The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

Afinerosesheis said:

Please stop with the "orgasmically-happy" stuff! I'm not even close to that happy with my PA book.

=)

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"PublishAmerica" and "happy" are not words I would normally use in the same sentence, except perhaps something like: "I would be very happy to see PublishAmerica go out of business," or "PublishAmerica authors are often happy until they discover they've been scammed."

Or PublishAmerica will be very happy to empty your bank account

PA....suck

Chuckle, chuckle

smsarber said:

Or PublishAmerica will be very happy to empty your bank account

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Thank you. I got a good chuckle out of that one.

A children's book author just posted on the "How Real Publishing Works" thread that PA offered them an in-house illustrator for $499. Is this the first evidence that they're starting to offer optional paid services?

DeadlyAccurate said:

Is this the first evidence that they're starting to offer optional paid services?

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No, it's not. Unfortunately I can't say anything further, because I learned about a different such case in private.

The more "services" PA offers at a price, then hopefully the more people will realize PA is a vanity press. I read on another site that some of PA's authors are beginning to think that PA is turning more towards vanity publishing. What they haven't yet grasped is that PA is, and has been, a vanity press since they opened their doors in
1999.

I am not a lawyer. But, Legal Lad covered arbitration clauses in his February 4 episode of his podcast.

Might be a help in understanding that portion of the PA contract, just in case anyone's curious.

James D. Macdonald said:

Most of those mentions of PA books and PA authors are in local newspapers in the Human Interest section: Local Man Writes Book.

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I run a small weekly, and I won't run anything on Publish America authors. The reasoning is ... if I run something on one of them, I've got to run something on ALL of them in our coverage area ... and Publish America accepts ANYONE. That'd be like running a story, "Man accepted at local community college." (No offense intended.) It's a waste of my time and resources, especially since there are no quality standards at PA.

Just got another angry email from a PA author, accusing me of "blackballing" him and preventing him from promoting his book.

Yes, I won't let you use MY space in MY paper to promote PA, and maybe have someone else suckered into using it. People forget that newspapers are privately owned and therefore, have standards for content ...

Just out of curiosity, have you ever considered printing an article about why you won't promote Publish America books? It won't change the minds of those "happy" new PA authors who think PA is grand, and are currently absorbed by the PA koolaid, but it could keep other's from sending off their work to PA. Just a thought.

BTW, welcome to AW.

tlblack--such an article would have to tread carefully, lest it slip into libel, and the paper gets sued.

A short piece talking about vanity publishing--listing PA in a crowd with a statement that they sell most of their books to the authors--might be safe enough. Quoting from Publisher's Weekly articles about PA and other vanities is also fairly safe.

Otherwise, a short mail to the outraged author explaining the same thing...well, that doesn't work when they're swilling the 'ade.

Stick to your guns, newbiewriter!

That'd be like running a story, "Man accepted at local community college."

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Good one.

Good for you, newbiewriter. Hopefully you'll get some "Published Authors" to be more careful with their next books.

L

Gillhoughly said:

tlblack--such an article would have to tread carefully, lest it slip into libel, and the paper gets sued.

A short piece talking about vanity publishing--listing PA in a crowd with a statement that they sell most of their books to the authors--might be safe enough. Quoting from Publisher's Weekly articles about PA and other vanities is also fairly safe.

Otherwise, a short mail to the outraged author explaining the same thing...well, that doesn't work when they're swilling the 'ade.

Stick to your guns, newbiewriter!

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I realize that. I was just curious.

Good advice!

Of course, truth is a complete defense to libel. The newspaper article would have to be factual--with facts that can be easily backed up or attributed to reputable sources. Then I would think the newspaper would be safe. And PA isn't going to sue anyone anyway unless an article is really over the top, lest the Truth come out in a very public forum. The last thing PA wants is for people to learn the Truth, because then PA's lies and half-truths won't fool anyone anymore.

P.S.--Remember the old saying: never get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. PA would be stupid to pick that kind of fight unless they were on very solid ground (i.e., the newspaper article would have to be grossly inaccurate).

Welcome newbiewriter!

Yesterday, a PublishAmerica writer posted a comment on my blog (he chose an odd thread to comment on): reading between the lines of his post, it seems to me that one of his friends has directed him towards me in an attempt to steer him away from PA.

