The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread

[CatSlave]

Yes, that's always been there, but it's buried under the other argle-bargle, smoke and mirrors, flashing lights, waving flags and misleading words.

The eyes and the brain can process only so much, then everything looks like a jumble, exactly the way PublishAmerica planned it.

Chances are either you won't see it, or the meaning will escape your notice.

[James D. Macdonald]

Originally Posted by Queen of Swords

For a paperback. No discount. No chance.

It appears to be a category romance. Of all the things that do well when self-published* (for some values of "well"), category romances aren't on the list.

(Indeed, any novel of a kind that you generally find in bookstores -- mysteries, fantasies, romances, etc. -- does poorly when self-published. Readers, rightly or wrongly, assume that the reason it wasn't professionally published is because it sucks.)

Regardless of length, or of price, or of quality, it would have no chance.

====================
* Poetry, niche fiction, specialized non-fiction, drama.

[Gillhoughly]

Yikes. 39.00--let's call it 44 bucks after the shipping's slapped on.

Phooey on that!

My library had a sale of used books.

For TEN dollars you got to carry home as many books as you could fit into a very large box.

Mine was less than half full (those were all I wanted), so I got an even dozen by the likes of Val McDermid, John Ringo, Eric Flint, Carole Nelson Douglas, and Agatha Christi in hardcover.

Right, unfair comparison. Library sales are completely awesome to a book addict.

Okay, local bookstore: five new books for 7.99 each + tax.

Sorry PA writer. You may have a wonderful story, but I can't afford it. It's not your fault. It's PA. They are sooooo greedy.

Of course you're aware that the price is high on purpose, so when they do drop it down to an almost reasonable amount that it looks like a bargain to you, so in desperation to make sales you buy a bunch of copies on your own to pimp (those don't count as royalties, yanno).

But hey, remember, PA says they're not a POD vanity press. They wanted your book, not your money!

Isn't it odd how it worked out they're getting both after all?

You mad yet?

You should be.

[Jersey Chick]

622 pages? That's about 155k words - that's three category romances!!!

The cover is pretty cool - but I would think the story itself could probably be broken up into at least two books. That's waaaaay too long for a single title or category romance. Eeek. It's close in size to Gone With the Wind, which I don't know would have been published today (despite being one of the best books evah, imho.)

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by CatSlave

To which address did you mail your letter?

The address in the contract: PublishAmerica, L.L.P., P.O. Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by agentpaper

Maybe you're too nice. It seems that if you get nasty, then you get a response. Or it is from what I've read in the last few days.

I didn't have to get nasty, but PA knows that if they get unprofessional with me, it will end up on the PA page of my web site. I've even posted a couple of examples of how they got nasty with other PA authors.

[James D. Macdonald]

Why people may go with PA despite all the information that's out here:

The web isn't just for experts.

See this article which references this blog post.

[Unimportant]

Originally Posted by Jersey Chick

622 pages? That's about 155k words - that's three category romances!!!

In my experience, a trade paperback for a 120,000 word story comes out at around 330 pages. So 622 pages would be >200,000 words.

[Kenneth K]

Hi gang, been a while but thought I'd pop by with the latest hilarious solicitation from PA. This one made me think of the Simpsons movie and Hanks' cameo quote: "Hello. I'm Tom Hanks. The US Government has lost its credibility, so it's borrowing some of mine."

Enjoy.

Dear Author:

PublishAmerica will submit your book to Tom Hanks!

We will send your book to one of Hollywood's most awarded actors, so he can read it for optional movie adaptation just like other Hollywood actors have done with other PublishAmerica books. We will submit two copies of your book, in case he wants to share one copy with a Hollywood production company or anyone else he chooses.
Tom Hanks is not only an actor, he is also a major movie producer (e.g. My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

We're basically donating your book to Tom Hanks; he can do with it what he wants. And we will let your local newspaper, radio, or TV know that your book is being submitted to this generation's most successful Oscar winner. So they can put the spotlight on you as a local author, who deserves a shot at having their book turned into a Hollywood movie.

Here's how we do it:

If you want to have books on hand, order now, and we will donate two copies
to Tom Hanks, or more if he asks for more. And you receive a 55 pct discount!


Go to www.publishamerica.net, find your book, click on it, then add to cart, indicate quantity, and use this coupon: TomHanks55. Then click Recalculate and finish the transaction. Minimum volume is 12 copies. Need fewer books? Use TomHanks45 as your coupon for a 45 pct discount, no minimum volume required, and we'll still send your book to Tom Hanks.


In the Ordering Instructions field, just write: "Media Yes". Our PR department
will automatically contact you for names and addresses of your local news media.
By using the coupon you are authorizing us to donate the books to actor Tom Hanks
in Concord, California. You may also request that we ship the two FREE books
to you instead.


Full-color and hardcovers excluded. Offer expires this weekend on Sunday night.

Thank you,
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

[merrihiatt]

We will send your book to one of Hollywood's most awarded actors, so he can read it for optional movie adaptation just like other Hollywood actors have done with other PublishAmerica books.

Can PA even name one PA printed book that was made into a movie because a book was given to a Hollywood actor?

Let's see, there's Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Gary Marshall, Martin Scoresese, etc. This PA "special offer" could go on forever, especially if they're including actors! I'm sure Tom Cruise, Jude Law, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie and Demi Moore would love to receive two books from 40-60 PA authors (assuming they are even sent).

