Publish America's Carousel of Magically Rotating Email Offers

AudioGenius

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If the PAYperbacks are otherwise identical to the previous PA so-called "trade" paperbacks except for price and ISBN, they will not physically fit in the paperback racks

I actually already knew how the ID system works, but I can't believe I over looked this blatantly obvious fact.
 

Chris P

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March 8 [2009]: Email makes mention of PA author attending a book sales event also attended by an unnamed New York Times writer. Somehow, this makes the PA author "a celebrity." Several other names are dropped as celebrity PA peer authors.

May 25: The "Celebrity Peers" email, prefigured by the March 8 "She's a Celebrity" email. Several celebrities-turned-PA-authors are listed.

May 31: 500 PA authors have sold a collective 500,000 books (1000 each). Two of these high-sellers are celebrities, two are not (all four individuals are named).

I Googled the celebrities mentioned in these emails. Of the approximately 15 people mentioned, I had only heard of two of them. One was Agathe von Trapp and the other was Arthur Marx, Groucho's son. I only knew of Agathe because of her spot on the PA website, although of course I knew about The Sound of Music. I saw Arthur once on Sally Jesse Rafael (although it could have been a brother of his). Being a metalhead in the 80s, I had heard of the Bullet Boys but the name of their guitarist (Charles Wayne Morrill) wasn't familiar.

Regarding the PA author who was made "famous" by attending a book sales event in Chicago with a writer for the New York Times, I was able to track down the article here. It's in the opinion section of the February 28, 2008 NYT.

The other celebrities in this email and the others included "TV host" Bruce Collins, "Hollywood actor" Mark Norris, "TV writer" Kevin Wenzel, "Boxing Hall of Fame Board of Directors Member" Johnny Ortiz, and others described as "screenwriters" and "book-to-movies" authors. I use the quotes not in an ironic sense, but these are the words in which PA describes the celebrities. Not to denigrate their talents or accomplishments, but who are these people? Googling and IMBD searches revealed modest involvement in the stated professions.
 

Katrina S. Forest

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If you take a large enough sample of people, you're bound to find somebody who works in the movie/book industry. (Heck, I know a couple, and I'm not exactly the social butterfly.)

PA just phrases things so you feel like you should've heard of everyone on that list. (Or better yet, maybe you get your actors' names mixed up and think you have heard of them.)

There are many successful actors and writers whose names just aren't widespread. And if they've had even a bit of success, PA likes to act like they were responsible for it.
 

JulieB

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If the PAYperbacks are otherwise identical to the previous PA so-called "trade" paperbacks except for price and ISBN, they will not physically fit in the paperback racks at supermarkets. Even if the store wanted to sell the books (and we are entirely overlooking how books and magazines actually get into supermarkets and other non-book outlets through a network of Independent Distributors), they couldn't.

I don't know about where you live, Jim, but the book racks on the grocery stores in my neighborhood now have about 1/4-1/3 of the racks configured to handle hardbacks and 6" x 9" paperbacks. In fact, one store has added a couple of "spinners" that hold magazines, hardbacks, and larger paperbacks in addition to the racks. I saw an AW member's 6" X 9" paperback (from a commercial publisher, of course) in one of them.

Of course, you're absolutely correct that PA books aren't going to get through the ID network. But at least in the suburbs where I live, there are more and more hardbacks and larger paperbacks being stocked in grocery stores. Of course, none of those authors had to buy their way into rack placement.

BTW, I asked a friend who works in the stockroom of a local outlet of a chain department store what would happen of a box of books they didn't order suddenly showed up. He said they'd probably send it back, and at any rate they books wouldn't get on the floor because they hadn't been ordered and therefore aren't in the system. I managed a small retail chain store years and years ago, and we certainly couldn't sell anything that had not been approved by management. And that approval came in the form of a SKU number. No SKU, no sale.
 

AudioGenius

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I actually already knew how the ID system works, but I can't believe I over looked this blatantly obvious fact.

