You may have heard about AM or Austin Macauley and you want to know if it's a good place to put your books on. Discover how self-publishing can be much easier and whether or not is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher.
Today's question has three answers and you're going to want to stick around for the third answer. Because it's a secret as to when Austin Macauley would be a good company to go with if you are looking at getting your book onto the market.
So let's get into it. The question that was sent to me today was, is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher? This is an excellent question I can completely understand because perhaps you're an author and you've written your book but you're looking to get it published.
We understand that there are several options available. We can self-publish it, we could try to get the book published through an agent or a traditional publishing company. Or we could go with a hybrid approach which some people might label as a vanity publisher.
There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these options. But it can be quite confusing. We have a certain amount of time, we have some skills that we count to, we have a certain amount of money that we have available to get our book out onto the market.
But we are not sure which ones are the right ones to go to. And maybe you've heard about this company Austin Macauley and wonder if maybe it's right for you. But is it a vanity publisher?
Check out this related article: What Vanity Publisher Definition?
That is exactly what we are going to discuss today. But before we get into the answers, check out my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist to help you get started and make sure you are not making the mistakes that so many authors make when looking at getting their book onto the market.
So, let me get a little bit into my story. When I first got started publishing, I heard that there were authors worried about going to a vanity publisher as opposed to traditional publishers. There are many critics and I am not specifically talking about today's hybrid publishing company.
There were several issues and red flags that they informed me that I should watch out for if I chose to go this route. One of them is who owns the rights to the book if they published it? The second one is how much exactly is it going to cost me?
Then they are going to continually try to upsell me on all sorts of publishing services that I may need or don't need. When the book finally does come out onto the market, how do I know it's even going to sell? Are they going to help me do the marketing or is that even more money I have to add on top of it?
Then the final one is when it comes to royalties, how much are they going to take of the royalties if they own the rights to the book? Is this something we are going to be linked forever and we will not be able to break away?
These are some of the fears that people have when going with specific companies. The other issue was just the idea of isn't vanity publishing kind of a lower level publishing where you have just for vanity, just for the sake of becoming popular and looking good that you would go with one of these publishing houses.
Learning How To Do Everything
So there are a lot of negative comments, in fact, even the word vanity already puts a negative spin on the companies that maybe would fall under this category. The thing that I learned with this upselling issue that you should keep an eye out for how much it costs.
Also, make sure you are in touch with other people who have already done it before. I personally decided to go the self-publishing route where I learn how to do all of the necessary skills.
One of the big ones I have been talking with a number of my students about recently is their difficulties in getting a book on Kindle. For example, I did it myself and I figured out, I tried a whole pile of tools, and I took in so much work to figure out that the best tool is Jutoh.
It makes it so easy to put your books onto the market in Mobi format and the other formats. So that was something that I found but others chose other routes. I have not looked back specifically because I control all of the costs.
If I want to pay more money, I can. I will get a higher quality cover or I can pay somebody to do the formatting for me. But the key is I learn how to do each of these things and then I can control the cost.
In addition, I can control the distribution channels. I get all of the royalties based upon where I'm putting the books on. I own all the rights to all of these things.
I can control the formats and the ways that they are rolled out onto the market and I can run the marketing. I don't have to get any permission from anyone to do any of these items. If I want to make changes to the book, I can go ahead and do that.
These are the advantages of self-publishing. If you know all of the skills yourself, if you have the time to learn it, then that is what I would suggest. But that brings us into today's answers with the specific company, is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher?
The answer is yes. Though that shouldn't discourage you even if they qualify as a hybrid category. Where it's not a real publisher in the sense that it is not a respected company that looks at your book and gives you money for publishing with them.
Rather, you give them money upfront so it takes off that edge. And you are less likely to be rejected on that particular thing. But I don't even like the word, vanity publisher.
I think it's better to say it's a hybrid publisher. The positive side of going with Austin Macauley is that they will do most of the work for you. They will ask simple questions and be able to help you through the process which can be very confusing.
You will get a higher percentage of royalties than you would if you're with the traditional publishers that would only give you about 11%. Well, at self-publishing it's like 70%, and hybrid will be somewhere in the middle.
Positives And Negatives
The negatives would be the price, that cost to go with them. These things change, you are going to want to go to their website and look at your book and what intentions you have to find that out.
I would also highly recommend you listen and read other people who have gone with this company. The positives and the negatives before you weigh out the balances. I have Googled and seen a lot of the negatives that come out with this particular company Austin Macauley or AM as they call it.
Some people were complaining about the price associated, paying 7,000 pounds to get their books published. Then the idea of this after it comes out, there were some issues there. But things change and these companies improve and sometimes they get worse.
So that's the reason why you are going to want to go back over the last year and find out that people who have said positive things and the people who have said negative things about this company. That would help you decide are they right for you.
I would say on their website, I probably wouldn't use the comments there to make that evaluation. Because maybe they had people a long time ago who are happy or just recently, so it's impossible to know these things.
You are going to want to go to forums where you'll find people who have recently tested them out. This by the way the exact same steps that I would use when evaluating anything. Looking at previous people who have had experiences and they give you their estimate.
Check out this related article: What Can You Learn On Self Publishing Reddit?
Some people would be negative like trolls on everything. And some people would only be positive because maybe they'll get rewarded for doing that. But it's important to remember that we need to able to have all of the information where we're making an important decision about what's going to happen with our book.
So make sure that you are looking at those issues and decide whether you have the time and the money. But here is the secret answer of the day to the question, is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher? It is that it's worth checking out, right?
If you lack the motivation and time to do it yourself, then it is definitely worth possibly choosing them. I'm telling you that I didn't see a whole pile of positive comments about them. But I can say that they did have a lot of positives, people who have positive experiences with them.
I would say that if you don't lack the money but you lack the time and you just don't want to learn how to self-publish and to know it yourself and at the same time you've tried an agent and you've tried traditional publishers that didn't work, then this is something you should consider.
So, it is definitely worth considering. Is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher? Have you tried Austin Macauley? If you have, I want to know because it will help me if these sorts of articles are useful.
If you have tried it, write "Yes" down below in the comments and if you have never tried them, write the word "No" below in the comments. Just so I know and we'll be able to better figure out whether or not they were worthwhile or not. Check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.