The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

Status
Not open for further replies.

abemorgantis

Zizban
Sockpuppet
Banned
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
245
Reaction score
42
Location
Western MA
I have to admit, I've heard both good and not so good things about P.A., but I think that the one who didn't like it (from my knowledge, limited as it is about this client) did not have a website (which is a great promotional tool by the way, so I applaud all of you who have one or more!)

Am I right that they're thinking the reason the client bashes PA is because he doesn't have a website or the publisher doesn't? Either way, it makes my head spin.
 

spike

Mostly Ignored
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
1,100
Reaction score
151
Location
Bath, Pennsylvania
Website
oddgoose.blogspot.com
I have to admit, I've heard both good and not so good things about P.A., but I think that the one who didn't like it (from my knowledge, limited as it is about this client) did not have a website (which is a great promotional tool by the way, so I applaud all of you who have one or more!)

Am I right that they're thinking the reason the client bashes PA is because he doesn't have a website or the publisher doesn't? Either way, it makes my head spin.

He is grasping at the proverbial straws. The basher didn't have a website, and that is why he failed. Not because PA is bad. My head is spinning also.
 

Marian Perera

starting over
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
14,332
Reaction score
4,576
Location
Heaven is a place on earth called Toronto.
Website
www.marianperera.com
I knew ahead of time that I was going to have to pay for author copies (not counting the two complimentary ones); that was the least of my worries and remains so. The main thing was and remains is that I did not have to pay to get it published.
(bolding mine - QoS)

Good grief. This is like saying, "I knew I would have to pay for the plane ticket, the hotel, the guided tours and every pina colada I drank on the beach. But the main thing is that I didn't have to pay for the holiday!"
 

Lisa Y

Picked last in gym
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
159
Reaction score
41
Location
Snape's Dungeon
hmm... I had a website for a while. Never made a sale from it. Wonder why I failed...
 

brianm

Brian Boru
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2006
Messages
3,170
Reaction score
976
Location
The desert of S. California and the coast of N. Ir
Publish America is a vanity press

I think these two posts demonstrate nicely how PAMB members react to PA bashings on their websites.

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=21509

It always amazes me that people have the time to look up your web site, leave nasty messages and no name. What good can it possibly do them? I consider that it is vanity publishers who have hired people the way companies hire telemarketers, to go around Publish America author websites and leave "droppings' willy-nilly. The reason that they hire these people to do that is because Publishamerica does not charge for publication, actually pays royalties and puts your book on every on line book store site the world over. It has to be putting a dent in the revenue's of people like Author House, IUniverse (A Barnes and Noble vanity) and many others.

When one thinks of the many times people have submitted their manuscripts that they have slaved and worried over and been told that they need to cough up a bunch of money, and then Publish America says right out loud, " We are proud to give your book the chance that it deserves, no cost"....well you can imagine how this must affect many of these vanity publisher.

I say, delete the offending messages. I wish there was a way to trace the poster.

I have to agree with Betty. If these PA bashers are such great writers why do they leave nasty messages on our websites when
a skilled writer would write honest reviews on Amazon and other places stating what they thought of our books. Maybe they can only muster up a few ignorant sentences whereas we write entire books. These people sound like trolls sent from jealous vanity presses or are just plain idiots.

It also demonstrates how many of them refuse to accept the fact that PA is a vanity press. Of the worse possible kind. Because they did not pay upfront to have their book published, they refuse to accept that having to buy their own books in order for those books to be sold to anyone other than their family and friends is not a form of vanity press.

A writer pays a vanity press upfront to print their book. The writer then goes out and tries to sell the book to the general reading public. Vanity press makes money from printing the book.

PA prints a writer’s book. The writer then pays PA for copies of the book so that the writer can go out and sell it to the general reading public. PA makes money from printing the book.

Where’s the difference? One you pay up front printing costs, the other you pay for the book after it’s printed.

Of course, you don’t have to buy your book from PA… then what was the point? To hold the ms in your hands in book form? To force your friends and family to pay inflated prices for your book to fill PA’s coffers? To have the PA stigma attached to your name? To support a proven and well documented scam company?

PA IS A VANITY PRESS WOLF DRESSED IN "TRADITIONAL" SHEEP'S CLOTHING.
 
Last edited:

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
7,705
Reaction score
1,336
Location
Where the Wild Things Are
Website
www.christine-norris.com
I have a website, and it's for me as a writer and my books. I have two different publishers.

I won't disageree that it's a good idea to have one. I will say that in this day and age of technology, most authors have some kind of website. Even big namers have websites, like JK Rowling (who doesn't do her own) and Jane Yolen (who does). People like to find out about the author, and with the internet it's easier than ever. It's a decent promotional tool. I also have a MySpace and two blogs.

I get a fair number of hits on both sites and the blogs, but I only pay for the website, and that's only a teeny amount of money for the domain name. Teeny, less than $20/year for my own address.

And people can find my book and it's a decent price, so it's only an adjunct to my publisher's marketing, not the only thing. That's the difference. And it doesn't have a 'freewebs.com' address, which is another dead giveaway that it's amateur hour. (Freewebs is who my site server is). Cough up the money for the domain name already, or no one will find you!

There's just a right way and a wrong way to do it.
 

bluebaloo79

Registered
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
22
Reaction score
3
Hello from the one everyone has been waiting for, I guess. lol

Hi there. I see many of you have seen my site and the PA message board where I was attacked, mutilated and left for dead by other happy authors. lol. Thank you for the things you have said. I never once was complaining about all they did for me, but what they did not do and that was give me some respect. I started off with a simple question as to where my DM 's were and PA found it necessary to jump down my throat. So, unfortunately, I am a little fire cracker and bit back and continued to bite back. lol. I am still trying to cancel my contract and I will continue to fight and fight until they give up. Hopefully sooner than later.
 

brianm

Brian Boru
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2006
Messages
3,170
Reaction score
976
Location
The desert of S. California and the coast of N. Ir
bluebaloo79,

Your thread has disintegrated into an all out war between two members who are taking punches at each other over money and politics. Neither member is looking very mature or professional.

