The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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bikrpreacher

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There is only one good review left. Oh, I see, a review has to be GOOD to be removed fast, oh, silly me I didn't understand that. This is crazy, what's amazon thinking?
 

Dolan

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alaa1a

You mean 199. Bikrpreacher dropped out.

Snarkier
 

Sher2

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Dolan said:
I can not accept your terms. "Just don't spend it all in one place" is an ill disguised attempt to try and control any decision that I may make regarding the $0.96. DON'T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME.

Snarker

Ooops, there I go with that dang tone thang again. So I guess you want, like, an apology for the ill advised drama and misinformed escapade? Dream on, dude! How you spend your proceeds is the only thing I have any control over. ;)
 

bikrpreacher

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mistri, I think Amazon has that thing set up so that if they get a certain number of reports, it's auto-deleted. That is the only thing that would explain it. Must be why the boards are so quiet tonight, they're all sitting there with fingers poised over the report button. This is incredible. Ed, keep that post of yours handy so you can re-post when Amazon figures out what they are doing. It's too good to lose.
 

Sher2

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akaa1a said:
Well Sher2,

Look at it this way, PA has a captive income stream with 200 authors rowin' the boat. I think it's odd that they are letting an author control the purse strings, or am I reading this all wrong.
Bet this contract will be hard to extract themselves from when the boat springs a leak!
:TheWave: 7 out of 200 happy authors!

You know, akaa1a, you raise an excellent point. I hadn't even thought of it from that perspective -- mainly because I try not to think of it at all. With 200 contributors, there's a built-in customer base of 200 right there. Then, each of those 200 has a parent, sibling, spouse, second cousin twice removed, and a friend or two to peddle to. They're looking at a cool 400 sales before the thing even comes off the printer and starts resonating. Gee, was there ever any remote possibility that PA would have refused this sweetheart deal? :banana:
 

bikrpreacher

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He needs 71 more authors too, well, 70 now with that one reply. It will be interesting to see if he can get that now with everything that has been going on, authors questioning, authors leaving, being banned, getting mad...and on and on and on.
 

writerjenn

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pike bishop said:
sadly last night in a hial of gun fire travis was cut down and is no longer with the living he lived hard and died hard he was given to the earth after a simple service while going thru his personal items we came across something that has changed our minds in this battle a book that has carsed us to change sides we was riding on ! as of this day there is no longer a travis army all actions on there part is over we will no longer make anti publishamerica statements of any kind we have sent both in hard copy and e mail to publishamerica the errors of our ways 2 the books that we attacked from publishamerica we will no longer attack and will make every effort to post this on there web sites and the publishamerica web sit which publishamerica management has so kindly allowed to do 3 the anti publishamerica group who hired us will be turned over to the feds tomarrow with full text of emails and battle plans as well as a list of spies within the publishamerica group 4 ..........


Nice story, good imagination. Now, learn to format and spell check and you're on your way.

J
 

Sheryl Nantus

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Sher2 said:
You know, akaa1a, you raise an excellent point. I hadn't even thought of it from that perspective -- mainly because I try not to think of it at all. With 200 contributors, there's a built-in customer base of 200 right there. Then, each of those 200 has a parent, sibling, spouse, second cousin twice removed, and a friend or two to peddle to. They're looking at a cool 400 sales before the thing even comes off the printer and starts resonating. Gee, was there ever any remote possibility that PA would have refused this sweetheart deal? :banana:

exactly!

and this will be the SECOND book for those lucky 200, so they can add that to their resume and pad it out even more with worthless publishing credits.

I can see it selling a lot of copies, until it hits 500 and someone asks about Independence Label status, upon which PublishAmerica will pull the contract muttering something about giving everyone a chance to do another book.

*puts on Karnak turban*

yep, see that one right there...

and WHO is this fellow organizing it, after all? His book isn't even OUT with PA yet and he's working up this second one?

just wait until they start getting those royalty checks, as if the ones they personally have with PA aren't selling now.

"Why, yes we sold 200 copies. Your share of the royalties comes to... a third of a cent. Shall I Paypal that to you now?"

:crazy:
 

Dolan

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Shar2

Sher2 said:
Ooops, there I go with that dang tone thang again. So I guess you want, like, an apology for the ill advised drama and misinformed escapade? Dream on, dude! How you spend your proceeds is the only thing I have any control over. ;)

Well, I was going to ask, er I mean demand an apology but I couldn't spell it. I don't know what a misinformed escapade is so I didn't bring it up. Oh sure, I wanted to.

Please, remember that I too am a PAauthor and be gentle with me.

Some people are authors and some people are PAauthors. Those words have different meanings. Don't they?

Unsnarked

P. S. I'm a 63 year old burnout. I can't be "dude".
 

bikrpreacher

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are the reviews back up or did you do it again? Those reviews are great, and I don't know who J. Fields is, but..."In fact, I was starting to wish I was blind after a chapter or two."

Gotta go get some sleep, thanks for the laughs all, tonight was good...needed that, tomorrow back to the grind I guess, oh, and Moondancer, I left you a not with reputation, so check your CP.
 

