The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

Status
Not open for further replies.

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
13,952
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Coastal Desert
gena140 said:
They don't have to buy it, but my point is it can be done.

My goal isn't for them to buy it anyway. I intend to own my own plates in 7 years.

I was only pointing out that contracts are negotiable and nobody has to sign a contract that doesn't say what they want/need it to say.

My lawyer is very reputable and I have no intention of firing her.
Um, you do understand that there are no "plates" for your book, yes?
 

NancyMehl

She Who Resonates...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
586
Reaction score
354
Location
Wichita, Kansas
Website
www.nancymehlbooks.com
Marlene....

M. Story said:
-------------------
Nancy,

Great post!
emoteHail.gif

Thanks, Marlene. And Welcome!!!

I just figured out who you are. You're the pretty lady with the great hat! So glad you're here!


Nancy
 

gena140

Banned
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
151
Reaction score
14
Location
SC
Website
www.genalgarrison.com
HConn said:
Do you know how many times we've heard this same song?

I really don't care.

I came in...I said what I had to say and someone somewhere will read this thread and take what ever they need from it.

I respect your feelings about PA...all I ask is respect for my feelings about PA.
 

T42

Herb Lady
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
1,112
Reaction score
371
Location
TEXAS
Website
p097.ezboard.com
gena140 said:
Are you a fortune teller too?

Oh please oh please tell me what the lotto numbers are for tonight???

I won't chat with you because you are close minded. I respect whatever beef you have with PA as I've told everyone here.

But I won't go away...and I'll chat with people who are willing to see there are two sides to every coin.

I sincerely don't believe that is you.
Boy are you in the wrong room then because everyone here has already seen both sides of the coin so you are going to be one lonely soul in here, chatting along to yourself...who are you trying to convince anyway? Us or yourself?
 

gena140

Banned
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
151
Reaction score
14
Location
SC
Website
www.genalgarrison.com
CaoPaux said:
Um, you do understand that there are no "plates" for your book, yes?

I understand that at the end of 7 years PA will offer to sell me "the plates" to my book. Now exactly what you mean by there being none...I'm sure has something to do with POD printing or something else that's irrelevant to me.

The point is...at the time I will be able to take my book to Kinkos and print if I want.

I'm not a child or stupid...stop talking to me like I am one.

I've been told I was arrogant and rude and I'm trying to be respectful...but I won't be if I'm not respected back.
 

T42

Herb Lady
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
1,112
Reaction score
371
Location
TEXAS
Website
p097.ezboard.com
NancyMehl said:
Thanks, Marlene. And Welcome!!!

I just figured out who you are. You're the pretty lady with the great hat! So glad you're here!


Nancy
Oh, I know too! I love the pretty lady with the pretty hat. I always knew you would find your way over here:)
 

HConn

Whore for genre
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
814
Reaction score
182
Location
Inside a cursed painting
Website
www.harryjconnolly.com
gena140 said:
And I'm going to have to spend some money, but not as much as if I'd chosen Lulu or any other of those companies that I researched.

Lulu.com doesn't charge a setup fee. You send them the file and they print the book for you.

http://www.lulu.com/

Each book has a minimum cost, but you set your own price above their minimum.

And it's cheaper than PA.
 

Sheryl Nantus

Holding out for a Superhero...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
7,196
Reaction score
1,634
Age
59
Location
Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Or New Babbage, Second
Website
www.sherylnantus.com
T42 said:
Boy are you in the wrong room then because everyone here has already seen both sides of the coin so you are going to be one lonely soul in here, chatting along to yourself...who are you trying to convince anyway? Us or yourself?

the sad thing is that there's a LOT of us who came in here like this - if she read back 500 pages or so she'll find myself and a few other PA authors who were here, thumping our books on our knees and screaming that We Were Different And We Were Going To Do It... and then, a few months later, we slink in here battered and beaten with the reality that no matter how good your book is and no matter how much work you put into promoting it, the no-return policy plus the overpricing plus the lack of customer support (like, not being able to order the book off the PA website!) condemns a PA book to the trash bins before it's even printed.

without plates.
 

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
6,704
Reaction score
1,314
Location
Far from the madding crowd
Website
www.victoriastrauss.com
Gena, your posts are rude, strident, and taunting. There are better ways to get your point across.

I'm going to give you a few more hours to settle in, tone down your rhetoric, and stop insulting the people who respond to you. If I don't see an improvement, you're history.

- Victoria
 

Richard

13th Triskaidekaphobe
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,868
Reaction score
316
Location
England
Website
www.richardcobbett.co.uk
There's no such thing as plates in POD-land - it's all handled digitally. There's just a file on a computer somewhere, usually a PDF.
 

gena140

Banned
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
151
Reaction score
14
Location
SC
Website
www.genalgarrison.com
T42 said:
Boy are you in the wrong room then because everyone here has already seen both sides of the coin so you are going to be one lonely soul in here, chatting along to yourself...who are you trying to convince anyway? Us or yourself?

