The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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clintl

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James D. Macdonald said:
Writers Digest is like Brides magazine. Everyone gets a subscription to it once, but if you renew your subscription you ought perhaps to rethink your career.

I guess I did the right thing. I subscribed for a year many years ago, and didn't renew the subscription. I don't know how it is now, but the thing that struck me about their ads back then were how many "get rich quick" schemes were advertised.
 

ResearchGuy

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clintl said:
I guess I did the right thing. I subscribed for a year many years ago, and didn't renew the subscription. I don't know how it is now, but the thing that struck me about their ads back then were how many "get rich quick" schemes were advertised.
I am not sure that blanket condemnation of WD is fair. The April 2005 issue, for example, has an article on fact checking that certainly looks valuable, with description of the fact-checking process, specific recommendations for writers to follow in order to avoid common errors, and explanation of why those precautions are essential. To take one example that is very familiar to me, the article advises checking secondary sources by going to the original source whenever possible. That is sound advice, and may well not have occured to inexperienced writers. For that matter, I have seen it ignored by folks who should have known better.

IMHO FWIW.

--Ken
 

AnneMarble

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astonwest said:
My guess is that they're counting spam e-mails as submissions...and perhaps all those questions and requests coming from concerned authors...we know they reject those all the time...

:ROFL:

Maybe someday, after an e-mail mix-up, they'll accidentally publish a novel called "Work from Home and Get Your Prescription Drugs from a Hot Lonely Widow in Nigeria with a Rolex."
 

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AnneMarble said:
:ROFL:

Maybe someday, after an e-mail mix-up, they'll accidentally publish a novel called "Work from Home and Get Your Prescription Drugs from a Hot Lonely Widow in Nigeria with a Rolex."

Damn Thee Woman! Now you've outed my bestseller title!
 

MadScientistMatt

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AnneMarble said:
:ROFL:

Maybe someday, after an e-mail mix-up, they'll accidentally publish a novel called "Work from Home and Get Your Prescription Drugs from a Hot Lonely Widow in Nigeria with a Rolex."

:ROFL: That's so funny I'm tempted to see if they would actually print a manuscript that was entirely cut and pasted from a week's worth of spam.
 

Literary Lola

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Sher2 said:
Yep, here I am back again. My ms needs more sex. I have a headache.
BWAHAHA! Boy, can you tell this is place for writers? Normally people would be writing that THEY need more sex, not their manuscripts.
 

WhisperingBard

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Boy, I take a break from writing some nice, wholesome children's poetry, come here, and what do I find? Sex, lies, and videotape (or in Ed's case, DVDs). ;)

Magazines need advertising in order to stay alive. It's hard to pick and choose which ones you'll accept when the salaries of your employees are riding on those decisions. In a perfect world, WD wouldn't carry some of the ads it does. But the alternative is that the magazine doesn't publish.

I don't know about you guys, but far too many magazines have folded in recent years for me to want to see that happen. And I don't even subscribe to WD!
 

Sassenach

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WhisperingBard said:
Magazines need advertising in order to stay alive. It's hard to pick and choose which ones you'll accept when the salaries of your employees are riding on those decisions. In a perfect world, WD wouldn't carry some of the ads it does. But the alternative is that the magazine doesn't publish.

I don't know about you guys, but far too many magazines have folded in recent years for me to want to see that happen. And I don't even subscribe to WD!


So where do you draw the line? Lots of magazines sell/promote questionable things...so do many businesses. Does the fact they have employees justify that?
 

DaveKuzminski

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On balance, I don't hold it against a publication for having ads, even though some or many might be from scammers. Instead, I try to evaluate whether that publication is giving out useful information or willfully trying to perpetrate such schemes. After all, there are bound to be some instances where an article expresses views contrary to what we know or believe are best just as we know that there are some instances where self-publishing makes more sense than trying to find a publisher.