Out of sheer curiosity I decided to look up the first in Chris' list of other celebrities, Bruce Collins "TV Host". Bruce apparently has a weekly radio show dealing with paranormal phenomena on a local AM radio station in Nashua, New Hampshire. I'm not real sure what they meant by TV host, unless they're referring to his videos on Ustream. I'm sure Bruce is a fine radio show host, but there is definitely a serious effort to deceive by PA going on here. Not that that's a new thing.

I didn't bother checking the rest of the list after that one.
 

Chris P

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Out of sheer curiosity I decided to look up the first in Chris' list of other celebrities, Bruce Collins "TV Host". Bruce apparently has a weekly radio show dealing with paranormal phenomena on a local AM radio station in Nashua, New Hampshire. I'm not real sure what they meant by TV host, unless they're referring to his videos on Ustream. I'm sure Bruce is a fine radio show host, but there is definitely a serious effort to deceive by PA going on here. Not that that's a new thing.

I didn't bother checking the rest of the list after that one.

I Googled all of them, and none are what I would consider to be "stars." The "TV writer" has worked on two versions of the same show I've never heard of on a cable network I've never heard of and the actors mentioned often played uncredited extras.

PA has way overstated the celebrity status of these people, hard workers though they are. Hey, I've even been in the New York Times (back in 2001 for some research I did) and I'm hardly a star.

The most important thing: none of these celebrity PA authors are touted as "best selling authors." Seems to me a publisher would have some of these in their fold. "Best selling" to PA means 1000 books (see the May 31 entry). In commercial publishing, any book not selling 5000 copies is a flop.
 
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Chris P

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July 13: Launch of Independence Books, a subsidiary of PublishAmerica. Softcover books will be re-branded as Independence Books, and will not be identified as POD or as PublishAmerica books. Hard covers and PAperbacks will continue to be printed as PA books. All Independence Books will be available at a uniform price of $14.95. All titles will remain contracted to PA and will be given a new ISBN. Minimum purchase of seven softcovers to activate publication as Independence Books.
 

CaoPaux

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*snort* They first tried "Independence Books" back in ... 2003, maybe? IIRC, if a book sold 500 copies, it'd be rebranded and made returnable. Less than a dozen qualified, and the "special program" was dropped after a few months.
 

Chris P

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*snort* They first tried "Independence Books" back in ... 2003, maybe? IIRC, if a book sold 500 copies, it'd be rebranded and made returnable. Less than a dozen qualified, and the "special program" was dropped after a few months.

There's some links to old posts in the New NEPAT. The only criteria here seems to be the purchase of seven of your own books.

Who do they think they're going to fool? People happy with PA aren't going to want to rebrand their books, and people upset at PA aren't going to fall for this. The only advantage to the author is the slightly lower list price and distance from the PA name.
 

DreamWeaver

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Softcover books will be re-branded as Independence Books, and will not be identified as POD
???? No book is officially "identified" as POD--there's no label that says POD, there's no note on the copyright page. It's the size, cover, art style (or lack thereof), workmanship, materials and price that identify a book as POD to the reader. And readers are amazingly good at identifying and avoiding POD books.

I hope not too many PA authors get sucked into this.
 
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DaveKuzminski

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Independence Publishing? Uh-oh. Do I see the first signs of another trademark lawsuit starting to smoke? I can see the buy-out offer changing to $150 already.
 

CatSlave

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July 13: Launch of Independence Books, a subsidiary of PublishAmerica. Softcover books will be re-branded as Independence Books, and will not be identified as POD or as PublishAmerica books. Hard covers and PAperbacks will continue to be printed as PA books. All Independence Books will be available at a uniform price of $14.95. All titles will remain contracted to PA and will be given a new ISBN. Minimum purchase of seven softcovers to activate publication as Independence Books.
Sounds like the name PublishAmerica has become so tainted in the public eye that they feel the need to hide behind the pseudonym Independence Books.

Who do you think you're kidding? You may change your name, but it's still the same old stench.

It's a waste of time trying to perfume a polecat.
 
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James D. Macdonald

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Remember: POD isn't a technology, it's a business model.

