The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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postshy

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Way to go, Bonnie.....

They did something similar to me. Told me in August of 2004 that my royalty statement did not reflect all sales because of the 30, 60, 90 day terms, which we now know to be nonsense. In February 2005, my royalties were "0". I complained loudly and mentioned the IRS. On April 1st, 2005 (no explanation given), I suddenly received a cheque for the princely sum of $3.39 purporting to be royalties. Where did those come from? After all I had sold no books, right? Pay attention, PA Authors, see how you feel in August 2005 before you become too enthusiastic about PA.

As a PA Author myself, let me reiterate that I came out of "lurkdom" in April and was welcomed, not by everybody, because people have other things to do besides monitor this thread day and night. I regarded the welcome as implicit from all.

Having said this, I am going to express my opinion. (Shuts Nice-o-Matic down for a while). Not every PA Author is scrupulous. Some of those loyal to PA come here for the express purpose of snooping, creating dissension and carrying tales back. Perhaps they need to know more about Phase II. Who knows? Those who have a tale to tell are welcomed and listened to on AW. In my humble opinion the other kind are not welcome. They know who they are.

This is not to point a finger at anyone in particular, but just to remind everyone not to be so sensitive. If you are
"hurting", or just want to help in the fight against an unscrupulous, spiteful and rude Publisher, then you are welcome. Please do not judge hastily.
 

victoriastrauss

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Jeff said:
Is it my imagination or is PA taking longer (in some cases up to two years, as Ed noted above) to publish new authors these days, unlike the lead time they used to need (up to a year, if I recall correctly)?
Yes. I first started seeing discussion about the long lag times about a year ago--that was when they went from an average of a few months between contract and release to about a year. Now it seems the gap is getting even bigger.
Anyone think that, if this is true, this might just be because after Purple Pony and Atlanta Nights they actually have to now READ the manuscripts that come to them?
No. No, no, and again no. It's GREED, not READ, that is the problem. The Stooges are trying to wring as much profit out of the company as possible, and therefore are trying to get by with as few staff as possible, which means that even working their poor "editors" and "designers" flat out, they can't keep up with the influx of new victims.

- Victoria
 

DreamWeaver

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triceretops said:
:welcome: Actually, the proper place for an intro is over at the newbie thread. But that doesn't preclude me from doing it here. ...Remember that the newbie thread is often our Ellis Island for the hurt PA authors.
NOTE TO NEWBIES: Check your CP--some folks will welcome you with a rep-point note, which shows up under "Latest Reputation Received". Took me a week to find those, when I first got here. So, you may have more welcomes than you think.

Sorry, all done, back to business.

Kris
 

Christine N.

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roach said:
What I propose is putting together a web page that will list first time authors with commercial publishers for 2005. I'd like to post the author's name, title of the upcoming book, release date and publisher. That would be the most basic information. I can think of other things to add but it might be best to keep it simple at the start. I'm thinking of this as a sort of companion piece to Toby Buckell's research on advances.

So, if you have your first book coming out in 2005-2006 through a commercial publisher send me an e-mail at [email protected] with your name, title, publisher and release date. As soon as Matt gets home I'll have him put together a page and I'll post the URL here.

Done and done. You've got mail!
 

victoriastrauss

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roach said:
What I propose is putting together a web page that will list first time authors with commercial publishers for 2005.
Great idea, roach!

Since another of those myths is "you can't get an agent interested in you unless you've already published", would it make sense to indicate which of the sales were made through agents?

- Victoria
 

ByGrace

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changling said:
Hold it. Did P.A. move from Patrick St. to Church St as (******) just told me from the Frederick County vistors bureau? The FCVB is at 109 Church.

"Sure, right down the street, big sign out front, can't miss it."
"Thanks," I said.
"You're lucky, I knew of them, (******) said."My family has had some dealings with them." The tone of his voice was readable.

I can only assume it wasn't good.

I wonder what type of building you can move into a few blocks(4) from the previous digs on Patrick St.

What was that announcement they made about their new headquarters?

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=111e.Church+st.&csz=Frederick+Maryland&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

I posted a few pages back about PA moving from Patrick Street over to Church Street. There is no sign I could find the other day when I drove down it.

Maybe they don't want people knowing where they are, especially after the Frederick News Post came out with that scathing article. After all, they use a PO Box for an address instead of Church Street, and I was told by staff they did not like authors stopping by.

The buildings in downtown Frederick are historical. Where they moved to is not much different from where they were...another historical brick building. I think it just has a little more room.

Off topic, but I want to say that when my first book came out, I was appalled by the cover and the layout. I spoke to my 'editor' on the phone and asked, "Did you even read the book?"
He replied, "No."

By the way, welcome Boob and Banned-Aide! Hope I didn't miss anyone else.
 

Sparhawk

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lindylou45 said:
:kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:

There you go, Spar. You can keep some for later!

