Vanity publishing
A model where the author pays the costs of producing their own book, as opposed to traditional publishing where the publisher advances the costs.
Not to be confused with self-publishing: in vanity publishing (called "édition à compte d'auteur" in France), a third-party company, often calling itself a "publishing house", bills the author for printing, layout or promotion while keeping an intermediary role. This model is regularly criticized because it reverses the usual financial flow of traditional publishing.
Self-publishing, on the other hand, goes through no paid intermediary: the author keeps all the rights and all the revenue, and chooses their own tools (writing, layout, sales platforms).
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