The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

Ken Schneider · Mar 12, 2007

I wouldn't dare tell anyone my real name.

Patricia · Mar 12, 2007

Me neither. I love anonymity -- I don't want my crediblity overrated.

smsarber · Mar 12, 2007

Am I in trouble? I even have my middle name posted! The PA Ogres and Dragonians may be able to find me?
I still want to know if I signed a contract in jail is it valid?

Popeyesays · Mar 12, 2007

You don't think they might know I'm Scott Saylors and live in Oklahoma City, do you? Also I've been Popeyesays on AOL and Sbcglobal.net since 1997.

I'm just glad I found AW and P&E before I found Publish America.

Regards,
Scott

LloydBrown · Mar 12, 2007

M.L McBryar said:
*screams*
Can we say illiterate? I worte PA because my royalty check hasn't come, which they said to do after a certain date. This is the response I was given:

They don't answer specific questions. That's a cut & paste. That's all you get.

M.L McBryar · Mar 12, 2007

yup so I've learned which is why my newest manuscript is in the hands of an agent.

smsarber · Mar 12, 2007

Well, I did actually get a reply to my royalty question.

Quote:
At 03:43 PM 3/3/2007 -0500, you wrote:

From Steven Michael Sarber
"A Beautiful Way to See"
ISBN: 1-4241-2737-8
Okay, my first royalties statement, last Sept. was for six books. Fine. This one is for three. I know positively that there were more than three books sold. I purchased two myself from a B&N bookstore (NOT an online store) last October. My Grandparents have prdered more than three, MONTHS ago and never recieved any books. My Aunt and Uncle ordered two or three, and have not recieved a single book. This was all done in JULY 2006.
I look forward to a quick and truthful response,
Steven Michael Sarber
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.

Dear Author:

We feel confident that the royalties information you received is correct.

Please send proof of the sales which you claim were made. We pay royalties on all books for which we have been paid. We will be happy to research further when given such proof.

Separately, you are always welcome to review our royalties calculations in person at our offices. If this is something you are interested in, please contact [email protected] about an appointment.

Have a good day,
Gail
PublishAmerica Royalties
[email protected]

That was my original e-mail, and their answer. I responded with: "yeah, I'll fly out to Maryland on my $2.18 check" I mistakenly said in another post that it was $2.84. I am pretty disgusted by the whole thing, and I wouldn't even cash the damn check if it weren't for the principal of the matter. How am I supposed to prove my family ordered books, and do they really think I still have the receipt for the ones I purchased? Of course, since I paid cash they would say there is no proof it was even my receipt. *^!# it.
It won't discourage me, though.
__________________
Steven Michael Sarber

www.freewebs.com/stevenmichaelsarber
One day at a time, One word at a time.

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Sassenach · Mar 12, 2007

M.L McBryar said:
y
It seems that PA feels that they are of godly status, all knowing and never wrong.

I don't think so. It's simple a scam, and part of the scam is keeping the marks off-guard.

Other than establishing a paper trail, what's the point of questioning "Author Support?" Obviously, they will not provide an answer.

Scribhneoir · Mar 12, 2007

BeeBomb said:
Ya, Dave! I just found the legal address to Disney. Yahoo-->Type in Disneyland Corporate Office. Scroll down to #5. Dear Disneyland.
Hope it helps.

Dave needs the Studio's legal department, not Disneyland's.

Dave, the guy you want to contact is Peter Nolan. I'll send you his e-mail in a PM.

ResearchGuy · Mar 12, 2007

Tip-top customer service! (not)

I asked a friend of mine if the PA book she had ordered in response to one of those hundred-friends-and-family postcards had arrived. (The author is a mutual acquantance via a local writers club.) Here is my friend's reply:

No, and it's almost a month!
I ordered [name deleted]'s book on 2/14/07 by check in the mail.
Interesting.
I wonder if they cashed my check.

There ya go . . . a real customer orders a book and sends payment and . . . nada.

Maybe PA waits for the check to clear before placing the order.

--Ken

Ken Schneider · Mar 12, 2007

ResearchGuy said:
Maybe PA waits for the check to clear before placing the order.

--Ken

Maybe they wait for the interest to add up.

spike · Mar 13, 2007

Someone on the PAMB is due a rude awakening. They have mistaken PA for a publisher who cares about sales.

PAMB said:
This is for ###### and anyone else who might know the answer. Did you send a galley of your book to Publisher's Weekly or the ALA? If so, I was wondering how you did it. It would seem to be a good way to get advanced attention, provide the book is worthwhile. I was wondering if you can estimate the page total and cost since they ask for that and I won't know it about mine until later. Publisher's weekly likes the galley 3-4 months before publication.

zizban · Mar 13, 2007

Does PA even print galleys?

