The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

[TwentyFour]

I heard PA takes all the rights to Movies and so on on the books they publish, something about it being in the contracts?

 

[Jacob Fox]

I recently read the 5,000 dollar fine PA gives...I also seen another POD is double that-10,000 dollar fines for those posting against them on a board! I forgot to get the name of this company but if anyone knows it, please post it. Obviously there are a few others just as bad as PA if not worse!

I have been away for a while. What's this all about as far as PA is concerned?

 

[SeanDSchaffer]

I heard PA takes all the rights to Movies and so on on the books they publish, something about it being in the contracts?

The answer to that question, Jo, is a bit tricky because of the language the PA contract uses.

Now, my own contract is a couple years old, so it might not reflect what the standard contract says presently. But the answer to your question can be found, at least in my contract, in Paragraph 20.

It states:

8. Author hereby agrees that the Publisher shall have the exclusive right to negotiate for the sale, lease, license or other disposition of the said literary work in all hard and/or soft cover or reprint editions in book form. Author furthermore agrees that the Publisher shall have the exlusive right for the duration of this Agreement to negotiate for the sale, lease, license or other disposition of the said literary work in the motion picture, dramatic, radio, television, and/or all other fields only if so instructed by the Author in writing. ....Snipped for Content and Length.

This paragraph would seem to indicate that the movie and TV rights would be the Publisher's responsibility only if so directed by the Author.

However, this paragraph is so hard for me to read that I don't know if that's true or not. I'm hoping someone with a little more knowledge in Legaleze would maybe weigh in on the subject.

Also, the issue about PA getting the exclusive right to publish in Movies and TV, etc., doesn't seem to fit with what my contract says in Paragraphs 1 and 8. However, again, this issue is partially clouded in mystery because of the contract language. It's very hard to read and understand, so your idea might in fact be true. But I'm thinking someone who knows contract language better than me should be telling us what all the contract actually says.

I hope that helps you out, Jo.

 

[TwentyFour]

I have been away for a while. What's this all about as far as PA is concerned?

Do you mean the 5K fine? It's new! PA is fining ppl for posting about them if they have a PA contract...I don't understand it either? You'll have to see the other thread about PA contracts I believe.

 

[Lady of Prose]

Sean,

The way I read my contract is: If you aquire movie deal on your own acting as your own agent or have another agent, PA is out of movie deal.

If you want PA to act as your agent or rep. they take 50%

If PA aquires the movie deal--they split 50-50.

 

[TwentyFour]

The answer to that question, Jo, is a bit tricky because of the language the PA contract uses.

Now, my own contract is a couple years old, so it might not reflect what the standard contract says presently. But the answer to your question can be found, at least in my contract, in Paragraph 8.

It states:

8. No payment shall be made to the Author for permission gratuitously given to others to publish extracts from the said literary work to benefit the sale thereof, but all compensation received by the Publisher for the publication of extraction therefrom, or for serial use after publication in book form, or for translations, or for abridgments, or as a book club selection, shall be divided in the proportion of 50% to the Author and 50% to the Publisher. All compensation received by the Publisher for the dramatic or motion picture rights, or for the first serial rights prior to book publication, or for foreign, radio, dramatic, cheap edition, television, and/or all other rights in the said literary work shall be similiarly divided between the Author and the Publisher, as hereabove set forth.

This paragraph would seem to indicate that the movie and TV rights would be divided between the Author and the Publisher at 50% to one and 50% to the other. But the language is hard for me to understand, and I'm hoping someone with more knowledge in Legaleze will be willing to weigh in on the meaning of this paragraph.

I hope that helps you out, Jo.

Yes it does. I took some legal assisting classes and find that hard to read..took me two or three times to get the jist of it. I guess if someone has a PA contract and go on the radio and are paid to have an interview to promote the book would they also be liable to pay fifty percent to PA? Paid to have a personal reading in a school or other place? I would see them being able to take from authors for many things as long as they had the smallest bit of their book read or promoted with the PA name on it?

 

[Jacob Fox]

Do you mean the 5K fine? It's new! PA is fining ppl for posting about them if they have a PA contract...I don't understand it either? You'll have to see the other thread about PA contracts I believe.

Very interesting, that must be something they added into new contracts or something. However, why anyone would sign a contract that gives them the authority to do such a thing is pretty stupid.

 

[SeanDSchaffer]

Yes it does. I took some legal assisting classes and find that hard to read..took me two or three times to get the jist of it. I guess if someone has a PA contract and go on the radio and are paid to have an interview to promote the book would they also be liable to pay fifty percent to PA? Paid to have a personal reading in a school or other place? I would see them being able to take from authors for many things as long as they had the smallest bit of their book read or promoted with the PA name on it?

Believe it or not, Jo, I had to get permission from PA to use an excerpt of my own book on my website. I believe their rule was (this was about a year-and-a-half ago; it might be different today) that I had the right to use up to a whole chapter of my own work for advertisement purposes.


Just so you all know, I've changed my previous post because I realized I answered the wrong question with it. The paragraph I meant to quote was, in fact, Paragraph 20, not Paragraph 8.


Lady of Prose,

Thank you kindly for the clarification on the subject of agents versus handling movie deals yourself. I never really had thought too much about the subject, so I'm glad you explained it in plain, simple language that most of us can understand. Like I pointed out before, PA's contract language is very hard to understand, and so much so that I personally cannot comprehend much of it. Thanks again.