Even though Writer's Digest contains ads from known scams, there are other factors in their favor that shouldn't be dismissed. They do feature articles on writing that many new writers need. They sometimes explain away the myths that new writers have heard elsewhere. They even provide information about other good sources, such as the WD 101 Best Sites which are good reliable sites for the most part.

So, it's a compromise that just has to be lived with because we don't live in a perfect world. Sometimes you have to rely upon the devil for financial support in order to help the angels and trust in the watchdogs to keep him at bay.
 

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I am using every fiber of my being...

Literary Lola said:
BWAHAHA! Boy, can you tell this is place for writers? Normally people would be writing that THEY need more sex, not their manuscripts.
...not to respond to this, but Lola, geez, show a little compassion, huh?

A quick look over at the Great and Mighty Land of Poz reveals that a discussion of book pricing is taking place. Amongst some of the more revealing comments:

I was completely shocked to see how much they are selling my book for. I thought for sure no one would purchase it at it's price, but guess what...They have been.
"They" = close relatives, not so close relatives, and friends.

A book is just another book unless the author has signed it. I am thinking of printing some certificates and numbering them signed as limited editions. Those can easily be glued into the inside of the book.
This may sound harsh, but the reality is: Signed editions of books by authors no one has ever heard of, just liked signed CDs by bands no one has ever heard of, add negligible increased value to either the books or the CDs. With the internet, POD, and other new technologies, saying "I have a book out," is not quite as revelatory as it would have been five to ten years ago.

Bite the bullit and as Sky recommends, buy and sell your own books. You can make around $7.00 a book, depending on shipping and handling and the
discount P/A gives you, which varies.

Don't give up your day job! LOL
These are the words that make Moe-randa, Larry, and Curlem twitch with excitement, as they can see that their business model is working and their wallets are about to grow even fatter...

Can you imagine PA thinking they will set the price higher in order to prevent us selling too many?
I hate to tell you this, friend, but that's exactly what PA is doing. Their market for books are the close friends and relatives of their authors, who will pay pretty much anything for a copy. Talk to someone like Nancy Mehl, who sold a lot of books for PA, and see how it all worked out for her. It's easier to sell 50-100 books at super high prices over and over and over again - you don't have to have distributors, marketing people, or anyone else to do that. What other reason explains PA's reported 11,000 plus authors?

It will not happen overnight but we have authors all over the USA and over here in the UK that can hold books for distribution and we do not need bookstores to retail the books. Coffee shops can accomodate one or two tables to display books once a week. They will allow posters in the windows, it will be good for their business.
If you're not in the bookstores, you're not even playing the game, friend. I'm tempted to call you up and tell you about some oceanfront property I have for sale up in North Dakota...

The thread for these quotes is located right here:

http://www.publishamerica.com/cgi-bin/pamessageboard/data/lounge/8181.htm

If this keeps up, I might have to turn on the Brine Beacon and summon The Pickler to take care of this situation...
 
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keltora

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Steve 211 said:
The Writer's Digest News is not all good. In fact, we got a situation in Sector 5 that needs some serious attention..

I long ago decided that Writer's Digest didn't have a lick of sense. They started pushing Vanity Press in a big way. They did articles encouraging new writers to see vanity or self publication (please note--they are two separate things...) as the best route to go.
 

Sparhawk

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<<Message:
JCK / Davoo / Readers of this post;

I urge you all to SLOW DOWN. LESS SPEED NO HASTE AND PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION. Agaiin I am not trying to be negative but feel it necessary to point out some obvious questions.

John, are these merchants taking a piece of the action for allowing you to set up a display in their establishment?

Who is going to monitor all the books if they are placed in said establishments on top of that how are you going to find the time to place /visit enough merchants to make enough revenue to make this a viable propostion.

ARE the merchants providing homes for these displays (As you metioned Hairdressers, Optometrists/ Framers) going to establish a seperate ledger for any sales of these books?

ARE the merchants going to act as the cash register for the sales of books at this display and also are thye gong to make change out of their own cash drawer?

If you have answers to these questions, I would be interested in seeing them. No offense, it's difficult to gain credibility by saying "I have an idea" and only present it iin the vaguest of terms.