Christine N. · Mar 13, 2007

Nope. The book is published, end of story. No pre publication hoopla. They don't do ARC's, they don't send reviews to the trades. Not really their fault - the trades won't consider a book that's POD.

Ken Schneider · Mar 13, 2007

The only proofs you get are your scrammbled up re-editing of what you sent them.

You look and say okay, and they print it. PRESTO! you're a star.

CatSlave · Mar 13, 2007

zizban said:
Does PA even print galleys?

No. PA sends a pdf file to the author with the "editorial changes" already made and the text formatted into PageMaker. The author has two weeks to review the pdf, line by line, and create a separate list of any further changes or corrections. The text people will then make the author's changes and send the corrected pdf file back to the author for the final review. The only way the author can see which changes have been made is through a side-by-side comparison between his original text and the PA edited version. The author himself never makes any changes or corrections to the working file; only the PA editors or text people do that.

James D. Macdonald · Mar 13, 2007

At real publishers, the author sees any changes in the final version marked in red, so he/she can easily find them and write "STET" in the margin.

Few people have the proofreading skills to find changes in texts of the kind that PA sends back to its authors.

Meanwhile: Books are still resonating over at PA... http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/3/emw511323.htm

There's a reason they use a one-size-fits-all release over there. They aren't trying to sell books to the public, they're just trying to make sure they aren't technically lying when they say that they market their books.

bstevens · Mar 13, 2007

royalty check

James D. Macdonald said:
Welcome to the NEPAT, Part II.

This thread is for discussing the business practices of PublishAmerica, a so-called "traditional" publisher located in Frederick, Maryland.

Please keep the comments on-topic, truthful, and helpful.

I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

Rolling Thunder · Mar 13, 2007

Book selling is a tough market, Bstevens.

JimmyD1318 · Mar 13, 2007

bstevens said:
I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

All of that for eight bucks! That's PA for you. A whole lot of work for little return.

TwentyFour · Mar 13, 2007

bstevens said:
I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

I hope you better luck getting out of the PA contract than getting in one.

I guess you don't exactly like that thread you made now, "Tips on how to make a PA book work for you".

LloydBrown · Mar 13, 2007

bstevens said:
I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

That's not how you sell books.

Now if you were on 4,000 bookstore shelves and only received $8 in royalties, I'd see a problem.

brianm · Mar 13, 2007

bstevens said:
I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

Your job as the writer is to write books. The publisher's job is to sell books.

Unfortunately, PA derives its money from selling to you, the author, and your family and friends. That's why you had to give them a list of 100 names and addresses of your family and friends. They have no interest in promoting your book or selling it to anyone else besides you and your family.

“…PublishAmerica CEO Willem Meiners admitted that the main thrust of their sales are targeted at selling to their authors and that those provide the majority of the company's income.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish_America)

Glenda · Mar 13, 2007

CatSlave said:
No. PA sends a pdf file to the author with the "editorial changes" already made and the text formatted into PageMaker. The author has two weeks to review the pdf, line by line, and create a separate list of any further changes or corrections. The text people will then make the author's changes and send the corrected pdf file back to the author for the final review. The only way the author can see which changes have been made is through a side-by-side comparison between his original text and the PA edited version. The author himself never makes any changes or corrections to the working file; only the PA editors or text people do that.

And they do not do a very good job at that.

tlblack · Mar 13, 2007

bstevens said:
I can't figure out why I am on 10 websites and I did a 4000 email subscriber campaign and only received $8.

For a first time PA author, not understanding why you get pretty much nothing in royalties is a hard fact to swallow. PA doesn't care about selling books to anyone except the people who wrote them. They make a nice profit from each author who buys 100 copies of their own book. They expect the author to promote the book. They just leave out the part about not being able to talk book stores into carrying it, and most authors won't be able to set up book signings unless they are in the town they live in. It's available all right... to you... the author of the book. PA will sell their authors all the copies they can afford to buy. They don't care what you do with those copies after you buy them, and they don't pay royalties on author purchases. PA makes all the money and its authors end up driving around with a box or two full of books in the trunk, and spending money on marketing ideas that have already been tried and failed. Once a PA author adds up all the money they spend on trying to market their books... How free did it turn out to be? Wait until you get one of their royalty checks for $0.00.

Welcome back to AW Barbara. I hope you'll stick around.

The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

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