The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

PVish said:

Looks like Carl's original posting has been removed from the public PAMB. Somehow, I didn't think it would last.

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It's been moved to the "Chill Out Bar" on the private PAMB.

I can imagine merely mentioning the existance of Atlanta Nights might raise questions in some writers' minds. The last thing PA will want its authors to do is actually look in to what happened for themselves.

ETA: well if it's still on there, some authors might start googling about it.

janetbellinger said:

I imagine Publish America was a good vanity publisher back in the days when they were upfront about what they were doing.

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Since its inception, PublishAmerica has never been upfront to any of their authors about any of their activities except when under oath. Sure, they've admitted a few things in interviews to outsiders, but they've always tried to avoid admitting the truth to their authors.

Also, Carl is nothing more than a sycophant (aka a sockpuppet).

Carl = HB Marcus = sock puppet

The math works for me

Alien Enigma said:

Some of you people are so mean. I mean really, you guys talk bad about Carl. I've found Carl to be a nice guy and he's told the truth from what I've read. I've only had communications with him through the message boards, but some don't care what they say. It's obvious on this board.

I'm not out to bring heat my way. I just find it odd that you all claim to be "Protectors" and the majority of people here put down, insult, and mock Publish America and it's authors. I know that there's a run-on in this paragraph, but I don't really care. I know what I'm doing.

You people should really put your efforts and energies into something worthwhile. Janet told me to stop world hunger. Why don't you people jump on the bandwagon to stop the genocide in the Sudan? It should be obvious that no one listens to this board. 100's of new authors get PUBLISHED with Publish America each and every week.

The attacks are not working. It reminds me of the Democrats. You all want to complain and whine; but you don't get anything done. To put it simply, you're all wasting your time. I hate to be the one who brings the heartache your way, but someone should really let you in on the truth.

Good day, Good Night, Good Morning.


Jeffery S. Miller
www.freewebs.com/jefferysmiller

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I think saving people from a gutless scammer is fairly worthwhile.

AW saved me from PA (although, the PAMB posters made me question if PA was legit).

We don't mock PA authors. But I can't prove this. I say we don't mock PA authors, and the only way to prove it is to list the mockable posts from PA that weren't posted here. But by posting them, we would be mocking the authors that we don't want to mock.

Tilly said:

IETA: well if it's still on there, some authors might start googling about it.

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Poor Carl never mentions Atlanta Nights by name. If he did that his post would be well-and-truly deleted.

I wonder if it occurred to him that AN was written by people who were in the pantheon of literary immortality of published authors.

The "plagiarism" he talks about might well refer to Cancer Boy's book. I don't know how many other plagiarized tomes PA has printed. (Nor do I know how much fanfiction they've put out.)

Oh, and as to the question of whether PA, in its earlier incarnation as a straight-up vanity press, was ever honest? The answer is "no." They were on pretty-much every watch list back then, too. Willem used to refer authors to Edit Ink for the kickback.


Since Carl mentioned that newspaper story, here it is:

San Antonio Current

That's where you can see Miranda Prather say, "It's a common myth that bookstore placement equals sales."

Perhaps, Miranda. But wouldn't you agree that lack of bookstore placement equals no sales?

In that same article you can read:

The entire point of Atlanta Nights was to be so utterly bad that no one who read even a tiny bit of it would ever consider publishing it. It succeeded. It's not just bad, it's eye-gougingly awful.

PA accepted it. How does that square with their claim to read every submission and choose only the best? You decide.

Sparhawk said:

Carl = HB Marcus = sock puppet

The math works for me

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exactly.

and I'm not impressed with apologists here, either.

Jeffrey,
Have you read the pointed questions posed to PA at www.freewebs.com/meet_real_pa ? Have you read their non-answers? Do you have any curiosity about how they'll answer the latest, most pointed ones? The ones I asked 5 days ago, which they still haven't figured out how to wriggle around yet? If they didn't know I was posting their responses, they'd answer more quickly because they could use one of their standard, belligerent form letters. As it is, they are having a tough time crafting polite responses that attempt to make their non-action sound like action on the behalf of authors.

Do you honestly believe that legitimate publishers would even be asked such questions? If not, why not? Could it be that authors don't have these issues with legitimate publishers? There's no need to guess at an answer to that question. Do a Google search on any of the legitimate publishers out there and see what you find. Nobody's blasting them. I have asked it before, but I'll ask it again. Why does this only happen to PA?

You don't have to look any further than their own non-answers to find out.

Alien Enigma said:

Some of you people are so mean. I mean really, you guys talk bad about Carl. I've found Carl to be a nice guy and he's told the truth from what I've read. I've only had communications with him through the message boards, but some don't care what they say. It's obvious on this board.

