The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

Susan, it's good to see you back...

...earlier in this thread I tried to pick up some major suck-up points with you, but I guess that you didn't read my posting. Just for that, I'm gonna talk about what a fine reviewer Mrs. Giggles is....

Back to more serious stuff - a recent little blip from the PA boards, stuff like this just breaks your heart...

Are you saying that they have to order the book from PA themselves to get the discount? Can I do that for them? They want me to order the books and send them to the bookshop as it is just a little castle bookshop with no computer etc.

They want to sell my book at a profit so I suggested buying the books from Amazon.co.uk where it is for sale for £8.50, roughly, $16.00, and they will still sell the book for £12.50. They will then reimburse me £8.50 for each book.

I know it's not a good deal for me, and call me a bad businesswoman, except I get royalties and they get the profit, but at least my books will be in their bookshop, and it is visited by thousands of tourists every year.

Click to expand...

Folks, buying and selling your books at a loss "to get them out there" is asinine, you are not going to increase your exposure much at all by doing that, not to mention that the bookstore proprietor will think you're a few cards short of a full deck. I could be wrong, but I can't think of any successful author that started out by selling their books at a loss to bookstores.

Think about it like this - spending all that time trying to come up with schemes to get your books into bookstores is time that could have been spent querying legitimate publishers and agents. Read what Susan wrote just earlier in this thread - you can get legitimately published, it happens everyday. Don't let publishing failures like Moe-randa, Larry, and Curlem salve their wounds over with your money - PA is the pink heinied ape of the publishing business, the bottom feeder of all bottom feeders, go elsewhere!

exactly, Ed - if they want your book they should be able to pick up the phone and CALL PublishAmerica, getting a decent discount.

we've already seen stories and threads about PA being unable or unwilling to supply books to legitimate stores asking for something to sell. Even if the author does a good job of wrangling around that no-return policy, he/she may still be doomed when PA refuses to do their job - like, SELL the book to the STORES!

PublishAmerica authors reading this - wouldn't you rather be WRITING instead of doing math tricks like this? Wouldn't you rather be WRITING instead of maxing out your credit card on hopeful sales on consignment?

and HB - my dare still stands - I'll be posting my royalty check (if anything) when it arrives - you man enough to tell the rest of the world how much cigarette money you got this time around?

The pink-heinied ape

That's poetic, Ed.

It's definitely not a great idea, but I give the author credit for determination in the face of a terrible situation.

How do you know what number out of eight you are? I want a pink number, too.

Susan, I appreciate your thoughts on this thread. Great stuff.

I, too, though, have wondered why it is that other writers' groups don't seem to be anywhere near as active in scam-fighting as SFWA. Makes me curious because RWA seems like a really active group, and I've often wondered if they have any sort of "scam watch" division like SFWA does.

Hey Jenna....

....a few weeks back, whenever the PA author (I cannot, for the life of me, remember his name) dubbed us as the eight most hated, I remember seeing my name there and that it was the fifth one of eight - I even joked about it on our boards. I know you were listed, but I can't remember where you were in the unholy eight. All I can say is:


Five, and proud of it!

Ed Williams said:

....a few weeks back, whenever the PA author (I cannot, for the life of me, remember his name) dubbed us as the eight most hated, I remember seeing my name there and that it was the fifth one of eight - I even joked about it on our boards. I know you were listed, but I can't remember where you were in the unholy eight. All I can say is:


Five, and proud of it!

Click to expand...

Go, Five! Maybe someday others of us will earn a place in the Unholy Alliance. It's definitely something to aspire to.

JennaGlatzer said:

I, too, though, have wondered why it is that other writers' groups don't seem to be anywhere near as active in scam-fighting as SFWA. Makes me curious because RWA seems like a really active group, and I've often wondered if they have any sort of "scam watch" division like SFWA does.

Click to expand...

Dang, I wrote a reply to this, and then the board went down. It wasn't my fault, I swear. But now I'll try to reconstruct my reply.

Jenna, I think the scam-busting in RWA is mostly left to the local chapters, where newbies can get a solid education, and to a certain extent, to our email lists and our RWR publication. But you may be right - you may be pointing to a weakness in the organization.

We have had a few ugly moments in our history, one that involved epublishing, because it was decided to hold epublishers to the same standard for publisher recognition as regular publishers - and that caused a lot of screaming and dissention in the ranks. RWA is different (I think, not 100% certain of other groups' membership requirements) from other writing groups in that we're made up of more aspiring unpubbed members than pubbed members. That does affect how the organization works.

And now, after mentioning our publisher recognition requirements, I have to go and check them out to make sure that PA, if it applied, could not receive recognition. Because if they can....that needs to be changed.

