The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

lucyishome · Apr 7, 2005

I have not said this here before so I will say it now. The reason I hate PA is because I really thought my first book was good. Although I knew the chances of being accepted by the first publisher I had submitted to were about nill. So when they offered to accept my work I really thought wow I am so lucky or maybe it really is a great book. Yes I am moving forward with my writing. I just really hate PA for what they did to me and to so many other hopeful authors. I cannot stand the fact that I was misled into thinking I had a good manuscript due to their acceptance of it. Normally I tend to stay pretty darn quiet on this thread but I got another rejection today and it just stings. Although I have not given up yet I am constantly wondering if I can actually write or is it just some silly dream that I should let go of. Thanks for letting me vent.

Anne

WhisperingBard · Apr 7, 2005

Probably about a bevy.

I thought pickles came in barrels? :Smack:

Show it to 'em in a court of law, as they sit at the defense table. Their next notice should be from the process server.

And won't that be one fine day? :hooray:

Patricia · Apr 7, 2005

Gratian Gasparri said:
Since the cut-and-paste function does not appear to be working for me, check out ISBN 0815330103.

Gratian, where are you using that number? I can't pull up anything.

WhisperingBard · Apr 7, 2005

Gratian, were are you using that number? I can't pull anything up.

Ann, I haven't tried it yet, but try doing an Advanced Search on Amazon.

DeePower · Apr 7, 2005

THIS IS PUBLISHAMERICA LIE

"Our payments have never been challenged,"

Publish America lies. I have challenged them in writing by email, letter and by fax sent to Larry Clopper, Miranda Prather, and Willem Meiners as well as [email protected]

I have not received a royalty payment or statement for the last two periods and there were at least 89 sales.

Oh, if anybody wants the email addresses of say 30 employees at PA email me at [email protected]

Dee

Ed Williams · Apr 7, 2005

Simply put, it's....

Ann said:
. . . that the "name" has been mentioned a couple of times on today's post. Let us remember that is "he who lives no more." We don't want to favor him with more google power.

"Shemp"

Ya'll, let's do this, please. The odds are good that this afternoon's drive by was either a troll or Shemp himself. I can only imagine how attention deprived he is these days without his protected vanity bulletin board to spew from. Let's totally ignore him, no more posts, no more asides about him, nothing. He wanted to be dead, let's make him dead. He's irrelevant, and speculating on him is like speculating on why the Red Sox won the World Series last year - it's old news.

All this verbiage is from the first ever AW superhero......THE PICKLER!!!!

Patricia · Apr 7, 2005

lucyishome said:
Normally I tend to stay pretty darn quiet on this thread but I got another rejection today and it just stings. Although I have not given up yet I am constantly wondering if I can actually write or is it just some silly dream that I should let go of. Thanks for letting me vent.

Anne

No -- you don't give up. Many famous and talented authors have gone through the rejection process. Just continue to improve your writing skills and keep submitting. What you are feeling is not unusual for an author who has been taken by PA. :Hug2:

Sher2 · Apr 7, 2005

Ann said:
Gratian, were are you using that number? I can't pull anything up.

Go to addall.com and plug in the ISBN.

Sher2 · Apr 7, 2005

WhisperingBard said:
I thought pickles came in barrels? :Smack:

And won't that be one fine day?

Yes, but my eye for detail caught PODet, which would be the feminine. And ... girls ain't got no pickles.

lucyishome · Apr 7, 2005

Ann said:
No -- you don't give up. Many famous and talented authors have gone through the rejection process. Just continue to improve your writing skills and keep submitting. What you are feeling is not unusual for an author who has been taken by PA.

Thanks Ann. I just had to vent today. Usually I just hang back and read the boards. This is the one that I found when I first started questioning PA's practices last year and I have learned so much not just about PA but about writing in general.

Anne

Patricia · Apr 7, 2005

WhisperingBard said:
Ann, I haven't tried it yet, but try doing an Advanced Search on Amazon.

Thanks, I'll give it a try now.

lucyishome · Apr 7, 2005

Ann said:
Gratian, where are you using that number? I can't pull up anything.

