The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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reph

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Release from contract: questions

From several pages ago: "As for your request, in the spirit of the conditions described in the amendment that you received, we hereby grant you permission to make your book available free of charge as you have requested."

What does "in the spirit of the conditions described" mean? Is PA saying that they expect you to fulfill the conditions in the amendment, such as not speaking against them and not showing Paragraphs 3 and later to another publisher, even though you didn't sign it?

It does look as if whether you sign the thing makes no difference: you can get your book back anyway.
 

Jaws

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reph said:
What does "in the spirit of the conditions described" mean?
Legally, nothing. By not signing the "modification," the writer has rejected those conditions. All this language from PA means is that they're trying to re-offer rejected language.

I certainly hope that PA is not running this stuff past its lawyer. I may despise a great deal about my profession, but the appearance of gross incompetence and willful acquiescence in deceptive conduct (see Md. R. Prof. Cond. 1.2(d), 1.2(e)) if PA is doing so trouble me.
 
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Galoot

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victoriastrauss said:
I think it's wonderful when people get involved with the fight against dishonest publishers and literary agents. I get annoyed when those people present themselves as scam experts, without adequate experience or access to documentation.

But hey. I've only been doing this for eight years. What do I know?
You know more than most. I wish you had the time and energy to write full-time about the scammers, and I wish there were at least a dozen of you to do so. And I wish they were all wearing tall boots and carrying riding cro--um, never mind.

I feel the same way about the recent media attention directed PA's way. It's not half as harsh as it should be. But it is negative, and whenever anyone gets the word out it's a good thing. Your one-star ratings and his two-star ratings still average out to a very, very low rating for these companies. Anyone who sees his ratings and misses yours is still learning to at least be wary.
 

Sher2

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lindylou45 said:
Just a quick note to let everyone know that www.publishamericasucks.com is up and running! Come on over, take a peek, learn a few PA facts, read Ed Williams' column, and have some fun! Let's see if we can turn the screws a little tighter on PA's thumbs! :box:
Woo-hoo! It looks mahvelous, dahlin'! I see you've got the photos thingey licked, but holler if you need anything. Wonder what the Kaiser, Count Dorko, and Madame Moe-ribund think? I'd just adore to get sued. You? :box:
 

Savannah Blue

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SeanDSchaffer said:
Sara, I think part of the reason people support PA so much is that they believe they're supporting their own writing careers by supporting PA.

Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about a 'Cult mentality.' Well, I went to a Baptist Church that had a cultish mentality. We were taught that in the entire metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon (Total a little more than a million people, all the cities therein combined) we were one of three or four churches that were right with God and if we went anywhere else God would not be pleased with us.

To a bit of an extent, I've seen that mentality among a lot of fellow PA'ers. They buy their own books; they market until the cows come home; they push PA -- and I mean they push PA, not their own books -- because they think that if they don't, they'll never amount to anything in the writing business. This is one of the major deceptions PA perpetrates upon its authors, and that's why a lot of PA'ers still support their company.

Plus, there's the issue, Sara, of loyalty to the company that 'gave them their first break.' Again, partially due to the deception that they've been fed saying they wouldn't get anywhere in the writing business if they weren't with PA, they feel PA was their only hope of being published and therefore, feel a strong need to support that company no matter what.

Like I said before -- and one PA author on their boards recently lamented, that I know of -- it's a cult mentality, and a cult is one of the hardest things to break away from for any number of reasons. All the different reasons, though, can basically be summed up in one word: fear. Fear for their writing careers; fear for their acceptance as writers; and fear of what they see as, if I may use this term, their savior's disapproval. (Many believe that PA saved their writing careers; that's why I used the term 'savior.') There's a reason I said several dozen pages back that PA is like a god to many of its authors. That reason is the cultish mentality that PA tries to force upon its authors.

Sean, I can understand about the fear. For a few days even I was afraid that if I turned my back on PublishAmerica that I'd be turning down my only chance to be a real live published author. And the cult-like mentality would be a hard thing to break through to be sure. I'm thankful I had a good friend who wouldn't let me turn a deaf ear to what littel bit was getting out about PublishAmerica back then. She pulled me almost kicking and screaming into the light, hehe, so I never had the chance to get all caught up in the follow the leader thing. We landed here on AW and I was able to see, clearly see, that I wasn't then and never would be a real live published author as long as I stayed with PublishAmerica.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, For the love of Pete people wake up and look where YOUR money for YOUR book is going. Take a good long hard look at the e-mails that those people are sending out to the ones who ask simple straight forward questions and ask yourself how you can keep on supporting Meiners, Clopper and Prather. They are rude, crude and socially unacceptable and they are stuffing YOUR money into their pockets with both hands.

