I thought the whole point of a vanity press was to get money from a writer not give it to them.

I hope the book tanks. I am hoping it because publishers might realise that they're pursueing what I think is a toxic business model (sell lots of copies on the back of someone's celebrity status to people who are essentially non-readers, and pour a lot of advance money and advertising money into those titles, who rise fast and have a sell-by date). I would like them to realise that they've been neglecting the midlist model where writers might not do too spectacularly with their first or second book, but they'll produce a steady line of books until they hit their stride and take off. And sometimes not, but they'll still have written books that were steady sellers, the kind of books that readers will pick up one more of because they sound interesting.

I've just been thinking: would Terry Pratchett have been given a chance to hang around long enough to hit his stride in the Discworld? He wrote a number of ok, but not spectacular books - some good writing, some funny ideas, but very much midlist - until his craft and his strengths came together.