How come we haven't heard from either the Pickler or Gherkin lately? Our superheroes surely aren't asleep on the job, are they? :sleepy: :confused:

Ahh fair damsel.. no one knows when the Mighty Pickler and Gherkin The Boy Wonder will strike.

Thanks for the smoochies :)
 

postshy

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Thank you, folks...

I never knew there was an area called "CP". I never even realized there was a "newbie welcome" site. I just found that out too. I am afraid I jumped right into the fight with both feet and have only checked out a few threads, other than this very long one which I have been following for ages.

Again thank you for your comments. Now I know where to go, I think, when I want to say something pleasant. I told you I was an "amateur" at this stuff.

On topic - let us get PA, not each other.
 

Renee

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Banned-Aide

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I wanted to applaud all of you that continue to warn people about PA.

Keep on warning people. You have no idea how many people are cheering you on from the sidelines. If you can prevent one person from the death of a dream or a book, it's all worth it.

BA

Hello Banned-Aide..nice name..hehe..
:Clap:

Welcome to the mess! This really is a very informative site and there are tons of caring people here.
 

Ken Schneider

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James D. Macdonald said:
Saying that your book was published free by PublishAmerica is like saying that your car was free if you bought it for nothing down.

Yep, 12 months same as cash.
 

Christine N.

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In the "threads that make you wanna scream" catgory, we have: http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=2050

Sigh. I think Uncle Jim could give a much better line by line of this one.

Yay, Sandy! Pachick - whatever. At least you don't think the Amazon slammer came from here. Other than that, well, you can take that "read your contract" and stick where the sun don't shine...

Seattle, Washington.
 

MadScientistMatt

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Christine N. said:

With a reward of that size, does he actually intend to pay it? $500 looks very out of proportion to the possibility that he might have lost his cigarette money twice a year. Really, how could a guestbook spammer do that much in damage when the books don't sell anyway?
 

Renee

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The life and times..

MadScientistMatt said:
With a reward of that size, does he actually intend to pay it? $500 looks very out of proportion to the possibility that he might have lost his cigarette money twice a year. Really, how could a guestbook spammer do that much in damage when the books don't sell anyway?

Sounds to me like he's trying to get gain back the "friendships" he recently lost. "Look everyone at how much I try to do for you, for us, for PA." *snickers*

Come on H, even I think you can do better than that. I mean if you are tring to gain back your little posse, show some compassion, instead of your little head games, that don't work. Some people never learn...
 

CaoPaux

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DreamWeaver said:
NOTE TO NEWBIES: Check your CP--some folks will welcome you with a rep-point note, which shows up under "Latest Reputation Received". Took me a week to find those, when I first got here. So, you may have more welcomes than you think.

Sorry, all done, back to business.

Kris
Yup, that's what I've been doing. Don't see a need to say "Hi!" unless I've got something else to say.

That being said: Welcome to all the new folks! :snoopy:
 

DeePower

Just a thought

I am not saying Shemp is the amazon slammer, but if he was, his $500 would be very safe.

Dee
 

Dawno

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I swear, I will buy a ticket to wherever at full price and go thwap the next person who says HB is a hero. Really. I promise. grrr. I'm going out now with my Dad, USAF retired, a real hero. Have a great day folks, keep up the good works that will bring down the PA villians.
 

Ken Schneider

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Christine N. said:
Comments??

I don't think anyone here is worried. All have said they are not involved.

I have nothing to fear. So, it's nothing more than wind to me.

I think we should contact Amazon and ask them for the I.P. addy ourselves, then we could get to the bottom of this. We may be surprised at who the culprit is.
 

Julian Black

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Christine N. said:
Yay, Sandy! Pachick - whatever. At least you don't think the Amazon slammer came from here. Other than that, well, you can take that "read your contract" and stick where the sun don't shine...

Seattle, Washington.
Hey, now! I'm in Seattle, and the sun actually does shine here!

Okay, so it's not shining today. [shrugs]

But it will! Really. Someday...
 

ByGrace

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I'm feeling a bit sad for some of my fellow authors still under contract with PA. I just sent out my newsletter and within the hour I got two emails from authors in the Europe asking me what they can do to get out of their contracts. They are depressed and discouraged. They're letters brought tears to my eyes. I am a softy and can't help it.
 

realitychuck

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roach said:
What I propose is putting together a web page that will list first time authors with commercial publishers for 2005. I'd like to post the author's name, title of the upcoming book, release date and publisher. That would be the most basic information. I can think of other things to add but it might be best to keep it simple at the start. I'm thinking of this as a sort of companion piece to Toby Buckell's research on advances.
Good idea. Here's a good place to start: Library Journal publishes a quarterly article listing first-time authors by major publishers. Some of the more recent lists are their web page:

March 2005: http://tinyurl.com/dz8an
October 2004: http://tinyurl.com/bevgx
March 2004: http://tinyurl.com/daygw

Any one of those lists should prove your point.
 
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