net profit, ask for a definition of NET PROFIT, and how it’s calculated. There may be no Net Profit after the publisher deducts overhead, salaries, advertising, distribution, depreciation, storage, commissions, taxes, etc.” – M.D.
It’s also no surprise, to me at least, that they don’t have any prices for their publishing services on their website. It reminds me of what my mother used to say. If you have to ask how much, you probably can’t afford it.
Oh, but don’t worry about just paying them money to publish your book! They also have a plethora of marketing services! CHA-CHING, CHA-CHING, CHA-CHING!!!
And, FINALLY, there are only 29 books listed on their website. ONLY 29!!! And, 14 of those (ALMOST EXACTLY HALF!!!) are listed as Out of Stock. What in the bloody HECK?!?! Are they trying to say they already sold out of all of them? OR, are people simply not buying the books so they’re not getting printed? If they are, why aren’t they quickly printing numerous more copies to satisfy demand? It all seems extremely odd…but I’m not surprised.
We never recommend hiring a company that spams you…especially if they claim to to offer “PREMIUM” marketing services. If they must resort to spam to promote themselves, do you really want to trust them to promote YOUR book?
And, hey, Vedere Press: TAKE ME OFF YOUR D*MN SPAM LIST!!
UPDATE: VEDERE PRESS CONTINUES TO SPAM ME DESPITE ME EMAILING THEM AND DEMANDING TO BE REMOVED FROM THEIR SPAM LIST!
Additional spams received from Vedere Press:
11/16/22 10:55 a.m.
11/16/22 10:59 a.m.
11/16/22 11:11 a.m.
1/10/23 11:20 a.m.
1/10/23 11:39 a.m.
1/10/23 12:07 p.m.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Follow Angela: twitter | facebook | linkedin
Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
Learn more here: https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/
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