AS I said to Davood in my above POST, how much research and study has gone into this idea. Anyone considering putting up their books should be asking these same questions. If I appear to be ascerbic I apologize, I have seen too many business ideas costs people their life saviings and their marriges. (Not that losing a few books will do that but the thesis is similar) I ask again, with respect, sir, How much study and practical research has gone into your business idea, and can you provide us the results of said research that indicate that this idea will in fact move merchandise?

I say this because you are asking people to spend their money in the form of books.

Also I must respectfully disagree with your supposition that people will buy an high priced PA book just because the author has signed it. That, I beleive to be a fallacy. For the most part we as authors have no marketable draw to a widespread audience that would make our autograph on a book worth anymore than the price PA has put on it. I think that the Demand for a particualar book and Author will determine the potential value of an autographed copy. A signed copy of HYBRID (my Novel) will be a hoot for my family and a few of my friends, but to Joe Average consumer, my name and my book are virtually have no following.

AGAIN let me emphacize that I am not slamming or attacking anybody I'm just advising caution and urging my fellow writers who are cash strained to examine every proposal carefully and get ALL of the facts and information before we start eagerly mailing our books at our expense to anyone.

AGAIN. THis is NOT personal, just ordinary practiced caution that any prudent businessman/woman would undertake.

Very Respectfully,

ESPER >>

OK, so I'm guilty, again, of trying to impose some reality. But SHeesh!! I don't want people getting schnookered by an over eager entrepreneur with no real idea wtf is going on. Maybe I'm wrong, but my gut tells me that the due dilligance has not been performed.
 

Sparhawk

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[/QUOTE]If this keeps up, I might have to turn on the Brine Beacon and summon The Pickler to take care of this situation...[/QUOTE]

AND GHERKIN !!
 

James D. Macdonald

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In other news: Atlanta Nights has sold 28 copies retail. (Amazon, BN.com, and brick-and-mortar.)



We're up to #21 at Lulu.com.

213,963 Amazon
507,410 BN

Ingram numbers:

On hand: 3
On order: 0
On backorder: 0
This week: 2
Last week: 5
This year: 14
Last year: 0
 

keltora

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James D. Macdonald said:
In other news: Atlanta Nights has sold 28 copies retail. (Amazon, BN.com, and brick-and-mortar.)



We're up to #21 at Lulu.com.

213,963 Amazon
507,410 BN

Ingram numbers:

On hand: 3
On order: 0
On backorder: 0
This week: 2
Last week: 5
This year: 14
Last year: 0

Major Cool!

Must trot over to my local B&N and order a copy for giggles and teehees...and coffee too. :Coffee:
 

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buying PA books

Greetings all,
I just realized that I have a PA book. I teach education classes in NYC and like to have my students read a "teacher story" for my intro class. Well, I needed a few extra titles for this semester, so I did a search on amazon.com and told the bookstore to order a couple of books.

After speaking with my students, I realized the book was only 57 pages (!!), so I dropped it from the possible choices. So, I have a copy and I think two of my students bought a copy. Not sure what the bookstore did if they had any extras.

I read the book in about an hour...it was interesting and I could relate since my sister teaches in a NYC public school. The book probably would have been useful for my class, if it had another 200 pages.

Anyway, the moral of this story is: I plan on checking much more carefully before I order books in the future...looking at the publisher and the page numbers. Also, I will order one copy to preview before adding it to my syllabus.
 

AnneMarble

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James D. Macdonald said:
Writers Digest is like Brides magazine. Everyone gets a subscription to it once, but if you renew your subscription you ought perhaps to rethink your career.

But I was only 12 when I first started subscribing. I definitely wasn't ready to be published by then time I turned 13. :cry: I did stop subscribing to it after a while. But they kept sending me issues. I wasn't going to complain. It was more interesting then Newsweek.

