The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

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MadScientistMatt

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While the BBB is correct in noting it's not technically a consumer rip-off, I'd say that PA likes to promote their BBB membership because there's a lot of misconceptions about how the publishing industry works. There's enough people who ask "How much did it cost you to get the book published?" and don't realize that an author is more like an employee of the publisher, or technically an independant contractor that a publisher hires to write the book. A publisher's customers are supposed to be the book buyers and not the authors. While in the case of PA that's not exactly a distinction, the BBB would probably only get involved if they failed to deliver books they were paid for, which would be a customer matter.
 

Don Davidson

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Time for Another Massive Effort?

So maybe it's time for another "massive effort" to get the word out. Please forgive my ignorance (I'm still somewhat new at this), but where do I go in the original NEPAT? I found a link to it on page 1 of the new NEPAT, but the old NEPAT has 1208 pages!!! Where do I start?
 
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CatSlave

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Agreed.
You don't want to find yourself reinventing the wheel.
Get familiar with what's been done, and maybe you can formulate a strategy that hasn't been tried yet. :)
 

Gravity

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God, yes! Otherwise known as the "rise and fall of a PA toadie." You'll enjoy reading about ol' HB, Don. At one time he was a one-man brute squad over there, and ran the place as he saw fit. It turned out he was totally insane, and a couple of years ago, with the help of a few PAvidians, faked his own death (twice!). By then PA couldn't control him anymore, and kicked him to the curb. For all intents and purposes he vanished from the 'Net, and hasn't been heard from since.

A couple of PAvidians have since sought his title (our own Jeff Miller, who posts here as Alien Enigma), and more recently Frenchie and The Pipe), but no one holds a candle to the late-great HB Marcus. He was a drooling, unshirted horrorshow, and we'll not see his like again.
 
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Mystic

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God, yes! Otherwise known as the "rise and fall of a PA toadie."


That one was quite odd. When his death was announced on Good Friday, I remember posting my condolences to others on the board, but adding, I hope he's not going to rise again on Easter. Surely, no one had that kind of nerve. I was wrong.
 

Shadowman

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So maybe it's time for another "massive effort" to get the word out. Please forgive my ignorance (I'm still somewhat new at this), but where do I go in the original NEPAT? I found a link to it on page 1 of the new NEPAT, but the old NEPAT has 1208 pages!!! Where do I start?



Don. One thing you can do after (or instead of) going through all of the previous posts is opening a new website with as many keywords as possible, so that it will pop up every time someone searches the likes of:
Publishers. Book Publishers. Or even Publish America it's self. And have all of their nasty deeds posted. But only ones you can prove. Unless you're quoting someone from another forum. And you should probably make it a writers beware. You know, devious stuff like that.

The only real way to beat your opponent is to be more ruthless than he is.
 

Shadowman

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I and my PA web page have been excoriated on the PA Message Board. (Follow this link: http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=27171.) Does that entitle me to a free cup of coffee anywhere? No worries, I don't drink coffee.


Great attitude. But seriously go get 'em. I've got a little something in store for them myself. I've been watching the boards and keeping an eye on their site. I've got some pretty good information. I'll let you know if anything comes of it.
 

kullervo

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I've been having a good time here at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference talking to new writers about PA. My own small effort, but satisfying. Of course, I'll be on a panel at the Southern California Writers Conference at the end of September, and look forward to doing more.
 

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Worth my time?

Just a few questions:

1. Will there ever come a time when it's appropriate to say that people who choose PA to publish their books have been sufficiently warned?

2. Shouldn't aspiring authors bear the responsibility for doing their own research, of sufficient quality and quantity, to point them away from PA?

3. Might writing a couple of pages a day and polishing it be time better spent than wading through 1208 pages, much of it repetitive, about PA?

4. Is there any truth to the notion that people learn from their mistakes and
become better for it?
 

Shadowman

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Just a few questions:

1. Will there ever come a time when it's appropriate to say that people who choose PA to publish their books have been sufficiently warned?

2. Shouldn't aspiring authors bear the responsibility for doing their own research, of sufficient quality and quantity, to point them away from PA?

3. Might writing a couple of pages a day and polishing it be time better spent than wading through 1208 pages, much of it repetitive, about PA?

4. Is there any truth to the notion that people learn from their mistakes and
become better for it?


Yeah that time should come. But when you're a new author like I was you're just so excited to be accepted that you don't really think about researching someone. It wasn't until after I received my first check that I figured something was amiss. But of course by then it was too late. I hate to say it but I was so excited to see "you've been accepted" that all I thought was all right!
I mean I have been writing since I was sixteen and I'm considerately older now. As I was when PA got a hold of my book. I had seen so many rejection letters it just shocked me to see that I had been accepted.
I just joined up, you know. I mean I had never heard of writers forums, P&E or anything else. I was pretty new to computers too. I had no idea what was out there on the internet.
Like I said that time should come. But for people like I used to be we have to not only warn them. But we have to try to stop PA all together. Any way we can. But that might just be me.
 