BTW, has PA banned you?

EDIT: Disregard my question as I note you have just posted to your thread on PAMB. Be interesting to see the additional posts to that thread now...
 
Last edited:

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman
Super Moderator
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
22,454
Reaction score
4,956
Location
In chaos
Has anyone got an update on how many books PA is now "publishing" compared to, say, this time last year or the year before? I wondered if they were continuing the downward trend that was documented here a while ago.
 

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,011
Reaction score
697
Location
Sacramento area, CA
Website
www.umbachconsulting.com
Has anyone got an update on how many books PA is now "publishing" compared to, say, this time last year or the year before? I wondered if they were continuing the downward trend that was documented here a while ago.
There are two aspects: how many titles PA releases AND how many copies of each are sold (predominantly to the authors themselves, of course).

PA could make more money by publishing fewer titles with a larger average sale to authors, and could make less money by publishing more titles with a smaller average sale.

The marginal return on, say, the second hundred copies sold in bulk to an author is larger than the marginal return on the first hundred. Hence, any attempt to infer the company's financial health would require information that is not available: how effectively is PA tapping new authors to buy in bulk? The number of titles alone does not answer that question.

(FWIW, I have heard from two local folks that PA has not filled individual book orders prepaid by check. Both orders were for the same title, but I have to suspect that the two examples may be typical of company practice across the board, perhaps on account of the expense of dealing with checks in payment for single books.)

--Ken
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
Using Amazon's advanced search feature and the search string publisher:publishamerica pubdate: after 04-2007 and pubdate: before 06-2007 we find 333 books for May, 2007. Similarly:

600 for May, 2006
554 for May, 2005
346 for May, 2004
328 for May, 2003


Here are their releases per Amazon for the past several years:

Apr 2003: 288
May 2003: 328
Jun 2003: 200 I first hear of PublishAmerica under its new name
Jul 2003: 133
Aug 2003: 217
Sep 2003: 236
Oct 2003: 216
Nov 2003: 346 First post in the Old NEPAT
Dec 2003: 402
Jan 2004: 432
Feb 2004: 277
Mar 2004: 242
Apr 2004: 269
May 2004: 346
Jun 2004: 399
Jul 2004: 317
Aug 2004: 557 "We are proud to announce PublishAmerica's monthly topseller list in the New York Times!"
Sep 2004: 409
Oct 2004: 426
Nov 2004: 472
Dec 2004: 309
Jan 2005: 478
Feb 2005: 469 Atlanta Nights
Mar 2005: 409
Apr 2005: 436 "...we are darfing them."
May 2005: 554
Jun 2005: 485 Willem's book: How to Upset a Goliath Book Business
Jul 2005: 369
Aug 2005: 476
Sep 2005: 517
Oct 2005: 486
Nov 2005: 424
Dec 2005: 381
Jan 2006: 574
Feb 2006: 514
Mar 2006: 508
Apr 2006: 502
May 2006: 600
Jun 2006: 422
Jul 2006: 399
Aug 2006: 431
Sep 2006: 357
Oct 2006: 543
Nov 2006: 354
Dec 2006: 330
Jan 2007: 448
Feb 2007: 361
Mar 2007: 279
Apr 2007: 488
May 2007: 333
 
Last edited:

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
I expect that PA is still selling 75 copies per author.

Across all the POD vanities -- iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse -- that number seems to be fairly consistent. It's reasonable to think that it's the same at PA.
 

LloydBrown

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
1,749
Reaction score
196
Location
Jacksonville, Florida
Website
www.lloydwrites.com
I expect that PA is still selling 75 copies per author.

Not to mention that nothing substantial has changed in their business model. It would be unreasonable to expect that things changed for no reason. They haven't made any changes since they added their faux returnability, and I don't believe they've made any significant changes since their name change.

I charted the releases out on Excel. It looks like they've stayed pretty constant for about the last three years. That's really disappointing. They did hit a 3-year low in March, and there does seem to be about a 10-15% decrease in titles released over the past year, but I was hoping that recent sales would be lower.

If anybody wants to see the spreadsheet, send me an e-mail.
 
Last edited:

VGrossack

bored fan with a tic
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
641
Reaction score
109
Location
in clover
Website
www.tapestryofbronze.com
I charted the releases out on Excel. It looks like they've stayed pretty constant for about the last three years. That's really disappointing. They did hit a 3-year low in April, and there does seem to be about a 10-15% decrease in titles released over the past year, but I was hoping that recent sales would be lower.

A 10-15 % descrease in titles release is an extremely significant drop for a business - I would not be disappointed. Especially when you consider the possibility of seasonality - compare the first five months of 2007 to the first five months of 2006! In comparison with 2006, the first five months of 2007 show nearly 30% fewer titles. That's an ENORMOUS drop in sales.

PA has to be hurting. Possibly the market is saturated -- how many uninformed author-wannabes are out there? -- or the competition has improved -- or their reputation is finally catching up with them.
 
Last edited:

Tina

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
285
Reaction score
49
Sure there's a reason. It could be that PA recognized that their first batch of authors with seven-year contracts are approaching the end at which point arbitration can't protect them any longer. Now they can be pulled into a court where real harm can be done.

Now that would be interesting! Dave/Jim: can PA authors actually litigate after their contracts have expired or are they still held to arbitration even after the contract is over? Is any kind of legal action even possible with an expired contract? Would the courts say they should have dealt with it while under contract?
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
PA_books.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.