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

The problem is they don't need to. PA authors see a big name, and they automatically jump on the offer. If anyone questions it, it's after PA has already received their money, in which case they don't have to bother to answer. They got what they wanted.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by Kenneth K

Dear Author:

PublishAmerica will submit your book to Tom Hanks!

Every time I read one of these I find myself wondering, "Who falls for this nonsense?" And yet someone must be answering these solicitations or PA wouldn't keep sending them out. It is so true that a fool and his money are soon parted.

[merrihiatt]

I read a PA author's blog just today where she mentioned that she had taken advantage of PA's offer to send her book to Oprah, so some PA authors do believe that PA is true to their word.

[TheTinCat]

PublishAmerica will submit your book to Tom Hanks!

My brain.

She hurts.

[ResearchGuy]

Originally Posted by merrihiatt

I read a PA author's blog just today where she mentioned that she had taken advantage of PA's offer to send her book to Oprah, so some PA authors do believe that PA is true to their word.

Some people believe pretty near anything you can think of, everything from "The check is in the mail" to "Housing prices never go down."

--Ken

[Jersey Chick]

Originally Posted by Unimportant

In my experience, a trade paperback for a 120,000 word story comes out at around 330 pages. So 622 pages would be >200,000 words.

I did a rough calculation of 250 words per page. Either way - yikes. That's a BIG book!

If you want to have books on hand, order now, and we will donate two copies
to Tom Hanks, or more if he asks for more. And you receive a 55 pct discount!

Umm.... why would he want or need two copies????

Head, meet desk, part... whatever...

Could you just imagine if PA actually sent those? Tom Hanks would drown in a sea of unvetted slush. I can just see the headlines now and they are NOT pretty.

[Gillhoughly]

Dear PA writer,

Sorry, but people like Tom Hanks and any others that PA plans to exploit to get you to buy books won't ever see yours.

They have agents and readers and handlers and others to keep things like PA (and you) away from them.

Since when did Tom Hanks become a charity?

Now, check out his MySpace page and see if he counts a single PA title among his fav reads!

Oh, yeah, there doesn't seem to be any contact information for him, and I doubt PA has an address, so take it as fact that your "donated" books are never going to be sent in the first place. PA will simply pocket the money and offer excuses. There is no proof they've ever sent a single book to any of these people or groups.

[Anon76]

Ahhh, this reminds me of a time when an aquaintance of mine learned I was published. (Small but regular publisher with advances and such.) She determined that since I could do it, she most certainly could.

Than came the nightmare of trying to dissuade her from writing a personal letter to Tom Hanks about her father's war experiences, how she wanted to document dad's tales and what a great movie it would make.

I tried to explain gently the reality of things, that because Tom Hanks had already visited that certain section of the war, he'd probably want to look at it from a different conflict area or angle. That it would be best to have more than just a letter saying "you should film this", without any ms or screen play to show. And the worst, try to help in the editing of the one lone thing she wrote...the pretty much unreadable letter.

Guess what? No response from Mr. Hanks. Please PA authors, think before you jump into these "deals". Why not send your book to contests in your genre to get a real taste of how your work stacks up? In the end, it's cheaper than buying all those copies to send to places where you won't get the time of day.

(Holding my tongue on why lots of places won't take PA entries.)

[PVish]

Now it's Random House? PA is submitting books to its, er, competitor? Not that Random House will even look at a PA book, but still. . . ?????

[brainstorm77]

Oh geez, like they will even consider a book by PA!

[JulieB]

Sigh. For the benefit of lurkers, this is how you submit a book to Random House.

[Terie]

Originally Posted by PVish

Now it's Random House? PA is submitting books to its, er, competitor? Not that Random House will even look at a PA book, but still. . . ?????

That post is worth quoting, cuz I doubt it'll last much longer, not with the dig at PA's legitimacy as a publisher.

I just got an email informing me that PublishAmerican is willing to submit my book to Random House.

How exciting.

Does this mean they intend to abrogate my seven year publishing contract? Is there any tacit reciprocity in this assertion? Am I now free to circulate my book to a legitimate publisher? Are there any lawyers out there who can answer this question?

[PVish]

You think maybe PA meant they were sending the book to "a random house"? That would make more sense (not necessarily good sense).

[Gillhoughly]

What's at the end of JulieB's timely link:

Random House, Inc. does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission queries via e-mail at this time.


(One may conclude this means submissions from PA.)

If you would like to have your work or manuscript considered for publication by a major book publisher, we recommend that you work with an established literary agent. Each agency has manuscript submission guidelines. You may wish to refer to The Literary MarketPlace (the LMP), a reference guide that contains a listing of literary agencies. It can be found in most libraries. Another excellent source is The Writer's Market, which you should be able to find in a local bookstore or library. You can also visit their Web site at http://www.writersdigest.com for more information.



Yo--PA lurkers--THAT'S how things work in professional publishing.


Please do compare Random House's website to PA's.

I dare you.

If you can find a cheesy "testimonials" page on the Random House site, I will line edit your book and write a glowing letter of recommendation, complete with cover quotes.

[Richard White]

Taken from that same thread . Bolding is mine.

Actually, they said they will submit copies of your book to Random house for reprint provided you buy copies of your book(s). You have to purchase the copies for them to give them to Random House and there is no guarentee that Random House will republish your book(s) to begin with. As far as legalalities I am sure PA has lawyers who checked into that aspect of the offer and is not doing anything illegal or that will go against your contract. You will probably still have a seven year contract with them and they will still publish your books for that duration of time.

So, it's another buy books and we'll send them somewhere they won't get read scheme.