Marlene, thanks for the kudos. M&M's are accepted any time.

Sorry for the length of this. I'll hush now.
 

lindylou45

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Sher2 said:
Woo-hoo! It looks mahvelous, dahlin'! I see you've got the photos thingey licked, but holler if you need anything. Wonder what the Kaiser, Count Dorko, and Madame Moe-ribund think? I'd just adore to get sued. You? :box:

Thanks so much! So far so good with the photo thingey, don't hold your breath, though. I may need your expertise at any moment. Yes, I'd love to hear from their attorney, Mr. Real Estate Man. Come on over and take a gander!

Finally got Kevin's submission for the Pickler sidekick contest. Now he can come on the boards w/o fear. Thanks to everyone who's entered. I spoke with The Pickler earlier and it's going to be a tough call! There's still time, folks, so get your entries in! (Aren't you going to be glad when April 20th gets here and I shut up about this stupid contest?)

:Jump:
 

Ed Williams

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Am through with the lawnmower...

....and decided to pop in for a few. I took a look over at the PA boards, and I'm amazed that they are having such an open discussion about "bashing" and that it's being allowed to stay up. I'm starting to wonder if PA has enough employees these days, usually they police the devil out of their boards. Either they now have a more enlightened attitude (which I really, really doubt), or they are not hawking the boards for some reason. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I saw this on the web and was amazed, I'll put up the link and let y'all take a look:

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=4937

Either someone is in need of attention badly, or has some sort of weird desire to do literary harm to themselves.

Finally, y'all should take a look at www.publishamericasucks.com. Lindylou has done a good job on it, and for that, I am going to give her about one thousand smoochies and all of Kev's credit cards.

Now, gotta go do a little maintenance on the mower, and get ready for some arena football tonight - see y'all later.
 
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mdin

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MMo

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So, Shemp has died at 12:38 a.m., then at 6:00 a.m. Shemp posted a message on the PAMB! Could it be his spirit wanting to answer one last question? I'd post if for you, but PA deleted it as soon as it was brought to the attention of the other PA authors who were in mourning -- some quite distraught over Shemp's death -- at which point the boards went a little nuts. Then Shemp's buddy posted this little jewel from Mrs. Shemp:
(Snipped)

Lindylou45 -- I have that message saved in a thread, but it's on another machine. If you want it, when the phone company gets my access back up on that machine, I will forward the thread to you.

The message was, in fact, uncomplimentary to PA.

Mo
 

Sher2

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XThe NavigatorX said:
In other news Richard has started a thread for the cover competition here. I see there's already an entry.;)
I love it! Damn if it doesn't look like the quintessential PA cover. :roll:
 

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Regarding online book purchasing: Most of the people I know do the majority of their book-buying from physical stores. Two do most of their buying online. Both of them choose which books to buy online by first browsing them in physical bookstores.

Regarding "ISBN number": This is a peeve of mine. "ISBN"="International Standard Book Number." Hence, not "ISBN number." (Similar peeves, for the same reason: "ATM machine;" "the La Brea Tar Pits;" "chai tea.")
 

James D. Macdonald

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Meanwhile, over at PA:

PublishAmerica is much better than the alternative, dealing with agencies which just want your money and don't really help you any.

Just a word of advice: If you are talking to any agency that wants you to pay them anything, you're in the wrong part of town. Put your hand firmly over your wallet and get over to this side of the tracks, pronto.

(Those agencies would only wind up selling you to PA eventually anyway, so in that respect you're ahead of the game by cutting out the middleman and the expense, but not a whole lot ahead....)
 

CaoPaux

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SeanDSchaffer

Hey, everyone!

I just went over to post a wonderful encouraging word to a friend of mine, named on the PA Boards, Joyce Ann.

Joyce Ann gave the concluding remarks to the 'Bashing PA' thread, to which I'd like to say, if she's reading this, "Well said, Joyce Ann!":Hug2:


Why am I also posting this over here?

Hint:
My T-shirt size is XL.

:D
 

Ed Williams

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I'll second Sean, and just offer this up...

