Why PublishAmerica doesn't want book orders from stores
I just had to post this from the PA board, the first is a message from "Sirat" who questioned PA's response to the pricing issue. SCroll way down to the middle of
www.publishamerica.com/cg...n/6842.htm
RE: PublishAmerica's Pricing Policy
From: Sirat
Message:
Obviously I can't argue in detail with the PublishAmerica representative regarding the money breakdown because only they know how much things cost and what the profit margins are. But surely there is some reason for the almost universally held perception that their prices are very much on the high side. I agree that comparisons with vanity publishers are not entirely appropriate, but in fact publishers like iUniverse charge MORE (not less) for their product than most conventional publishers, and PublishAmerica would come out even worse if compared with the average small conventional publisher - very much worse if compared with large conventional publishing houses. I find it hard to believe that the profit margin could be as little as one dollar per book. Is that the margin after all overheads and wages are paid I wonder? Is it a measure of the company's capital growth that we are talking about? I am not arguing that PublishAmerica should set out to make less money, rather that by lowering the unit price a little they are likely to make more, and our books are likely to sell more copies and reach a bigger audience. But even if we accept everything that PublishAmerica has said, it would appear that page length is the deciding factor so if my book is 170 pages long and the $19.95 figure is based on a 225 page average length book, then mine should still be considerably cheaper than that $19.95 "average". I think PublishAmerica has discovered a formula that does in fact "work" which is to create income by selling small numbers of books at a high price to friends and families of writers, with a few "random" sales to people who don't care much about what price they pay, and there are clearly at least some readers in that category, but it is a policy that prevents any kind of volume sales and makes it very unattractive for writers to put money and effort into promoting their books in conventional channels. What would be very revealing would be a breakdown of the number of copies sold to authors at author discount, to people on the list provided by authors, and to people who hear about the book in other ways. I am suggesting that a fairly modest reduction in the cover price would allow far more sales in that third category and hence benefit all of us. I would urge PublishAmerica to move in that direction. I am even willing to pre-order a reasonable quantity of my own book if a reduction in cover price can be negotiated. Effectively I am offering to carry some of the financial risk myself, and perhaps function as a "trial case" to see if a lower cover price increases or decreases the money that PublishAmerica takes in for a title at the end of the year. I am not "complaining", I am trying to reason this out and see if we couldn't make mutually beneficial changes. Just because something "works" doesn't mean that it can't be improved upon.
And the answer below is from PublishAmerica. It astounds me that they are so rude to one of their authors ("Sirat") on a public board.
RE: PublishAmerica's Pricing Policy
From: Infocenter Administrator
Message:
Sirat, let us burst another bubble, before you start sounding like a naysayer with a broken record, which would be unintentional yet remarkable for someone whose book is not even in print yet.
Family and friends are in no way a significant buying force. It is something that an occasional ignorant is fond to scream, "PA relies on your family and friends for their sales, boohoohoo..."
True, no apologies made: as a courtesy we inform, at our sole expense, an author's friends, even if the author lives as far away as Britain, as you do. No other publisher extends this courtesy to its authors, only PA does it.
Wanna know how many of them actually buy the average book, written by their relative or friend?
A whopping, astounding, spectacular 18.
That's right, only eighteen. Hardly enough to pay for a day's trash pickup. That's how much the author's friends care, and it fits seamlessly what you may find at
www.publishamerica.com/cg...l/220.htm, the thread called "Is it only me?"
So much for our alleged formula "which is to create income by selling small numbers of books at a high price to friends and families of writers." Thank you for knowing this industry better than we do, and for "not complaining" about something you have yet to experience firsthand.
End of response.
And PublishAmerica says they use the discussion board for marketing.
Dee
www.brianhillanddeepower.com
