WPHerald: Self-publishing gains popularity in Japan
For a half-century, Kazuko Oi has documented the ups and downs of her life in her journals so diligently that she has amassed more than 300 diaries. "I never finish a day without writing a journal," Mrs. Oi said. "For me, it is living proof that I live this very day. I try to take life one day at a time. As long as I live, I keep journals." After she retired as a nurse, Mrs. Oi became more serious about her writing. She saw an advertisement for the Bungei-sha self-publishing service and decided to turn some of her diary entries into a book...Mrs. Oi is one of a growing number of writers who spend their own money to get published. Bungei-sha and other emerging publishers try to meet their needs. It typically costs the equivalent of $10,000 to $14,000 to print 1,000 copies, but some authors self-publish books on credit...more...

See the "My Bookle" site (Japanese) for one such service.

In the good old days, when someone went to expense of producing a vanity book, there was at least a very small chance that they might have something interesting to say. I am afraid the over the past few years the quality of vanity publications has gone straight to the dumpsters. The ones I have read all seem to be about old-lived codgers and their amazing pocket lint collections or ladies with the amazing power to forecast future stockmarket prices using Hostess Twinkees.

Shinpusha, which relies on self-publishing for up to 90% of its sales, has filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of 2 billion yen. News in Japanese here. Self-publishing companies expanded sharply on the back of a boom in demand but have recently come under fire as authors have complained of being defrauded. One such publisher promised a customer the book would be available in shops nationwide but then refused to name one of them. Another author was not refunded his deposit of several million yen when the publisher did not need to print copies because sales were poor. There was an article in one of the English dailies about these scandals recently but I've no idea which one.

dimwit wrote:... I am afraid the over the past few years the quality of vanity publications...

The words " quality" and "vanity publications" don't belong in the same sentence. HOWEVER, there is a huge motivation for paying $10-14K for Bungei-sha's self-publishing service. If you pay a "legit" publisher like Bungei-sha to place your book in a few dozen libraries, you get claim to be a "professor" and be paid more (or do consulting).

Taro Toporific wrote:If you pay a "legit" publisher like Bungei-sha to place your book in a few dozen libraries, you get claim to be a "professor" and be paid more (or do consulting).

One of the reasons for Shinpusha's financial woes is that they borrowed to open their own "libraries" so authors could make those claims with a straight face.

From the Japan Times:

A publishing yearbook says Singpoosha published 2,788 new titles in 2006, more than any other publishing company in Japan. But it became a target of damages lawsuits last year by some authors of autobiographies and other types of work who complained that their books were only sold at a handful of bookstores.

Yomiuri: Unpublished writers paid Singpoosha 1 bil. yen

Singpoosha Publishing Co. has revealed it received about 1 billion yen in payments to publish self-financed works from about 1,000 contracted writers, although it did not publish them. The Tokyo-based publisher, whose application for court-protected rehabilitation was rejected Friday by the Tokyo District Court, also revealed that 6 million copies of books written by about 15,000 authors had not been distributed and were in storage at the company. The fact that about 400 books per writer are stored at the firm highlights a situation far removed from the company catchphrase, which promises books will be "sold at stores throughout the nation." "We forecast there was no way these books would be sold, so we asked writers to buy them at 40 percent of the marked price," a company spokesman said at a press conference at its Minato Ward headquarters Saturday...more...

More trouble in the world of publishing. Ascom, the company responsible for NHK tie-in titles for programmes like "Eigo de ShaberaNaito", appears to have done a runner. Employees turned up for work on the morning of the 21st and discovered that they could not get into the building. The company has made no announcement to employees or creditors but there are fears that salaries and manuscript fees will now go unpaid. Book stores around the country are removing Ascom titles from their shelves. This will only exacerbate whatever financial woes the company has because retailers operate on a sale-or-return basis.