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.

I simply stated my opinion and asked questions.

Others are trying to convince me of how wrong I am, and how I will feel soon enough.
 

HConn

Whore for genre
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
814
Reaction score
182
Location
Inside a cursed painting
Website
www.harryjconnolly.com
Sheryl Nantus said:
... we slink in here battered and beaten with the reality that no matter how good your book is and no matter how much work you put into promoting it, the no-return policy plus the overpricing plus the lack of customer support (like, not being able to order the book off the PA website!) condemns a PA book to the trash bins before it's even printed.

And the situation for PA authors has gotten worse as word about the company has gotten around.

It's a shame.


 

Elincoln

Official Daydreamer of AW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
2,009
Reaction score
296
Location
On the sane side of the fence.
Website
www.lincolnfj.com
Ed Williams said:
....verbiage over and over, classic troll behavior, in fact, very similiar behavior to another one I remember from not too long ago. No need to keep feeding, folks, think about it. No one comes into an anti-PA thread to push books, what's being pushed here is disruption of this thread. Pure and simple. Don't contribute to it....

I agree. Let's stop feeding the fire before it gets worst. It's getting to egotistical in here. Now, on with the topic.

-Elaine
 

gena140

Banned
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
151
Reaction score
14
Location
SC
Website
www.genalgarrison.com
victoriastrauss said:
Gena, your posts are rude, strident, and taunting. There are better ways to get your point across.

I'm going to give you a few more hours to settle in, tone down your rhetoric, and stop insulting the people who respond to you. If I don't see an improvement, you're history.

- Victoria

Please quote to me exactly what you mean. I stopped cursing as asked and have tried to be respectful.

I need specific example of what you take issue with and what posted rules I am breaking?
 

SeanDSchaffer

Quick note to M. Story

M. Story said:
Sean, I followed another thread from here back over to the site and did read your post. Thanks! Do you know if there's another version that is just one step up from the 1611 KJV? I agree that it is rather hard to read. I'm rethinking my decision to buy that one.

Thanks for the warm welcome! This place is great!

Marlene


I'd recommend today's KJV version, Marlene (Everybody please forgive the quick onto-another-tangent issue, this'll just take a second and the conversation should be back on PA in a moment or two). There's one published by Nelson that's a softbound that has all the names and places pronounced, like in a dictionary. It's a good one; I'd highly recommend it.

(However, it is copyrighted, and I think it's because of the pronunciations within the text. Normal KJV's don't have a copyright.)

"Now back to our regularly scheduled PA programming..."
 

DaveKuzminski

Preditors & Editors
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
5,036
Reaction score
859
Location
Virginia
Website
anotherealm.com
gena140 said:
But again...remember my name...remember my post.

I will SHOW YOU HOW to be successful by USING a publisher instead of blaming them.

Wow! Um, Gena, what size saffron robe do you wear? You'll need it and a tambourine if you expect to make any sales. I've heard airports are especially lucrative since the customers leave and can't demand their money back if you're on the other side of the security gate.
 

AnneMarble

Nefarious Ghost Fan
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
2,922
Reaction score
3,044
Location
MD
Website
gorokandwulf.blogspot.com
DreamWeaver said:
And I have right here, in my hand as we speak, an ARC of Ann Crispin's latest book, which lists the publisher as *Eos, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.*.
Waaah! :cry: Where's the jealousy smiley? :Smack:

DreamWeaver said:
OT: I won it! I won the *Storms of Destiny* ARC name-that-inspiration contest! My encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock finally paid off!!!
smilehooray.gif

:Trophy: Good going! I've won books by answering trivia because I figured out how to Google the site to find the answers. :D
 

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,011
Reaction score
697
Location
Sacramento area, CA
Website
www.umbachconsulting.com
gena140 said:
...BLACK authors have to take a different approach which is why I chose PA.
As someone with Black author friends, that resonates (pardon the expression). Frankly, if PA serves your purposes as an author, more power to you. Just out of curiosity--did you seek publication through an established publisher that emphasizes the African-American market? Holloway House, perhaps? (I have in my vast reading stack a Donald Goines novel published by Holloway House, http://www.hollowayhousebooks.com/.) Or maybe through one of the larger publishers that has at least some record of publishing Black authors? Simon & Schuster, for example (Michael Baisden)? New American Library (Eric Jerome Dickey)? Names picked from among the books I have stacked up here.) Just wondering.

--Ken
 

gena140

Banned
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
151
Reaction score
14
Location
SC
Website
www.genalgarrison.com
Kevin Yarbrough said:
Didn't hit your website, didn't feel a need to. If you can make PA work for you, more power to ya. If you want to make money by re-selling your bought books, more power to ya, hope you make as much money as you can.

