Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

vanity publishing

British  

noun

  1. the practice of the author of a book paying all or most of the costs of its publication

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That aside, the book spotlights major flaws in science, including various forms of bias, lack of transparency and rigour, excessive competition, commercialization and vanity publishing.

From Nature

But are ventures like his little more than the wine-making equivalent of vanity publishing?

From BBC

“Because they’d gone the vanity publishing route in a previous incarnation and ended up with boxes of records in the garage.”

From The Guardian

While the virulent racism of old can still be found online, the movement today also includes more button-down websites run by white nationalism think tanks with vanity publishing units.

From New York Times

That’s what self-publishing used to be known as — vanity publishing.

From Forbes