Dear Media Contacts and Authors,
It is a privilege for me to welcome you to PublishAmerica's media pages.
Hi, Larry. I've really been enjoying watching you try to spin the facts. As always you're weasel-wording and misleading the new and naive. Tell me -- when does "spinning the facts" turn into "twisting in the wind"?
Our staffers are all very proud to be using a new technology to bring the pride and pleasure of being traditionally published to thousands of authors.
"Traditionally published" is an undefined term. It's true, though, that you do bring pride and pleasure to thousands of authors ... right up to the point where those authors are published. After that the story changes.
We have made national news, made the Guinness Book of World Records, we published more new titles last year than any traditional publisher in the world, and we are revolutionizing the publishing industry.
The national news has
all been bad. The Guinness thing was a publicity stunt -- other booksignings have been larger, but no one bothered to alert the Guinness folks in advance. Publishing a ton of new titles doesn't count for beans if you didn't sell them. And no, you aren't revolutionizing anything.
Let me tell you what happens when something revolutionizes an industry. All of a sudden everyone else is jumping on board, doing the same thing, doing slight variations on the same thing, trying to improve on the innovation. One car company put cup holders in its vehicles -- all of a sudden every car had cup holders. One hamburger stand went fast-food, all of a sudden there were a pile of rival fast-food hamburger stands all across the country. Movies started coming out on DVD -- now VHS players aren't even being made. That's what a revolution looks like.
On the other hand, there's PublishAmerica. No one's followed suit and it's been six years. The big publishing companies are ignoring you, your fellow vanity presses aren't changing their ways to adapt to your challenge. In the publishing industry you're the tree that fell in the forest when no one was around to hear.
When Willem Meiners and I founded PublishAmerica in 1999, we were both writers who could not get their books published.
A pair of failed writers who still haven't managed to get their books published.
Since then, by using new printing technologies, we are proud to have enabled many thousands of first-time authors to become published in traditional fashion.
"Traditional" is still undefined. May I note that vanity publication also has a long tradition behind it?
PublishAmerica was founded on the premise that money should flow toward the author, and not the other way around.
I agree! How about you ask your authors to take The Pledge: [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
I solemnly swear or affirm that, since my publisher is not a vanity or subsidy publisher and has nothing in common with them, I will never give PublishAmerica my credit card number nor write their name on the "pay to" line of a check or money order.[/font]
At no cost to the authors, we put our authors' books into their hands, and into the hands of reviewers.
But not, tellingly enough, onto bookstore shelves or into the hands of readers.
PublishAmerica operates on the exact same business model as do all mainstream traditional publishers, assuming all the costs and risks associated with publishing books.
This is a flat lie. The mainstream pubishers' business model is to sell thousands of copies of each title to the general public. PublishAmerica's business model is to sell less than a hundred copies to the author and the author's family and friends.
PublishAmerica has made a tremendous impact on the book publishing world, and continues to push the industry boldly forward by being the first to popularize a fantastic new printing technology, called print on demand or digital printing.
Again, a total lie. Vanity POD publisher iUniverse was founding in 1996. Xlibris and AuthorHouse were founded in 1997. PublishAmierca wasn't started until 1999. The impact that PublishAmerica made is tiny.
Print on demand is a business model. Digital printing is a technology. Please don't make that mistake again.
So why are so many authors disgusted by and angry with PublishAmerica, rather than with the other POD vanities? Because PublishAmerica lies about its business and its business model. This letter of Larry's is just one more strand in that rope of lies that will eventually hang them all in court.
The book industry in general has ignored both PublishAmerica and its sister vanity presses.
By using this printing technology to publish the works of first time authors, PublishAmerica is causing a revolution in the publishing industry.
Nonsense. Vanity presses have existed for generations. There isn't a revolution in the publishing industry on that account.
This on demand revolution is occurring in many other industries around the world. In the movie and music industries, for example, this on demand revolution has already happened. More dollars are spent by people renting movies to watch "on demand" than by people going out to a movie theater. The music industry saw the same phenomenon occur a few decades ago when more people began listening to music in their homes than going to live performances. The invention of record albums enabled this revolution, where millions of people could listen to music "on demand." CDs and the advent of digital music simply made on demand music more convenient. Even the clothing industry is moving toward being "on demand."
I've already commented on this shockingly stupid and irrelevant paragraph.
PublishAmerica is causing this on demand revolution to march boldly forward in the book publishing industry.
Are you hoping that if you keep repeating that statement that it will magically become true? That folks will start believing it?
Using digital printing technology enables PublishAmerica to enjoy a wondrous success in publishing the works of first time authors whose works would otherwise stand little chance of being published.
And still stand about zero chance of being read.
Although most published books are not stocked in stores, many PublishAmerica books are stocked.
Most published books aren't intended to be stocked in bookstores. The PublishAmerica books (a tiny fraction of those available) that are stocked are stocked purely through their own authors' herculean efforts.
Barnes and Noble and Borders are our largest customers, followed by Amazon and Books A Million.
If PublishAmerica vanished tomorrow, none of them would even notice. We've already extensively discussed the tiny number of books PublishAmerica moves through those outlets, mostly through special orders, and most of those special orders presumably to friends and family members.
I appreciate your visiting our site to learn how we operate and how we are revolutionizing the publishing industry.
Please check
a few other sites to see more about how PublishAmerica operates.
Please take your time visiting, and I hope you will contact us with additional questions.
Anyone with additional questions can get
honest answers from me.
Thank you for your interest in PublishAmerica. Let us know how we can help you.
You can start by going out of business....
Sincerely,
Larry Clopper
President
Sincerely? Unh-hunh. Yeah. Right.