SeanDSchaffer said:
I just went over to post a wonderful encouraging word to a friend of mine, named on the PA Boards, Joyce Ann.

Joyce Ann gave the concluding remarks to the 'Bashing PA' thread, to which I'd like to say, if she's reading this, "Well said, Joyce Ann!"
Joyce Ann, we'd love to have you here - your posts make tons of sense, and you obviously have talent as a writer. The door is wide open should you ever decide that you might like to hang with us....
 

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SeanDSchaffer said:
I just went over to post a wonderful encouraging word to a friend of mine, named on the PA Boards, Joyce Ann.

Joyce Ann gave the concluding remarks to the 'Bashing PA' thread, to which I'd like to say, if she's reading this, "Well said, Joyce Ann!":Hug2:
:D

Joyce Ann is very cool. And to top it all off she's a nice lady. I hope to see her here soon! And in case she's looking: hello Joyce Ann come on over no one bashes PA'ers here - just PA. And I'll make sure no one bashes you. 'Course they wouldn't anyway, but stop by!
 

SeanDSchaffer

James D. Macdonald said:
Well, the Bashing PA thread is also history....

Sean, you get your tee shirts here.

And congratulations.

Want to join me up in the Writing Novels board?


James, forgive me for saying this, but I think the 'here' link goes to the same place as the 'Bashing PA' link. Just thought you'd like to know, because they're both linked to PA and they both cannot be found.

I've actually been visiting up at the Writing Novels board a bit, though I admit not enough. I'd be more than happy to say 'hello' to all the people there. I'll be stopping by pretty quickly. Thanks for the invite!

:Thumbs:
 

M. Story

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James D. Macdonald said:

5 Books!??
EmoteWha.gif
I only got 2! How many others got 5 author copies free from PA? Is that in the new contract? Just curious... Also, when Timebandit says that PA published his book for free--he'd better think again! It will cost him his
  1. literary reputation (for being published with POD PA)
  2. a whole lot of money when he goes to buy those "free" books, and
  3. sanity, when he one day wakes up and realizes how blind he was to the reality show called PA and the unprofessional way it interacts with its authors
 

M. Story

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SeanDSchaffer said:
I just went over to post a wonderful encouraging word to a friend of mine, named on the PA Boards, Joyce Ann.

...
biggrin.gif

Sean, I know Joyce Ann to be a gracious lady, who always gives a calm and loving response to posts. She is a class act and would be an asset to any board. I hope she does come here and I would be among the first to welcome her.

Marlene
 

James D. Macdonald

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I've heard of other authors who've managed to get five author's copies. That's part of what keeps PA from being strictly liars when they claim that people can "negotiate" their contracts.

From other sources we know that they never send out more than five review copies.

That the most copies that went to Ingram as initial stock (back when Ingram was taking POD books into their warehouses) was two.

From this (and I'm guessing here):

PA's arrangement with Lightning Source International was to print five copies of each title presented.

Of those five: The author got two, Ingram got two, and one was sent out to the Midwest Book Review.

If there were three review requests, the author got two, Ingram got none, and three were sent out for review.

If the author negotiated for five copies, Ingram got none and none were sent to reviewers.
 

M. Story

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James D. Macdonald said:
I've heard of other authors who've managed to get five author's copies. That's part of what keeps PA from being strictly liars when they claim that people can "negotiate" their contracts.

From other sources we know that they never send out more than five review copies.

That the most copies that went to Ingram as initial stock (back when Ingram was taking POD books into their warehouses) was two.

From this (and I'm guessing here):

PA's arrangement with Lightning Source International was to print five copies of each title presented.

Of those five: The author got two, Ingram got two, and one was sent out to the Midwest Book Review.

If there were three review requests, the author got two, Ingram got none, and three were sent out for review.

If the author negotiated for five copies, Ingram got none and none were sent to reviewers.

Wow, James! I've only been here a short time, and have learned so much from you and the others here. You are a veritable wealth of info, for which I'm grateful. Thanks!

Side note (I'm whispering): Have you noticed that often when someone here mentions something on the PA board and posts a link to it, that "poof" it quickly disappears from the PAMB? I'm tellin' ya, the PA police have got to be readin' this board more than their own. I think it's cute, and makes me feel <in the church lady voice...> "so spesh-ul," how about you? ;)

Marlene, a church lady :D
 
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