The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

narcolepticgi

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Hi!!
Thanks for the info. I've been busy composing my latest .
My e-mail from PA about how I can get out of my contract by buying 50 copies is posted at my website. If you would, compare it to yours. If its easier I can forward mine, I think it is a standard reply.
 

narcolepticgi

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At first I was a little upset by the comments where the poster placed PA authors in three categories; but then I am a senior citizen so I guess I fit into that one. The implication that "elderly individuals" have less common sence is still a bit insulting.

Why did I sign with PA?

Not from a lack of research! I am on a fixed income so using iUniverse or LuLu was out of the question,so was TATE the Christian publisher who wanted $4500. My last google pointed me in the direction of PA and after I printed outt their website and highlighted it during several readings I decided to see if the book was of interest to them.

I freely admit that I didn't "google" PA, I had no reason to. I did learn my lesson and even though some of you have endeavored to have their book contracts nullified the ones from other forums who have suceeded can't share the information because PA rquires a gag agreement to be signed as part of the negotiations.

I have been at it since October, and PA has called me disparaging, ordered me to cease and desist, and followed up with their next e-mail special.

I'm not a quitter, but the lack of individuals willing to stand up with me is minimal at best. I'm sure PA is monitoring my website and laugh at the small number of members that are listed there. Until the individuals who are PO'd actually join a group effort these people will keep on laughing at us and sending out their e-mails.

I left the other forums because of the author smashing, I sincerly hope I have seen the last of it here.

I am a novice, but then so was Stephen King when he started out. Not every book out there is written by a person with ten degrees and 35 years of college.
I have no intention of trying to make a living by writing, right now I'm doing it because I am having fun, meeting very interesting people and keping my senile little brain active (sorry about the slam it just popped out)

As I stated before, my PA book was written to help others, not to get 15 minutes of fame. Two of the individuals who I sent books to actually told me that it was a help to them. This was my goal, and the book, although lost to the world is a sucess.

Catch you guys later, gotta go see what my better half wants.
 

kullervo

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Sam, by the time you get your book cut down under 100K, I bet it won't be recognizable, so you might not have a problem submitting it again if you can get it back.

Narcoleptic, you have cause to Google EVERY company you do business with. And you have great options other than paying a publisher. In fact, that is the very thing you should never do. Publishers are supposed to pay writers. Period. With all due respect, I think you did get hurt by a lack of research. I hope you'll stay around AbsoluteWrite and see that publishing shouldn't cost the writer, either in cash or heartache.
 

Gillhoughly

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narcolepticgi: I am on a fixed income so using iUniverse or LuLu was out of the question

iUniverse is a lousy choice, but Lulu doesn't charge anything to upload a book. Am I the only one who missed something on their website?

Certainly you might want to buy copies from them at the end, but you can set up a Lulu store for free and sell low cost e-copies, or sell hard copies at a buck or so above Lulu's printing costs. Authors don't have to buy copies, it's just an option.

I looked into them for a self pub project and the only cost aside from registering copyright and getting an ISBN number was the price of the finished book--which is considerably less than PA's price. You can get a stock cover for cheap at iStockphotos, or take your own picture to upload and design a cover--or have no art at all.

Self-publishing is no way to make money, but if your book is something for a special niche market (such as helping people with a specific problem) then you're better off with Lulu than PA.

Heck, running down to Kinkos is better than going with PA!

I chose not to go with Lulu only because a friend of mine owns an excellent printing facility and cut me a good deal.

BUT--all writers should be aware of YOG'S LAW.

You are supposed to get paid for your writing!


The only catch is that you have to write well.
icon10.gif
 

merrihiatt

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iUniverse is a lousy choice, but Lulu doesn't charge anything to upload a book. Am I the only one who missed something on their website?

I keep hearing people say they have to pay for Lulu, too, but I didn't see anything on their website that said you had to pay (only if you wanted an ISBN or formatting assistance).
 