But my beef with PA is this.

I showed them respect. Respect in the form of a $500 check when my book came out. I sold them all. I respected them on their boards, even spent my times, as well as others, in showing them how to start up a book club that was geared towards their authors. We had it all worked out for them, what did I get? Not an email saying anything, even though I heard from someone who worked there that they were thinking about it. I stood up for them when they were bashed. Stood up for the authors when they were bashed. I stood up for a friend who was being bashed on the PA boards by none other than a PA employee in disguise. What di that respect get me? Banned.

I heard that PA would accept anything they received. I didn't want to belive it, that would mean my book was not something unique. I copied thirty pages over and over and over and over, sent it in, got accepted, told people what I found, and then the offer was taken away.

After getting THEIR respect, respect being the folowing: the lies about my book being good enough, them conning me into signing with the lies they had on their website at the time, them cashing my $500 check for something that cost them less than $70 to print, their banning me from their board and if that isn't bad enough they also sent a letter to the FBI and my local police station in an attempt to get me arrested.

Nice respect there from them.

I hope you do well. If you can get PA to work for you then I'm glad, but a lot of people went to them thinking that they were a real publisher. If the model works for you, use it, but it doesn't work for everyone.

I understand your beef and am not disputing anyone's beef with them.

I'm only posting my personal experience.

I don't know how many times I have to repeat what I said in my original post which is i realize some have legitimate beefs with PA

I never said that anyone was lying on them, or making things up.

But my experience has been different and I feel that with the right information more authors experiences can be different.
 

T42

Herb Lady
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
1,112
Reaction score
371
Location
TEXAS
Website
p097.ezboard.com
gena140 said:
I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.

I simply stated my opinion and asked questions.

Others are trying to convince me of how wrong I am, and how I will feel soon enough.
Your questions were answered many times over and you have stated your opinion many times over so what's left?
 

Gravity

Seen 'em come, seen 'em go
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
3,942
Reaction score
965
Age
71
Location
Once you've heard the truth, everything else is ju
DaveKuzminski said:
Wow! Um, Gena, what size saffron robe do you wear? You'll need it and a tambourine if you expect to make any sales. I've heard airports are especially lucrative since the customers leave and can't demand their money back if you're on the other side of the security gate.


Guys, guys...anybody who has had teenagers in the house (or can remember back to when they were a teenager) can see this exactly for what it is. I say we stop feeding it. Now. 'Kay?

:::double smooches:::

John-John
 

M. Story

Pollyanna with n attitude
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
222
Reaction score
117
Location
Land of Lincoln
Website
www.freewebs.com
T42 & Nancy,

Thank you so much for your kind comments. You're making me blush. I took off my cowgirl hat, but still have my guns :guns: to shoot down anyone who says PA is a legitimate, bonafide, helpful publishing company. ha!

I'm am thrilled to be a part of this magnificent A.W. group.


Marlene
Banned from Both Boring Boards at PA
& "happy, happy, happy" about it! :snoopy:
 

Susan Gable

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
3,110
Reaction score
755
Location
Pennsylvania
Website
www.susangable.com
gena140 said:
What you've heard and what is real are 2 different things. Kimberla Lawson Roby sold 10,000 self published copies in less than 6 months and that's the ONLY REASON she signed with William Morrow. She told me that herself. She also told me that 1/2 way through that she was approached by an agent, and several other publisher's.

.

Okay, so your goal is to make a big enough splash with your PA book that you can get your foot in the door with the rest of the publishing industry?

Gena, there is now a "stigma" attached to PA that is probably worse than being self-published. We have discussed on this thread that there are legitimate times for a writer to choose self-publishing. But choosing PA is worse than self-publishing because of its current (well-deserved, I might add) reputation.

If you really wanted complete control, self-pubbing would have been a better option. I understand that maybe you didn't have the money to invest in self-publishing.

I hope you CAN use them to your advantage. We'd love to see good things come out of this. So many people have had their dreams broken by PA that it would be great to see someone step on them to climb someplace else.

We just want you to know that the odds of that happening are really not good. The more knowledge you have, the more in control of that destiny you are. So please, if you are sincere, and you want to make this work for you, then listen to the stories of the ex-PA authors here.

Susan Gable
 

Sher2

Auroraless ExPAtriate
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,400
Reaction score
396
Website
freewebs.com
NancyMehl said:
Hmmmm. Unless you have taken control of this board from Jenna, I think she'll decide if you'll be back "tomorra."

Now, I'm going to go click my a** while I still have the ability. Anyone want to join in???

*smooches* :kiss:

Nancy
I just clicked mine in a gesture of solidarity -- once I got it unclenched.:kiss:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.