Vanity Publishing vs Print-on-Demand

Lesson #6: Avoid vanity publishers like the plague.

I could almost leave this blog there.  But I appreciate that there are those of you that don't know the difference between vanity publishing and print-on-demand.  Or even that print-on-demand exists (I didn't when I first started writing).  So, here's a nice explanatory table for you:

Doing your market research for you...

Lesson #5: Make sure you do your market research before taking the plunge.

So, you've written your story, submitted it to agents and publishers and got a long list of rejections.  But you still can't let it go.  You know it has promise.  And you just can't bring yourself to consign your charming characters to gathering dust in a box.