Don Davidson

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The non-renewal notice has to be mailed, not emailed

Remember to send in a termination notice now so that your contract won't automatically renew for seven additional years.

By the way, I sent my first non-renewal notice via email, but I recently re-read my contract and noticed that paragraph 29 requires such a notice to either be delivered or mailed, not emailed. So I sent PA a letter via U.S. mail and got an email response acknowledging it. I'll be adding the letter and PA's response to the PA page on my web site when my scanner is back up and running. I don't know if PA would try to enforce that contract provision, but I am taking no chances.
 

ResearchGuy

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I keep hearing people say they have to pay for Lulu, too, but I didn't see anything on their website that said you had to pay (only if you wanted an ISBN or formatting assistance).
Lulu is increasingly pushing paid services, with packages up to nearly four thousand dollars, last I checked. They even sent a promo for some sort of book fair placement (utterly futile waste of money). And they run a lot of short-term (days) discount gimmicks to goose sales of books to the author. Yes, Lulu can still be used as a printer without charges other than for the books, but their effort is well into subsidy press territory now. I can understand why the non-subsidy option gets overlooked.

--Ken
 

CatSlave

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By the way, I sent my first non-renewal notice via email, but I recently re-read my contract and noticed that paragraph 29 requires such a notice to either be delivered or mailed, not emailed. So I sent PA a letter via U.S. mail and got an email response acknowledging it....
To which address did you mail your letter?
 

merrihiatt

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So I sent PA a letter via U.S. mail and got an email response acknowledging it.

I'm so glad they acknowledged receipt! I can't get them to respond to any correspondence of any kind. I'll be heading for registered mail next with a return receipt. I have a few more years (ugh!) until my contract is up, but if there is any chance I can get my rights returned earlier, I would be thrilled.

Unfortunately, I've never even received the "Buy 50 books and we'll give you your rights back" letter. It is as if I don't even exist.

_

Thanks, Ken. I haven't been to the Lulu site for a while and didn't realize they were being more aggressive with the package promotion.
 

TheTinCat

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I keep hearing people say they have to pay for Lulu, too, but I didn't see anything on their website that said you had to pay (only if you wanted an ISBN or formatting assistance).

I think that the formatting part is where a lot of people have to give up on the free Lulu options. If they're not computer savvy enough to format and upload the book and cover themselves - and they don't know anyone who'll do it for free - then they're pretty much stuck with either A) paying someone or B) PA! Who claim to be willing to do it for nothing but the joy of helping new writers!
 

Gillhoughly

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Actually, they do have the option of sending the book to a publisher who has books in the stores.

PA and Lulu don't. They're miles apart on other things, but they do have that in common.

Not terribly surprised Lulu is making the pay-for-it options more visible. They can't be selling many of the free upload titles and they do want to make money. I recall reading an interview with its CEO where he admitted with a smile that his site must have a record number of bad poetry books for sale by hopeful writers.

Unfortunately, if there is one genre that has worse sales than self-pubbed novels, it is self-pubbed poetry.

I watched The Barretts of Wimpole Street the other night and it hammered home to me that poets were once the rock stars of literature. Their words could change lives, change governments, influence thousands. There wasn't a publication out there that didn't have a serious poem in it somewhere.

Now...not so much. :Shrug:

Okay, maybe if it's set to music and a rock star sings it.
 

James D. Macdonald

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You can get a stock cover for cheap at iStockphotos, or take your own picture to upload and design a cover--or have no art at all.

Or you could use one of their stock covers. Atlanta Nights has a Lulu stock cover on it (you select it with a radio button). And the text was just a dump of the raw word processor file in .rtf format; no fancy formatting or fonts or anything. (I've since gone back and added front matter.)

I might possibly go in later and see how much book I can make for no cost at all, repeating my Johan Johan experiment.

If I were going to do this more than Every Once In A While I'd buy myself a block of ISBNs and divide the cost over several books.