I just copied and pasted the whole thing on google and it popped right up.

James D. Macdonald · Apr 7, 2005

lucyishome said:
I cannot stand the fact that I was misled into thinking I had a good manuscript due to their acceptance of it.

Maybe you have a good manuscript, maybe you don't. No one knows. Least of all PA -- no one there read it before they offered a contract.

Yes, the road to publication is long and hard. Yes, it's frustrating. Yes, when you get there the pay is lousy, the rewards are few, and work is still hard as ever. You're only as good as your last review or your last sales figures.

Write because you love to. Write the best you can, for the greater glory of God. As long as you are writing, you are a writer. Publication usually takes time -- but to get published, go where publishing lives. And that isn't in Frederick, Maryland.

Remember: So far as anyone has been able to determine not one single person in that townhouse has ever published anything professionally, nor have they ever worked in legitimate publishing in any capacity. They talk about publishing? How would they know? They are ignorant liars.

=========

For Eddie --

By their standard media boilerplate do you think they mean the form letter they send to newspapers that are looking for information about them? If you post it I'll attempt to do a line-by-line on it, so that when newspapers get that boilerplate, if they Google on it, they'll be able to find the facts too.

========

For the new General Partners: How about calling 'em Larry Pickles and the PODettes?

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:3LZDR81037MJ:www.bobborden.com/diary/pickle.jpg

Patricia · Apr 7, 2005

Sher2 said:
Go to addall.com and plug in the ISBN.

Well, since it's not the same person -- I won't corrupt the poor guys good name by connecting it to "him that is dead."

lucyishome · Apr 7, 2005

James D. Macdonald said:
Maybe you have a good manuscript, maybe you don't. No one knows. Least of all PA -- no one there read it before they offered a contract.

Yes, the road to publication is long and hard. Yes, it's frustrating. Yes, when you get there the pay is lousy, the rewards are few, and work is still hard as ever. You're only as good as your last review or your last sales figures.

Write because you love to. Write the best you can, for the greater glory of God. As long as you are writing, you are a writer. Publication usually takes time -- but to get published, go where publishing lives. And that isn't in Frederick, Maryland.

Remember: So far as anyone has been able to determine not one single person in that townhouse has ever published anything professionally, nor have they ever worked in legitimate publishing in any capacity. They talk about publishing? How would they know? They are ignorant liars.

=========

Thanks James. That is one of the things that really pisses me off. The fact that they never read the darn thing. Would have never thought they wouldn't have until I came here.

Anne

Sher2 · Apr 7, 2005

James D. Macdonald said:
For the new General Partners: How about calling 'em Larry and the PODettes?

http://images.google.com/imgres?img.../images?q=pickle&hl=en&lr=&oi=imagesr&start=2 http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:3LZDR81037MJ:www.bobborden.com/diary/pickle.jpg

Larry wishes.

Galoot · Apr 7, 2005

James D. Macdonald said:
For the new General Partners: How about calling 'em Larry and the PODettes?

http://images.google.com/imgres?img.../images?q=pickle&hl=en&lr=&oi=imagesr&start=2 http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:3LZDR81037MJ:www.bobborden.com/diary/pickle.jpg

I'll see your pickle and raise you three.

Sher2 · Apr 7, 2005

Galoot said:
I'll see your pickle and raise you three.

Looks like a full house to me. Or maybe it's a royal flush.

T42 · Apr 7, 2005

Just so this isn't off the subject, PA SUCKS! Wow, Bard if you would put your picture on your post the green squares would never stop. (anyway with the boys) Did I mention that I called the IRS again today to do a follow up and this time the man was a bit rude (different man) and informed me that they do not do follow ups. They do not give out any info once they have been "turned in for investigation" but he did assure me that they have been turned over to investigation and that is as much as he can share. (he acted like he thought I was someone from PA) So I would advice everyone to start calling. They don't ask you any info about yourself. (They don't even ask you to give your name.)

PublishAmerica~Helping Authors To Lower Their Standards For Years!