I'm not out to bring heat my way. I just find it odd that you all claim to be "Protectors" and the majority of people here put down, insult, and mock Publish America and it's authors. I know that there's a run-on in this paragraph, but I don't really care. I know what I'm doing.

You people should really put your efforts and energies into something worthwhile. Janet told me to stop world hunger. Why don't you people jump on the bandwagon to stop the genocide in the Sudan? It should be obvious that no one listens to this board. 100's of new authors get PUBLISHED with Publish America each and every week.

The attacks are not working. It reminds me of the Democrats. You all want to complain and whine; but you don't get anything done. To put it simply, you're all wasting your time. I hate to be the one who brings the heartache your way, but someone should really let you in on the truth.

Good day, Good Night, Good Morning.


Jeffery S. Miller
www.freewebs.com/jefferysmiller

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Add me to the list!

I'm pleased to say that this morning I received a certified letter signed by Jessica Lewis at Publish America. In her letter, she states that "all rights under the copyright are herewith returned to you." Can I hear an Amen!

Like others who have recently been "released," I will continue warning others about PA, their deceptive business practices, and their treatment of authors. I thank you for your support and the good work you do.

(From Carl) Plagiaristic practices and outright fraud have been perpetrated against our publisher and even now Publish America gatekeepers must be on constant guard against what is termed "sting" manuscripts from those who would risk literary careers by such actions.

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I'm sorry, but this just caught my funny bone. PA must be on constant guard against sting manuscripts? Um, it's called reading - that's what real acquisitions departments do. If they did their job, sting manuscripts would be a non issue.

Congratulations!

sukreb said:

I'm pleased to say that this morning I received a certified letter signed by Jessica Lewis at Publish America. In her letter, she states that "all rights under the copyright are herewith returned to you." Can I hear an Amen!

Like others who have recently been "released," I will continue warning others about PA, their deceptive business practices, and their treatment of authors. I thank you for your support and the good work you do.

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Royalties reply received

The PA Royalties department (if there is such a thing) has sent their response to my questions. It is posted verbatim on my website at www.freewebs.com/meet_real_pa . I would really appreciate any and all comments on what they had to say.

I love how they state that they don't have those kinds of information, yet they can claim specific bookstores buy the most of their books.

Such as Barnes and Noble is our biggest customer and a book store places an order every hour of every day blah blah blah.

If they didn't have such information, how could they make such claims?

Neither does any other publisher, that is such horse $#%*! Look at other authors royalty statements, they know.

Word Addict said:

The PA Royalties department (if there is such a thing) has sent their response to my questions. It is posted verbatim on my website at www.freewebs.com/meet_real_pa . I would really appreciate any and all comments on what they had to say.

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As for purchases made directly through PublishAmerica, we list the quantities, but we do not have the information to divulge who made the purchases. No book publisher is capable of doing that.

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The above is so much codswallop. How would PA mail out a book purchased directly from them if they don't take down the name and address of the buyer?

As for their line about not knowing which books have been ordered but not paid for? That's another flat out lie. All books ordered would have to be ordered from Lightning Source, which provides a web interface to allow publishers up-to-date information on sales. All they would have to do is run a report to find out which books have been sold outside the current royalty period. (This is ignoring the baloney about having books ordered but not paid for. They are using Print On Demand technology, which means the book doesn't get printed until the book has been paid for. So there is no 30-60-90 day waiting period for payment.)

Well pop my little pink chewing bubble gum, if Carl is speaking of Atlanta Nights......then, by gum...he's reading and chewing on this forum...and I might add, so are other PA groupies. Hellwo!

Bee

many, MANY years ago I worked in the warehouse at Penguin Books, Canada. We packed up books and shipped them out to bookstores, etc. It didn't take a genius to figure out that there was an easy way to figure out what books have been printed, stored and shipped out. If an author called up and asked how many books had been sold that info could be pulled up in a few minutes on the computer screen. Heck, we could break it down by store, date, and bleeping TIME it had been shipped out and how many had been returned, if any. See, that's called inventory control and is necessary to keep track of the MONEY involved.

it's even EASIER when you consider that the POD that PublishAmerica uses won't even print the book until it's paid for. That information is on record somewhere.

PublishAmerica just assumes that all their authors are idiots who can't figure out the simplest facts about publishing... or that they'll just talk each other into buying MORE of their books and then sell them to each other.

it's like the lie they keep telling the authors about how they can't track sales until the royalty check goes out... the ninety-days and all that... like they're still working with sticks scratching messages on clay tablets.

PA authors - take a step back, give your head a shake and find out what the REAL publishing industry is all about. Don't listen to the other PA authors; they're all misinformed and delusional, in some cases. They know NOTHING about being published else they'd have gotten a Publisher, not a Printer to put their work out.