Laura said: "I've been looking at their Luna line myself. If I could just write romance without giggling. *g*"

Stop giggling! <G> From what I understand about Luna (haven't read any of them yet myself) they are more heroine-oriented fantasy, and the romance is supposed to be just small subplot. Harlequin is moving away from straight romance in a number of areas (for example, their new Bombshell line) and only time will tell if this is a good move for the company or not.

Ed, you posted suck-up points, and I missed them? Well, DANG! Now I'll have to go looking for them, because hey, nobody wants to miss suck-up points!

Susan G.
--------
www.susangable.com

JennaGlatzer said:

I, too, though, have wondered why it is that other writers' groups don't seem to be anywhere near as active in scam-fighting as SFWA. Makes me curious because RWA seems like a really active group, and I've often wondered if they have any sort of "scam watch" division like SFWA does.

Click to expand...

Other writers' groups send people with questions our way, keep us in the loop when they hear about new problems. I think they feel that since one organization is already doing it, they'll participate rather than duplicate.

- Victoria

The Mystery Two

Jenna and Hapi were the Mystery Two, the Naysayers Without Numbers.

====================

THIS LINK IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK:

http://www.sensibleerection.com/entry.php/45012

NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Even the pornographers have heard of Atlanta Nights -- and are laughing at PublishAnything.

I looked, (not working), LOL Sci-Fi writers utterly embarass a publishing house.

Hi Chris. I'm not new to this board, just been off for a long time because of a move and no internet hook up. You can add me to your list of unhappy authors. Nice to see Renee, Singer and a few other people from PA I knew over here....missed you guys/gals.

Now, Atlanta Nights may have proved that PA is a vanity publisher but I just want you guys to remember I did the same thing...only I had the police come and pay me a visit and a bogus fraud charge placed on me.

Glad to be back...missed the boards.

Kevin

James D. Macdonald said:

Even the pornographers have heard of Atlanta Nights -- and are laughing at PublishAnything.

Click to expand...

That's hysterical! PA really IS known from sea to shining sea now. (Lord, when are they going to tire of and lose that old cliche?)

Kevin Yarbrough said:

Hi Chris. I'm not new to this board, just been off for a long time because of a move and no internet hook up. You can add me to your list of unhappy authors. Nice to see Renee, Singer and a few other people from PA I knew over here....missed you guys/gals.

Now, Atlanta Nights may have proved that PA is a vanity publisher but I just want you guys to remember I did the same thing...only I had the police come and pay me a visit and a bogus fraud charge placed on me.

Glad to be back...missed the boards.

Kevin

Click to expand...

Hey, Kevin, good to see you back on the boards. If you're back on the Net, "come home," dude!

Kevin Yarbrough said:

Hi Chris. I'm not new to this board, just been off for a long time because of a move and no internet hook up. You can add me to your list of unhappy authors. Nice to see Renee, Singer and a few other people from PA I knew over here....missed you guys/gals.

Now, Atlanta Nights may have proved that PA is a vanity publisher but I just want you guys to remember I did the same thing...only I had the police come and pay me a visit and a bogus fraud charge placed on me.

Glad to be back...missed the boards.

Kevin

Click to expand...

Good Gravy, there you are! Consider yourself added, I was just thinking about you and wondering if you got things so that you could come and join the conversation, you are famous after all! Good seeing you here!

Susan Gable said:

Laura said: "I've been looking at their Luna line myself. If I could just write romance without giggling. *g*"

Stop giggling! <G> From what I understand about Luna (haven't read any of them yet myself) they are more heroine-oriented fantasy, and the romance is supposed to be just small subplot. Harlequin is moving away from straight romance in a number of areas (for example, their new Bombshell line) and only time will tell if this is a good move for the company or not.

Click to expand...

It's Lee Smith's Fault! (Yes, the Lee Smith--southern author) *g* She took the Silhouette Romance guidelines sometime back in the 80s and read to us the results of her reaction to the guidelines.

It just RUINT me. *g*

That and reading the last pages of Barbara Cartland novels when I was a library page (my boss suggested it since she had done it too) and finding out that you could take the man's dialogue from one and the woman's dialogue from another and read them together...

(And no, I am not making fun of romance novels or romance writer, since some of my friends are published romance writers too. )

I also laughed while I was writing my chapter of ATLANTA NIGHTS, so it's just me.

Easily amused.
Laura J. Underwood (A Little Bit of Travis Tea--My ATLANTA NIGHTS can poke out your EYE OF ARGON any day!)

DRAGON'S TONGUE forthcoming from Meisha Merlin in the Summer of 2006. Preview a copy at http://www.embiid.net.

keltora said:

(And no, I am not making fun of romance novels or romance writer, since some of my friends are published romance writers too. )

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm the first to admit that some of them make me giggle, and some of them make me CRINGE. <sigh> I suppose that's to be expected. Not going to please everyone all the time, I guess. Not even the most ardent of the genre-fans.