He wrote,

I have never felt pressured from Publish America to purchase more than I might need of my book, "TITLE DELETED". If I have a complaint with them it is that they do not have a marketing department working towards our mutual benefit. I have secured a marketing person now- after some abortive attempts with a number of others- and I am hoping to finally see myself on the shelves.

[snipped]

While it is true I have not seen much in the way of royalties, at least Publish America gave me a chance rather than a view of the backs of their heads.

[snipped]

I am negotiating with other publishers about a compilation of short stories which I have nearly finished, however if none of these pan out I will turn willingly to Publish America once more

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So, he didn't pay to be published but he's paying to market them now; and he's negotiating with other publishers to publish a short story anthology. What's the betting those other publishers are vanity publishers too?

I've replied to him, and suggested he might like to continue our discussion in a more appropriate thread, or even over here: but still. His post made me sad.

Marketing can't help much when there's no distribution. Maybe—if he does a lot of appearances and sells from the back of the room. . . . .

While it is true I have not seen much in the way of royalties, at least Publish America gave me a chance rather than a view of the backs of their heads.

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Going with PA when other publishers have turned you down is sort of like hitch-hiking: You stand by the road for hours and watch thousands of cars whizz by. Then a car finally stops. You notice the crazed look on the driver's face, the fresh bloodstains on the seat, the knife on the dashboard, but you get in anyway because you are so desperate for a ride. And the driver says he'll take you where you want to go. So you take a chance.

I looked his book up on Amazon and PA. Retail price $34.95, extra-fer-special PA price $29.95.

His max bestest-fer-special price during a buy-one-get-one would be $11.75 ($34.95/2 - one free, plus $2.99 shipping/handling.) His best price for an order of 40 books is around $410.00.

That is the reason his royalty checks are anemic and always will be. The inflated price is my numero uno problem with PA, it is the death song of books that might be good. My apologies to the author, but I wouldn't choose his book when there are dozens of urban-apoc-dark thriller type books out there for $7.99 - $9.99.

No kidding! I've never paid more than $10 for a paperback, or more than $17.99 for a hardcover. And knowing what the quality of PA books are (the production quality, not the author's talent), I sure as heck wouldn't buy any book with the PublishAmerica seal in the corner.

smsarber said:

No kidding! I've never paid more than $10 for a paperback, or more than $17.99 for a hardcover. And knowing what the quality of PA books are (the production quality, not the author's talent), I sure as heck wouldn't buy any book with the PublishAmerica seal in the corner.

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I don't think it is insulting to any one PA writer to keep to the forefront the fact that PA has published some very bad books. We've seen the sting manuscripts and those that might as well have been.

PA prints the slush pile. There will be the small percentage of good books that could have found real publication elsewhere, after some editing that they won't receive. The rest will be, well, slush of varying quality.

He states that PA doesn't pressure him into buying more than he'll need. I read that as he did buy, and possibly will buy more, but will continue to say he didn't pay to get published.

For him negotiating with other publishers, yes, I read that and wondered if they are also vanity publishers.

smsarber said:

No kidding! I've never paid more than $10 for a paperback, or more than $17.99 for a hardcover. . . .

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!!!!

Dunno how you do it. Trade paperbacks go for $12.95 and up (see list prices in the Publisher's Weekly bestseller list for an overview), and hardbacks typically start at $23.95 (before discounts in both cases), and these days can be upwards of $30 list, esp. for nonfiction. Among my recent purchases, Stop Walking on Eggshells, at $16.95 (trade paperback) , Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene, $15.95 (trade paperback), and The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture ($25.00, trade paperback). Also, Robert B. Parker's Rough Weather ($26.95, hardback) and Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus ($24.95, hardback). B&N and Amazon and Costco discounts help, of course, so I'm rarely paying list prices. But even Costco was charging $15 or more for Rough Weather. I've noticed prices sneaking up on hardback novels, esp. by big name authors.

PA's prices are of course preposterous, even by those standards, and quality abysmal. That is how they can push those special deals (2 for 1, etc.), by jacking up list prices to absurd levels. But it is not fair to compare to mass-market paperback and remaindered hardback prices.

--Ken