Look around these boards and find the truth. 'Cause you sure ain't gonna find it listening to peeps like Carl and others on the PAMB.

That's a bunch of BS!

Shocking! The PA accounting department is saying they have no ACCOUNT of their accounts receivable. Uh huh...

Even the little restaurant I used to do the books for kept better tabs on their accounts receivable. And they sent these things called BILLS to the people who owed them money. And on the BILLS were listed the ITEMS that were owed on.

It basically sounds like PA may be paying the bills en masse, not recording a breakdown of every title purchased by various outlets. And if that's so, how in the world can they send out accurate royalty statements?

This reply from "accounting" stinks to high heaven. And BTW, does Jessica work for every department at PA?

Word Addict said:

The PA Royalties department (if there is such a thing) has sent their response to my questions. It is posted verbatim on my website at www.freewebs.com/meet_real_pa . I would really appreciate any and all comments on what they had to say.

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I'd be glad to comment on it if you posted it here, Word Addict but in between my two day jobs and writing, I'm pretty short on time to go over to your site to read it.

Lessee ... Atlanta Nights sold a copy on 28 Apr 2006, another on 22 April, another on 20 April, two on 15 April, and one each on 13, 8, and 1 April.

That's this month's report. (It'll be about a week before the report from Amazon and the doors-and-windows bookstores comes in.)

PA authors --don't you wish you had that level of detail, so you'd know what promotion was working and how well?

PA knows these things -- and they could tell you, if they wanted.

Sheryl Nantus said:

exactly.

and I'm not impressed with apologists here, either.

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I hope you're not referring to me, Sheryl. I'm hardly a PA apologist, and wasn't impressed by Jessica's email in which she told me that it was my own fault if the copies of my book didn't arrive in time for one of my book signings. But I have never been able to abide by pack behavior for long either, and also, I tend to believe that people have a spark of good in them even if they are not acting in an ethical way. For instance, you will not see me commenting on the writing ability of individuals employed by PA or their personalities or appearances or even criminal record beause that is not my business. And although I am not happy with any of the executive, I do not suspect Miranda on the basis of her having a criminal record. I believe that people can change. I also believe, and you probably think I am a crazy sucker, that the founder of the original Publish America, Erica House must have had a shred of humanity otherwise he wouldn't ahve cared enough about his wife to name the corporation after her. I just don't like it when a person cannot make an independent statement without being condemned by certain people here. God knows I am not defending Publish America. I could have screamed in frustration when I got that $0.00 royalty cheque. But I don't think they eat their young or anything. (just their authors.) I am sorry but I just prefer a balanced look at all of this. I do not like to condemn a fellow human being as beyond hope unless he has done something truly brutal and remorseless. But then I once believed in the innocence of a bicycle thief, so what do I know?

A while ago someone gave me a link to a sample Thomas Nelson royalty statement. I've done a Google search and can't find more sample royalty statements from other publishers. Does anyone have links to such samples? I want to put as many as possible into my reply to PA, so that people who come to my site will have a basis for comparison.

It's all about educating people!

James D. Macdonald said:

Lessee ... Atlanta Nights sold a copy on 28 Apr 2006, another on 22 April, another on 20 April, two on 15 April, and one each on 13, 8, and 1 April.

That's this month's report. (It'll be about a week before the report from Amazon and the doors-and-windows bookstores comes in.)

PA authors --don't you wish you had that level of detail, so you'd know what promotion was working and how well?

PA knows these things -- and they could tell you, if they wanted.

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SC Harrison said:

Are you sure it's not the Lulu version she recently (I think) finished editing? Amazon still has it listed as a PA book, but they aren't listed as a seller and the (lowest) price is $10.89 for a 419 page book, which seems to be a Lulu-ish price...

Jean Marie! Come here, woman. We need you.

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No, I'm sure. This was way back when. She was wondering if they were selling it and I told her that I'd order one to see. It was $24.95. I got a 40% discount from Ingrams.

Erica House was already named that when Willem came into the picture.


In the meantime, there's no real accounting at PA other than a big stack of money on the table with Larry and Willem taking turns saying, "Two for you, two for me, one for Miranda... two for me, two for you, one for the employees... two for you, two for me, one for LSI... two for you, two for me, one for Miranda... Uh, did we forget anyone? No? Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, two for you, two for me, one for Miranda...."

My Challenge to All PA and unpublished authors

I came across this rather informative article. It wasn't written by me, or anyone else here that I know of. It wasn't slanted toward or against anyone. It doesn't attack anyone, nor does it defend anyone. I think it could be very helpful to give you a what to expect idea.

It's entitled The Truth about Publishing

Here is the link. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~irvinei/publishing.html

I found this very helpful and it gives a lot of helpful facts.

Enjoy!