Networking in a Romance Writers of America* chapter five years ago, I learned of a contest Amber Quill Press was holding. I entered DARK STRANGER, and it was one of the winners. Every time I see its cover, a happy warmth rolls through me.

Amber Quill is one of the non-vanity, non-subsidy electronic publishers. As inexperienced as I was at the time, I'm grateful every day that I stumbled on this type of publishing house. My earlier experience with a subsidy press had been less than satisfactory.

With subsidy and vanity publishers, you "pays yer money and you gets yer book." Vanity presses print your book for a fee and you sell it to family and friends. The books may be hardcover (higher costs) or trade paperbacks. These publishers don't pay royalties. They're called "vanity" presses because it doesn't matter if your book's worth being published, they'll publish it because you paid for it.

Subsidy presses may be more selective in which manuscripts they accept, and they pay royalties, but you'll share the costs of publishing. For instance, you may have to provide your own cover or pay a set-up fee to go to print, perhaps even be required to purchase a minimum number of your paperbacks.

Wikipedia* describes a graphic novel as “a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels and often aimed at mature audiences. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic book series (more commonly referred to as trade paperbacks).” It also describes the term as “evolving.”