vanity press

American  

noun

1. a printing house that specializes in publishing books for which the authors pay all or most of the costs.

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Etymology

Origin of vanity press

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

June’s novel, “Pepsi-Cola Addict,” was published by a vanity press that has since gone defunct.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2022

Wikipedia is committed to the notion of an encyclopedia, a written compendium of important human information—not a directory, a soapbox, a vanity press, or anything else the site has pledged not to be.

From Slate • Mar. 26, 2019

Smalley had arranged for the work’s publication, too: Gorham was a vanity press avant la lettre.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 23, 2016

He looked up the author, who has claimed to have published other books under other names, and the publisher, Cow Eye Press, and realized it was a vanity press incorporated in Wyoming.

From New York Times • Sep. 11, 2015

Vitale paid a vanity press $4,375 to publish it.

From Forbes • Jan. 22, 2014