The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Gillhoughly

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True, so I should have clarified to mean the big talk / interview shows like Oprah and co.

I recall struggling to stay awake (I was a kid) to watch Johnny Carson when he had a writer guest. I was desperate to know about writing and he was one of the few who bothered with authors, and those were all big names with bestseller titles.

But the writer guest was always the last one on and the first one bumped if the show ran long. This happened so many times I finally figured that writers don't get no respect.

Kudos to Craig Ferguson for his talk show (no longer running now, alas). When he had a writer guest he not only knew them but read the book. At least I got to see Lawrence Block interviewed.
 

Jill Karg

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Wow, no news...since January and we are at the end of February. Could the rats be hybernating for the winter because of the ice/snow storms and cold temperatures in MD? Maybe they didn't pay their interent bill and got turned off. Very glad I'm off their radar but sadly some are still on it.
 

Dhewco

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Yeah, I've been reading this section for almost ten years now. In the early days there were 20 or more posts in a day. Now, you might get one or two a month. Progress?
 

Chris P

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I wish some of the PA employees who used to post here from time to time would come back and fill us in on what's going on since the change to America Star Books.

Looking at their website, they seem to be hitting foreign authors and translations pretty hard. Calls to mind a documentary about American-based extreme religious evangelism in the developing world: "They go to Uganda because nobody in America is listening to them."

And interesting marketing: the stock photo for their banner shows about a dozen people, and only two are male. With PA/ASB's marketing savvy (you gotta admit it's genius to rope in 50,000 book titles) you have to believe they know to whom they are marketing and chose that image from among many alternatives. Not that it will make much of a difference in who submits, but it caught my eye.
 

Don Davidson

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Yeah, I've been reading this section for almost ten years now. In the early days there were 20 or more posts in a day. Now, you might get one or two a month. Progress?

Perhaps this is why. I Google'd "Christian book publishers" and America Star Books didn't come up within the first 5 pages. Back when they roped me in, they were on page 1, and one of the very first entries. Then I tried Google'ing "book publishers" and again they were not on the first 5 pages. And I almost never get feedback on my web site from PA authors anymore. I used to get 2-3 a month.

Their web site seems slanted toward foreign authors now, since it emphasizes free translations into English. Perhaps their advertising efforts are similarly slanted overseas. Maybe the domestic market has dried up for them because the word has finally gotten out.
 

Jill Karg

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Their web site seems slanted toward foreign authors now, since it emphasizes free translations into English. Perhaps their advertising efforts are similarly slanted overseas. Maybe the domestic market has dried up for them because the word has finally gotten out.

Just went out to website and it seems to be barely functioning. Tried it with Chrome and IE and it was bare bones. Seems they are having issues, no pictures just catagories and new powered by logo at bottom of page. Don't think they paid their web designer and went with a generic web design. :roll:
 

Dhewco

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Wow, almost two months since a post, I remember when... Anyway, are the powers that be over there sleeping? Or, is the word out so much that there's no need...or, have they strengthened the Kool-Aid so much that any newbies don't dare speak out?
 

Chris P

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Wow, almost two months since a post, I remember when... Anyway, are the powers that be over there sleeping? Or, is the word out so much that there's no need...or, have they strengthened the Kool-Aid so much that any newbies don't dare speak out?

I think the wide availability and ease of self publishing is taking its toll on the vanity press industry.
 

Munday Mack

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Its been so long since I've been here, I almost forgot how to post.

Thanks to Don for replying to my earlier post. Thanks also to Teresa for replying, and Hi Jill Karg, Its been awhile. Lastly, thanks to everyone for being so helpful.

Anyway - I'll be free December 15th, 2015. Hopefully then, the chains of my bondage will be broken from PA. Time does fly, but I gotta say - that was the longest darn 7 years of my life.

So, the question is: Should I do a certified letter to PA ninety days before the expiration or send it earlier? - and Do I address it to PA or AS? Also, I guess the good news is that my book is no longer listed on the PA/AS site. That's a super relief. However, to my horror, it remains on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble sites. Any ideas how I get my book off those sites once the contract has expired?

Thanks in advance.

Munday
 
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Jill Karg

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Wow nothing posted since August and it is the middle of November. That could be good news or bad. Good news is that just maybe people are more aware of the crooks and stopped sending their manuscripts to them. Bad news is that maybe they are now under the covers and lurking catching the new novice writers in their web. I can only wish that they go belly up and disappear from the face of the earth even then they have still done some major damage in their wake.
 

amergina

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DUDE!

I just got this via my website:
Name: Jackie Velnoskey
Email: [snipped]
Website: http://www.americastarbooks.pub
Comment: Dear Anna Zabo:
My name is Jackie Velnoskey. I saw that you have written Takeover. My question for you is: may I promote the book at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in L.A., early April? It costs you nothing. All I'm asking you in return is if we may add you to our book marketing email list.
We would like to include your work in the Hot Indy Author Guide that we're displaying and distributing during the LA Times event. This option is free. Check out our Facebook page when we report live from L.A. where over 150,000+ are expected to attend.
At America Star Books we have a book promotion department that does nothing but offering book promotion at the lowest fees in the nation. We attend all of the big fairs and festivals: Book Expo America, London Book Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, Miami Book Fair International, the American Library Association mid-winter and annual Conferences, Baltimore Book Festival, and so on.
All I am asking you at this time is if we may add you to our email list when we issue our next book promotion offers. You may at any time unsubscribe, and we will promptly cease sending you any further emails. America Star Books has been around for more than fifteen years, serving over 60,000authors. Participating in book promotion is entirely optional.

Thank you for considering this opportunity. I am looking forward to hearing back from you.
--Jackie Velnoskey
America Star Books Special Services, manager
[Telephone number snipped]
P.O. Box 151
Frederick, MD 21705

LMAO.
 

ctripp

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Jackie's certainly been a very busy lady (so busy that I'm sure there's more then one of her:)

An Author/Illustrator friend was contacted a few weeks ago with this same amazing offer to promote his picture book (they gave the book title) at this LA festival (surprisingly they are going but they don't know when it is in April?)
The book they referred to is published by a large children's lit Publisher who I don't think needs nor would appreciate any marketing help from the likes of AS/PA:)
 

Chris P

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I got another "Want your rights back?" offer for $79, just a mere 15 months after they acknowledged that my contract ended. "Ignore this message if you are no longer an America Star Books author."

A+ for record keeping, there.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Wow. Over a month between posts in this thread. Once upon a time if you went away from the keyboard to have dinner there'd be five new pages when you came back....

What's PA up to, these days? Is there anything but a skeleton crew there? Still printing their own books or has that fallen away?
 

Dhewco

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This page here, 209, starts in Jan. 2015. It's taken a whole year. I wonder if Willie still has his 'copter (wasn't that a thing, a while back?)
 

Filigree

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CaoPaux

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