 

[CJWilkes]

Yes it does. I took some legal assisting classes and find that hard to read..took me two or three times to get the jist of it. I guess if someone has a PA contract and go on the radio and are paid to have an interview to promote the book would they also be liable to pay fifty percent to PA? Paid to have a personal reading in a school or other place? I would see them being able to take from authors for many things as long as they had the smallest bit of their book read or promoted with the PA name on it?

Personally, I think the scheisters wrote it that way so as to confuse anyone and they would be able to interpret it to their own liking for whatever situation may appear.

 

[TwentyFour]

Oh one more thing about the 5K fine...if anyone in your family downs PA also..you will be fined...LOL. That is some company there. I think they need a movie or book written on them...HB Marcus and Publish America...make it fiction and change names and send it to PA and let them publish it!

 

[SeanDSchaffer]

Very interesting, that must be something they added into new contracts or something. However, why anyone would sign a contract that gives them the authority to do such a thing is pretty stupid.

It's not necessarily as stupid as you might think. The language is extremely hard to understand within a PA contract, and many of the issues that have been raised here in the NEPAT are cleverly hidden in the contract amongst things that generally have nothing to do with those same issues.

Paragraph 24, for example, in listing printing materials that can be sold by PA to whomever they want to when the book is no longer in demand, also lists the book's "Rights and Copyrights." When I first read that paragraph, I read right over those important words about the rights to my own work, and did not know they were there until after I signed with PA and someone pointed that fact out to me.

My guess is that my 'inner editor,' as some might call it, 'edited out' the stuff that didn't really belong there, and therefore my mind never picked up on it until it was too late for me.


Not stupid at all. It's just the way the PA contract is written.

 

[Liam Jackson]

I haven't followed this thread for some months. Whats the status of Da' Beast? Is PA still growing, (or at least pounding its anemic chest about growing?)
Any news on progress from the various "expose PA" efforts?

A capsule summary, perhaps?

 

[AnnaWhite]

The various on-line booksellers are going to start charging POD publishers to list their books.

I'm sorry for those who still have illusions about PublishAmerica, but for me, if my book were removed from all online bookstores, it would be Christmas all over again! Of course, it would be an even better Christmas if PublishAmerica were to terminate my contract - except that I might faint from surprise.

 

[SC Harrison]

Very interesting, that must be something they added into new contracts or something. However, why anyone would sign a contract that gives them the authority to do such a thing is pretty stupid.

This fine was something they threw into the non-exclusive contract amendment thing that allows authors to pursue publishing elsewhere; it doesn't apply to all PA contract holders, just the ones that sign the special one.

 

[Saundra Julian]

Like any "real" publisher would want to partner with a scam like PA!

 

[rekirts]

I wonder if PA would actually try taking someone to court to collect the $5000? That would open a whole can of worms that they might not want crawling around.

 

[Bufty]

I currently have two books with PA. The first in first stages. I just submitted my third and hope they accept it.

Have no fear, friend - they'll accept it - if they don't just try, try, try again.
This is sad. Why don't folk do research?

 

[James D. Macdonald]

Hi, Liam. The biggest news has been Phil Dolan's report of his arbitration hearing. http://www.publishamericasucks.com/arb.html

After that, we have the "returnability" fiasco. PA announced (with great fanfare and a chance to buy your own books) that they were making all their books returnable as of October. What they didn't say was October of what year, and they didn't mention that they were lowering the bookstore discount to 5%. There's been a report that they're also charging a 50% restocking fee. This pretty-much kills bookstore shelving, and may make bookstore special-orders more difficult.

Larry is still boasting that PA is growing. Who knows? That may even be true. False and misleading advertising is still their hallmark.

 

[Susan Gable]

Believe it or not, Jo, I had to get permission from PA to use an excerpt of my own book on my website. I believe their rule was (this was about a year-and-a-half ago; it might be different today) that I had the right to use up to a whole chapter of my own work for advertisement purposes.

I have to file permission requests with Harlequin to post excerpts and covers on my website. So that's not just a PA thing.

Susan G.

 

[Christine N.]

Yes, b/c even though it's YOUR intellectual property, they still own and control the print rights. They say where it can be printed and by whom.

Not only that, but they also own their edits of the copy. So it's your idea, your original piece, but their editorial cuts are their property. I think - IANAL, so this is just the way I've had it explained to me.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

The question isn't print rights, the question is electronic rights.

 

[Saundra Julian]

So what you're saying is no author is allowed to post any part of their book on any web site unless PA ok's it?

 

[DaveKuzminski]

The question isn't print rights, the question is electronic rights.

And in many cases, the publisher almost certainly owns the cover's rights. However, a publisher truly interested in selling to the buying public will grant permission to the author provided it's used properly.

 

[Liam Jackson]

Thanks, Jim. I visited Dolan's site. Looks like he's rolling right along and more power to him.

PA's new return policy is a real hoot, uh?

 

[Norman Chenoweth]

So what you're saying is no author is allowed to post any part of their book on any web site unless PA ok's it?

I'm new here, I just wondered if any of you PA authors kept your digital rights? I kept mine and have the first two chapters of my book on my website and have never been questioned about it. I'm also considering making it into an e-book and would like any suggestions.

Thanks Norm

Norman Chenoweth - author of
"The Invisible Patriots
the 2nd American Revolution"
http://invisiblepatriots.com