Kevin, YIKES at your visit from the police. I'm new to the thread, and I'm sure there are other newbies around, too. Would it be okay for you to share the details of this story again for us newbies?

Susan G.
---------
www.susangable.com

Kevin, it's an honor...

...to have you here, you have both balls and guts, my friend, and you've impressed me from day #1. What a class act.

Kevin, if you get a chance, would you consider enlightening the newbies here about your own little experience with PA's high editorial standards? It might be time for the Purple Pony to ride again....

"Excellent advice, Sheryl. IMO, speaking up is THE most powerful weapon in this battle. PA wasn't expecting it and got caught with their drawers down, I think."


That is not a pretty picture Sher2. Meiners, Clomper, or Miranda with their pants down....give me chills, and not good ones either. Just as bad as seeing me with my pants down.

Kevin

Kevin Yarbrough said:

"Excellent advice, Sheryl. IMO, speaking up is THE most powerful weapon in this battle. PA wasn't expecting it and got caught with their drawers down, I think."


That is not a pretty picture Sher2. Meiners, Clomper, or Miranda with their pants down....give me chills, and not good ones either. Just as bad as seeing me with my pants down.

Kevin

Click to expand...

Oh, GOD, no! Now I'll have nightmares about that tonight -- if I don't hurl first. Not you, Kev -- Larry, Curlem, and Moeranda. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.

Kevin Yarbrough said:

Nice to see Renee, Singer and a few other people from PA I knew over here....missed you guys/gals.

Now, Atlanta Nights may have proved that PA is a vanity publisher but I just want you guys to remember I did the same thing...only I had the police come and pay me a visit and a bogus fraud charge placed on me.
Glad to be back...missed the boards. Kevin

Click to expand...

Hey Kevin, long time no talk. I knew you'd be back through here, eventually. Sorry to hear about the PA hell ya had..it's a shame PA is so unprofessional and that you had to go through all that. Feel free to give us the low-down on it all. I know many people are interested in knowing what happened to you with the whole manuscript thing. Lots of people have been missing you! It's nice to see you here, and Diana H (thanks for the info you shared recently about the PA convention debacle), and Lynn P. I've missed all of ya'll. Thanks for the shout out!

Sure Ed. About July (I think it was July?) I took 30 pages of a new childrens book I was working on, copied it over and over, and over and sent it to PA. They sent me a contract for Eli Smith and the Purple Pony. At the end of September I received a letter from PA's attorney stating that what I did was fraud. He had sent the letter to the FBI and my local police. That night a cop came and told me to "set things straight with PublishAmerica" or he would arrest me for deceptive practice. He wouldn't show his badge to my wife through the door and stood off towards the shadows when I stepped outside to talk to him. He had a copy of the fake ms. as well as a few printed pages from here and mindisight. He was also driving a non descript cop car. As of yet the cop never came back and I haven't heard from the FBI.

Now the Purple Pony has been around for awhile but I am getting tired of him. I mean the dang thing eats a lot and people stop by all hours of the night to see him. I would be willing to sell him to someone, but I have to tell you he gets boring. He does the same thirty things over and over.

Alas, that is my tale and I'm sticking to it.....No purple, you can not talk on the boards. You don't know how to spell thats why....stop it....wheeeeeeee!!!!

Dang, guess he can spell. Owww, thats was my foot.

Absolutely amazing Kevin. So, you weren't wanting to be a PA author?
LOL, (none of us were wanting that either).

How Bizarre

That night a cop came and told me to "set things straight with PublishAmerica" or he would arrest me for deceptive practice. He wouldn't show his badge to my wife through the door and stood off towards the shadows when I stepped outside to talk to him. He had a copy of the fake ms. as well as a few printed pages from here and mindisight. He was also driving a non descript cop car. As of yet the cop never came back and I haven't heard from the FBI.

Is there any reason to think that was a real cop?

Kevin, welcome back. I hope you're able to be more regular. Missed ya!

Kevin, you are da man...

...and thanks for relaying that story for everyone's consideration. Folks, think we're kidding when we say PublishAmerica is a cult-like organization? They're going after people because they're too sorry to read their own manuscripts, and got embarrassed as a result. Of course, now, with "Atlanta Nights" and others coming soon, they will get to relive that embarrassment over and over and over again. But folks, "Eli Smith and the Purple Pony" was a trendsetter, and we should be grateful to Kevin for having the guts to show up PA for what they really are.

P.S. For the New Three Stooges, Moe-randa, Larry, and Curlem - keep a close eye out for those Southern themed manuscripts, you never know what might be floating around your offices...