Contact the IRS Fraud Department toll free at 1-800-829-0433

James D. Macdonald · Apr 7, 2005

Galoot said:
I'll see your pickle and raise you three.

Yo Ho Ho!

Ed Williams · Apr 7, 2005

Those vanity POD desperados....

...will not know what hit them. Should they cause problems for anyone here, I'll simply duck into a nearby Jiffy Lube and change into the first ever AW Superhero, that traditional, purely American crime fighter known as:

The Pickler!

Armed with truth, justice, and my Classic Vlassic Green Weenie Death Ray, I'll turn those 8% of net jack-offs into defunct mounds of plasma that'll resonate with complete and total defeat! Imagine The Pickler face-to-face with Moe-randa - the battle goes back and forth, but when The Pickler sprays some "Whine Brine" into her eyes, arrests her, and sets her bail at $5 to $10 above the normal bail amount, then she'll appreciate what justice Pickle style is all about....

reph · Apr 7, 2005

orraloon said:
[Message from PA:] "Your letter is barely coherent, and probably does not warrant a response...First of all, to get an answer to your contract request, please send your message to [email protected] only. Copying others within the company only furthers your appearance of incoherency. Please send your message again, and, if you are polite and coherent, you will get a response....we will expect your apology."

[Different message from PA:]

"Dear Mr Bruce,

Yes, as we revolutionize the industry, we're vaguely aware of the false statements and misconceptions that the Internet contains. We pay very little attention to it, however. Fortunately, it has recently increased the number of authors wanting to join PublishAmerica by over 40%.

Also, we think that you should know that there is no problem here at all. We've recently hired additional staff and moved into larger quarters. There is no lawsuit pending at all, class-action or otherwise, no threat of any lawsuit, and no problem whatsoever. What happened was that a small group of detractors contacted every "authority" that they could find, and each authority, without exception, found no problem at all with what PublishAmerica is doing. The result was a boost in our popularity...."

Looking at the writing style, those two messages must have come from different people. The first one has that scolding tone that we've seen in so many PA e-mails: You didn't say "Mother, may I?" You don't even make sense. If you humble yourself and ask nicely, we might answer your question. Now get down on the floor and apologize to me! Those e-mails always make me think a dominatrix wrote them. The second message follows the PA party line (We've done nothing wrong) but lacks the sadistic element, the attempt to humiliate the author. Did one of the new partners write it?

WhisperingBard · Apr 7, 2005

Write because you love to. Write the best you can, for the greater glory of God. As long as you are writing, you are a writer.

Jim, that has to be one of my all-time favorite lines from you. Just magic. :Fairydust

WhisperingBard · Apr 7, 2005

Wow, Bard if you would put your picture on your post the green squares would never stop.

You peeked! :faint:

Oh, gosh, Mem. I'm blushing. Thank you, and um...PA Sucks!

Literary Lola · Apr 7, 2005

lindylou45 said:
Originally Posted by Literary Lola
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindylou45
Ed Williams -- a.k.a. The POD Pickler

Quote:
Originally Posted by Literary Lola
<sigh> There are just so many ways I could go with this...

Okay, I'll for the obvious: "Say, Williams, is that a POD Pickler in your pocket or are you just happy to edit me?"

Click to expand...

I'm disappointed, I thought you could do better than that! Come on, I'm waiting!

Sheesh...didn't I say I was going for the obvious? Tough crowd. How's this? "Say, Williams, why don't you and your cute POD Pickler come on up to my place and we'll do a little resonating? You do like an audience, right?"

I'm in the middle of rewrites (damned cranky editors) and this is the best I can do.

The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

Wary...and weary

California Dreaming

Wary...and weary

DeePower

California Dreaming

Auroraless ExPAtriate

Auroraless ExPAtriate

California Dreaming

Your Genial Uncle

California Dreaming

Auroraless ExPAtriate

I am a pretty pretty flower

Auroraless ExPAtriate

Herb Lady

Your Genial Uncle

Fig of authority

Wary...and weary

Wary...and weary