Anyone have a book they want created for free?
 

agentpaper

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Unfortunately, I've never even received the "Buy 50 books and we'll give you your rights back" letter. It is as if I don't even exist.

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. :)
 

James D. Macdonald

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The implication that "elderly individuals" have less common sence is still a bit insulting.

No, the implication is that elderly folks know that time's winged chariot is drawing near. They may want a fast acceptance and printing time, since the years' long process of legitimate publishing might yield posthumous results.

If nothing else, PA is a near-guaranteed instantaneous acceptance and rapid printing (for some values of "rapid").
 

Gillhoughly

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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. :)

Merri doesn't know HOW to get nasty. She should have ME do the letters.

I'm an expert! :evil

OTOH, dogged persistence with certified mails that require a signature may get them to cave just to get rid of the annoyance (A.K.A. the writer).
 

Christine N.

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Yes, I had trouble formatting my family history book for lulu. Then I forgot to put blank pages in at the appropriate places. But I ordered a copy, cheap, saw the problems, and was able to fix them.

My biggest problem was that I couldn't take an 8.5x11" file and get it into a TP size without a whole bunch of mistakes. I think I had to shrink the text pages, then make a .pdf (which is easy on Windows now), and then upload. Maybe I missed something, and it was mildly frustrating, but in the end it was very worth it.
 

TheTinCat

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Actually, they do have the option of sending the book to a publisher who has books in the stores.

The ones who want to actually sell books, absolutely. I was actually thinking of the people who just want a couple of copies for their family and friends and who don't really want the books in stores (and I find it very disappointing that you didn't even bother to read my mind!)

I seem to recall some people defending PA by saying that they only wanted to see their book in print, and PA was willing to give it a cover etc. without charging. So for people who don't have the skills to set up the book on Lulu themselves, and who's material isn't fit/meant for submission to real publishers, the only option seems to be to get someone to do the formatting, cover art, uploads etc - for free or for pay - or get sucked in to PA.
 

merrihiatt

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My correspondence with PA has been assertive, but you're right, it hasn't been mean and nasty. I don't see much point in getting all snarky when I'm the one asking to have my rights returned. At this point, PA holds all the cards. Not for much longer, though! I've almost shaved two years off my contract, just five more to go. Then PA won't have anything to hold over my head. Talk about learning a lesson I'll never forget. The only thing I can truly say that I'm thankful for with my PA experience is that it revealed to me how much I do not know about the publishing industry. And, I found AW. ;) Oh, there's a third thing, they pissed me off so much that I began writing up a storm just to prove to myself that I wasn't some flash in the pan or someone who only had enough imagination/spirit to write one book and then call it a day. PA lit a fire in my belly that will not be diminished by any "special offer." I believe what comes around goes around and PA will eventually get what they deserve. I only hope that they don't step on too many more writers before that happens.
 

merrihiatt

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I never noticed this on the PA website before (bolding, underlining, and red coloring mine):

SITE DISCLAIMER
This site is provided by PublishAmerica, LLLP on an "as is" basis. PublishAmerica, LLLP. makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the operation of the site, the information, content, materials or products, included on this site. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, PublishAmerica, LLLP. disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. PublishAmerica, LLLP will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of this site, including but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental punitive and consequential damages.

It may have always been there, but I don't recall seeing it before. There's more than the portion I posted above, but I thought this paragraph was particularly interesting. Basically, they are saying that they don't stand behind anything that is stated on their own website and that they don't stand behind their final product -- PA printed books!

ETA: I just searched for my book in PA's online bookstore and realized they have it listed in the philosphy section. My book is a romance novel. Anyone who takes a minute to read the back cover can tell it's a romance novel. Unfortunately, you can't really tell from the cover (it has a woman with large pouting lips on it). My guess is that someone at PA read the book title, glanced at the cover, and promptly placed it in the philosophy section. Not that anyone is looking for my book on their website, mind you, but still...
 
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