And everything I'm seeing here is screaming "POD Business Model!" at the top of its lungs. It'll take booksellers less than half-a-minute to figure it out for themselves. Then the poor PublishAmerica Independence authors will be right back where they started. Hauling boxes of books around in the trunks of their cars.

The flipping and flopping we've seen over the last month make me think that PA doesn't know what it's doing next. It's ad libbing without any sort of coherent plan.
 

Terie

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The flipping and flopping we've seen over the last month make me think that PA doesn't know what it's doing next. It's ad libbing without any sort of coherent plan.

Seems to me that the weirdness really ratcheted up after Willem's departure. I believe it was shortly after he left that the first of the 'we'll send your book to <fill in the blank>' offers started, and it's just got weirder ever since. Maybe he was actually the stabilising influence.
 

Katrina S. Forest

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I noticed this, too. I've been checking on and off all day to see what PA authors were thinking about all of this. I don't think they know what to think of it.

I'm starting to wonder if the e-mail went out to any of them. Perhaps it was simply sent to the same people who got the $99 buy-your-rights-back offer, and no one else. After all, newbies to PA might still be very happy with them, and wouldn't think their book needed a new start. People who haven't bought a book in a year might be the better target.
 

Chris P

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I'm starting to wonder if the e-mail went out to any of them. Perhaps it was simply sent to the same people who got the $99 buy-your-rights-back offer, and no one else. After all, newbies to PA might still be very happy with them, and wouldn't think their book needed a new start. People who haven't bought a book in a year might be the better target.

I didn't get the $99 buy-out offer, but I got this one.

Regarding IB, I think the PA honeymooners aren't going to bite, nor are the authors who are fed up. That leaves a narrow sliver through the middle of people who are willing to pay an extra $5/book (versus an identical PAperback version) not to have PA's name on it. As I said in another thread, it's like paying a woman to pretend she's not your girlfriend.
 

AudioGenius

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I didn't get the $99 buy-out offer, but I got this one.

Regarding IB, I think the PA honeymooners aren't going to bite, nor are the authors who are fed up. That leaves a narrow sliver through the middle of people who are willing to pay an extra $5/book (versus an identical PAperback version) not to have PA's name on it. As I said in another thread, it's like paying a woman to pretend she's not your girlfriend.

I've been thinking about this since it came up. More people may bite than you think. I have a feeling there are a fair number of PAuthors who are quite aware of how the commercial book industry views PA (these are the ones that you hear blaming the bookstores for not treating PAuthors well), but they are still unable to come to terms with the fact that they have not been commercially published. To those authors IB would appear to be that "new start", a chance to slip into big name bookstores. That is, after all, how it's being marketed.

Just curious, does either Larry or Miranda happen to have a Psych degree?
 

DeadlyAccurate

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Seems to me that the weirdness really ratcheted up after Willem's departure. I believe it was shortly after he left that the first of the 'we'll send your book to <fill in the blank>' offers started, and it's just got weirder ever since. Maybe he was actually the stabilising influence.

I was thinking that, too. Like he was the only one with an actual clue about how to run a business.
 

DreamWeaver

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To bookstores, PA is just another vanity POD publisher. PA doesn't carry significantly more baggage than any other vanity/subsidy publisher. Changing the publisher name makes no difference whatsoever.

Some chain stores have vanity POD orders blocked in their computer systems, or flagged in some way. If a newbie bookseller misses the signs and special orders an Independence book (or any vanity/subsidy POD book), they will almost certainly hear about it from the manager and not do it again.

There do exist bookstores that are happy to order PA and other vanity POD books, but it's one at a time, generally pre-paid, as special orders. It's not as a multi-copy order for shelving in the store.
 
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CatSlave

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From PA's master database, where they keep all records, it would be super easy and fast to generate a list of authors with low or no sales, create a mail merge and generate a mass emailing.

Sounds to me like they are on their last gasp, attempting to squeeze the last bucks from authors who can't -or won't- buy their own books.

I hope PA chokes to death, those fargin bastages.