Telemachus a Vanity Press? Really?

“When you throw dirt, you lose ground.”

Except in the publishing business. In the publishing business, when you throw dirt, it sticks!

The phrase “vanity publishing” was almost certainly invented by traditional publishers many years ago in order to squash the competition from entrepreneurial authors. It worked. By ridiculing and publicly shaming self-published authors for daring to invest in their own talents and abilities, publishing houses were able to elevate themselves to god-like status. And amazingly, it worked for many years. And still works, to some degree.

What they’re saying, when an author believes in his abilities to the extent he is willing to invest his own money to publish a novel, he is writing purely for his own vanity!

I have to give credit to the geniuses who came up with this hogwash, because publishing is the only business in the world that has managed to make such a ridiculous notion seem plausible.

When I invested my own money to start my insurance agency no one accused me of making a vanity investment. When I invested my own money to buy a life insurance company no one called it a vanity investment. When I paid cash for my first office building, planning to lease it out for a profit, no one accused me of making a vanity investment. When Bill Gates and Paul Allen invested their time and money into developing code for the Altair computer, no one accused them of writing vanity code.

But if Bill Gates or Paul Allen invest their own money to write a book, they’re no longer businessmen, they’re vain! And any company that charges them to publish that book is catering to their vanity? How absurd is that!

And how interesting that a publisher such as Telemachus Press, that provides an honest, competent, affordable, turn-key opportunity that allows author-entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams, while letting them keep 100% of their profits, is labeled a “vanity” publisher!

It’s laughable. And reporters who perpetuate the notion should re-think the premise.

Many years ago the publishing industry managed to crush and humiliate men and women who dreamed of writing and selling their books to the public. They created the false impression that the only standard of quality in writing is for someone else to invest in your startup in return for a percentage of future profits. You might as well claim I am less of an investor because I don’t ask or require other people to fund my real estate investments! How is it that self-publishing is the only business where self-funding is considered undignified?

If Telemachus Press truly is a vanity press, I want to publicly thank them for catering to my vanity! And I hope the nearly one million vanity readers who purchased my books feel the same way!