Mel

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Just a few questions:

1. Will there ever come a time when it's appropriate to say that people who choose PA to publish their books have been sufficiently warned?

One would like to think so, but I doubt it.

2. Shouldn't aspiring authors bear the responsibility for doing their own research, of sufficient quality and quantity, to point them away from PA?
They should since there's so much information on everything these days. We hear PA authors all the time say they've seen what's out there but, hey, it's old news so doesn't apply anymore. And, anyone against PA is unpublished, jealous, and let's not forget "nasty toady bugs." Certainly not because we only want to keep the truth out there. Because we still reveal what PA's faults are there are those who have been saved from signing with them, even though they came close to doing so. And there are exPAers who find AW and are welcomed here.

3. Might writing a couple of pages a day and polishing it be time better spent than wading through 1208 pages, much of it repetitive, about PA?
I waded through everything here at AW about PA. Took a long time, whew. No one has to go through all of it, just hit the highlights, or the last few months to see what PA does and doesn't do for their authors.

4. Is there any truth to the notion that people learn from their mistakes and
become better for it?
Some people learn fast from their mistakes. Some learn from some of their mistakes. And there are some who never learn. Just a fact of life.
 

Afinerosesheis

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PA is like credit card companies with bookoo interest rates. Credit card companies set up at college campuses, give free T-shirts to lure in customers. You don't realize the impact until it's too late. Sure, the consumer (author) bears responsibility, but so do the companies who get their claws into unsuspecting victims. They bank on people's ignorance.
 

Sparhawk

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None of that, however, will prevent me from adding to your comments, Louise, but to simply state: Right on, good for you, Louise, I'd much rather know you than that moronic cool-aid society member who needs some fresh air.

How ironic that a rabid PAvidian chose to use the term "cool-aid" to describe somebody. Ah my dear PAvidian, thou art truly blinded by the curtain of cluelessness.
 

Hummertime

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God, yes! Otherwise known as the "rise and fall of a PA toadie." You'll enjoy reading about ol' HB, Don. At one time he was a one-man brute squad over there, and ran the place as he saw fit. It turned out he was totally insane, and a couple of years ago, with the help of a few PAvidians, faked his own death (twice!).

Don't forget the timing - it was Easter weekend!

I too wonder what has happened to Shemp. For a while he had his own vanity radio program going, then it too seems to have vanished from cyberspace.

He would be an interesting subject of a post-PA interview, if someone could locate him.
 

Don Davidson

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I have a great deal of sympathy for people who get taken advantage of by PA. To be honest with you, I was a little skeptical of PA before I signed the contract. I looked over the contract with a fine-tooth comb. But I was looking for the wrong thing. I was looking for anything that said that I was obligated in any way, or that required me to pay them money, or that might give them information that could be used to get my money. And there was nothing. The web site, the contract--they are designed to make PA look perfectly legit and "traditional." They ask for absolutely nothing up front. So I signed. Fortunately, the Author Questionnaire aroused my suspicions all over again. That was when I searched the internet and learned the awful truth from sites like this.

PA's false appearance of legitimacy--carefully crafted, it appears--is why I regard them as a fraud. They are not being honest about their business model. To the contrary, they are being deceitful. So no, I do not believe there will come a time when prospective authors have been sufficiently warned--not until PA is out of business.

May God bless,
Don
 

Gravity

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Don't forget the timing - it was Easter weekend!

I too wonder what has happened to Shemp. For a while he had his own vanity radio program going, then it too seems to have vanished from cyberspace.

He would be an interesting subject of a post-PA interview, if someone could locate him.

He'd never talk. Not coherently, at any rate.
 

Sparhawk

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He'd never talk. Not coherently, at any rate.

I pity him in some ways... HE really beleived he was a big shot in the literary world only to get rejected and booted out of the community he so rabidly defended. I too wonder whatever happened to the infamous HB Marcus. Sadly, HB was his own worst enemy.
 

Hummertime

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He'd never talk. Not coherently, at any rate.

You never know.

Sometimes people have to reach rock bottom before they can look up. Yeah, I know that saying is cliche, but it is no less true. Perhaps this was the social and literary kick in the gut he needed to change his ways.

Additionally, it would be interesting to find out if he is still one of PA's 30,000 happy authors[TM].
 
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