on Just Publishing Advice:

How can you decide what a publishing company is offering you?

One of the most common questions we receive from our readers is, “Is X, Y or Z publisher legit?

There are a lot of ways an author can publish, but if you receive an unsolicited offer from a publishing company or publishing service, you should be very careful.

It is extremely rare for reputable publishers or a literary agent representing a traditional publishing house to contact an author with a publishing offer unless the author has celebrity status.

The only route a new author has to get a traditional publishing contract is to query literary agents, and if your luck is in, you might find a reputable agent to represent you.

Nowadays, the most common route to take to get a book published is to self-publish with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords or Draft2Digital.

The last option is to use a vanity publisher.

If you are considering this route, you should proceed with caution. When readers ask us if a specific publisher is legit, the question is almost always about a vanity press company.