Authors Win Damages From ‘Vanity’ Publisher

NEW YORK — A state jury awarded $3.5 million Friday in a 13-year-old lawsuit accusing one of the nation’s largest “vanity” publishers of fraud and deception.

The class action suit represents 2,200 authors who have paid up to $8,000 each to have their book manuscripts published by New York-based Vantage Press since 1971.

Those titles include “Dogs I Have Known” and “The Sex Life of a Football Referee.”

The civil suit charged that Vantage Press made no effort to sell books or promote its authors. Vantage said it would appeal.