I like getting it now and then, anyway. Some people like thumbing through Vogue. I'd rather read about different types of writing. Also, keeping the magazine around reminds me to keep writing. :D
 

Sher2

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Literary Lola said:
BWAHAHA! Boy, can you tell this is place for writers? Normally people would be writing that THEY need more sex, not their manuscripts.
Oh, it's okay, Lola. I'm over the hump, thanks (and smoochies :kiss: ) to my muse, and my character is a happy camper now. Now on to the next bit that needs to be unmuddled.;)
 

Sher2

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Ed Williams said:
If this keeps up, I might have to turn on the Brine Beacon and summon The Pickler to take care of this situation...
'Tis a futile, hopeless situation, Mighty Vlassic. If I were you, I'd gas up the green jet and get ready for takeoff. There's naught for it but the Brine Beacon. :box:
 

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Is it just me?

Alright, all this talk about The Pickler is causing some disturbing thoughts in a head hazed in hangover and disgusting since creation. But all I really see in my head are comic book adventures of an epic nature where a bumpy and throbbing phallic symbol races around on tiny legs saving unsuspecting writers from the clutches of the three-headed Stooge monster. It all whirlpools in the back of my brain into some washed-out version of the Holy Grail scene.

ALL HEADS: You're The Pickler?
The Pickler: I am.
Miranda: In that case, I shall have to give your book the chance it deserves.
Meiners: Shall I?
Clopper: Oh, I don't think so.
Meiners: Well, what do I think?
Miranda: I think screw him over royally.
Clopper: Oh, let's be nice to him.
Miranda: Oh, shut up.
The Pickler: Perhaps I could--
Miranda: And you. Oh, quick! Get the dollar out. I want to send out a worthless press release!
Clopper: Oh, go compare yourself to the great Poet!
Meiners: Yes, do us all a favour!
Miranda: What?
Clopper: Yapping on all the time.
Meiners: You're lucky. You're not next to her.
Miranda: What do you mean?
Meiners: You snore!
Miranda: Oh, I don't. Anyway, you've got bad breath.
Meiners: Well, it's only because you don't brush my teeth.
Clopper: Oh, stop bitching and let's go have tea.
Miranda: Oh, all right. All right. All right. We'll kill his literary dreams, profit from it and
then have tea and biscuits.
Meiners: Yes.
Clopper: Oh, not biscuits.
Miranda: All right. All right, not biscuits, but let's kill his dream anyway.
ALL HEADS: Right!
Meiners: He buggered off.
Clopper: So he has. He's scarpered.

Holidaypickle.gif
 

CaoPaux

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ResearchGuy said:
Any comments on the agents listed in April 2005 WD cover article on agents looking for new authors? Cover blurb: "ATTENTION NEW AUTHORS! 21 AGENTS who want YOUR book."

--Ken
p.s. Do any of those agents send authors to PA?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to run a few through either the brand-spanking new AW Agent/Publisher Index *koff* and/or P&E, and report yer findings. ;)
 

realitychuck

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James D. Macdonald said:
Ingram numbers:

On hand: 3
On order: 0
On backorder: 0
This week: 2
Last week: 5
This year: 14
Last year: 0
Interesting, especially in light of the same numbers for PA authors on the NY Times ad last year. Fourteen sales this year was, IIRC, more than all their sales combined (and it was later in the year).

I see that on the PA Board, JCK is currently promoting that "coffee shop distribution" scheme. If you are not familiar with the PA book he has published, his discription of it is here.
 

Sher2

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ZaZ said:
Alright, all this talk about The Pickler is causing some disturbing thoughts in a head hazed in hangover and disgusting since creation. But all I really see in my head are comic book adventures of an epic nature where a bumpy and throbbing phallic symbol races around on tiny legs saving unsuspecting writers from the clutches of the three-headed Stooge monster. It all whirlpools in the back of my brain into some washed-out version of the Holy Grail scene.
And there you have it, the entire essence of the whole scheme captured in one tight, succinct paragraph of escapist fiction. Hell, anything to avoid working on the stupid book. :eek:
 
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