Sher2

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Dolan said:
Well, I was going to ask, er I mean demand an apology but I couldn't spell it. I don't know what a misinformed escapade is so I didn't bring it up. Oh sure, I wanted to.

Please, remember that I too am a PAauthor and be gentle with me.
"Escapade" is one of those words formatted into PA form letters. Apparently, anyone who sees things differently from that which the Big 3 hath decreed is guilty of going on an escapade. And not to worry, I promise to be gentle, regardless of what you blow that 96 cents on.
P. S. I'm a 63 year old burnout. I can't be "dude".
Sure you can! :Thumbs:
 

DaveKuzminski

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Sounds to me like monitoring the Amazon site is one of those special projects that was mentioned recently in the PA forum. Somehow, I get the feeling that they just don't realize their efforts are hurting them more than anyone else. If that's what they want, they're welcome to monitor that book all they want.


Of course, they should keep in mind that Amazon isn't going to keep for long a system that's continually abused. So, if they truly believe that those reviews are important to their books, then they should really reconsider whether they might be jeopardizing those that might benefit them.

Personally, I'd like to see those personal reviews limited only to individuals who have purchased the product they are reviewing.
 

reph

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Is it possible to locate a flesh-and-blood entity at Amazon, as opposed to a zeroes-and-ones entity, and describe what's going on with the reviews?
 

Ed Williams

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Here's a PAvidian review of "Atlanta Nights"...

Humor is Subjective
, February 25, 2005

Reviewer:Katherine (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews
While I have the ability to recognize, enjoy, admire, etc. various types of humor, I must admit I am completely baffled by the location of anything comic in this book. I have been unable to find any humor in this work, and it is not because I am too dense to "get it." I am a member of Mensa and my IQ hovers in the 180s. However, I do recognize that there are many different types of people in the world who might enjoy the message of this book. I simply would not recommend it in the category of humor. It is a personal yarn, or saga given the length. I would recommend this book for people who have absolutely nothing better to read, at all. But if you are searching for reading more worthy than this, I suggest the back of a cereal box or your lawnmower instruction booklet.
This is just hysterical. I love the "...my IQ hovers in the 180s" deal. Per IQ scales:

140

Top Civil Servants; Professors and Research Scientists.

130

Physicians and Surgeons; Lawyers; Engineers (Civil and Mechanical)

We obviously have a mega smart PAvidian in our midsts. Also, there are never any specifics about the book in the review, just some verbiage about it being dull. And, interestingly enough, each of these posters has only written one review, that being their review about "Atlanta Nights."

Geez, PA, how stupid can y'all be? Do you really think anyone is being fooled? Y'all are already the joke of the publishing industry, and stuff like this just builds your resume. I hope you post 100 more reviews like these, because the word will get out, people will talk, and sales for "Atlanta Nights" will ratchet up that much higher. Ya'll yourselves will keep the story front and center. Will y'all consider it for Independence Books when its per copy sales reach 500?

P.S. Do PAvidians ever put their real names on anything?

P.S.S. Another spate of bad reviews coming in, they seem to come in clumps. At this rate, "Atlanta Nights" will be the most reviewed book in the history of Amazon.com., which, of course, means another round of fresh publicity for the book. PAvidian stupidity is reaching new and unparalleled depths tonight.
 
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mdin

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Wow. The Amazon Slammer (you're right, Ed. It does sound like an evil WWF wrestler. A surly, mono-browed female one whose signature move would be called "the piranha.") sure managed to do quite a bit of damage. Unless these reviews are coming from the slammer himself, it seems they truly believed the hoaxsters are the ones putting the bad PA reviews out. It's silly, really. For one thing, no one is going to buy Atlanta Nights off of Amazon just because they were browsing. It's only something people will find after specifically searching for it, so the reviews are pretty much only for our own entertainment.

I think some info on the book would be nice.
 

Ed Williams

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The bad thing is...

...they're not bright enough to realize that starting a "review war" on Amazon about "Atlanta Nights" is going to draw yet more attention to the book. It is already up to twenty reviews now...
 

Deleted member 42

The Science Fiction Writers of America Emergency Medical Fund is not a fake charity. I've contributed to it, directly and indirectly, and I know it's helped authors I respect and admire. Keep in mind that it's pretty difficult, and expensive, to get health insurance as an indpendent contracter, which a large number of SF and Fantasy writers are. Once you have health insurance, if you have a long term debiliatating disease, you may need some extra help.

You can read about the fund here:

http://www.sfwa.org/org/funds.htm

Or Google it (SFWA "medical fund") for yourself. You'll see feedback from charitable events that raised funds for the Fund, even a few people it's helped. I remember Jo Clayton had a really rough time. She was often too sick to write.
 

NicoleJLeBoeuf

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Ed, however satisfying it may be, I'm not sure it's constructive to insult a PAvidian that way. We aren't going to score points against the publisher by ridiculing its authors, right? All we'll do is reinforce their impression that we're the enemy and PA is their refuge.

Perhaps it would be better to restrain ourselves to critiquing the review itself (i. e. pointing out that the review contains no specifics about the book) rather than making fun of the review's author.
 
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Renee

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So, are ya'll saying sales from "Atlanta Nights" are going to charity to the SFWA?

Thanks for the link to SWFA, I just looked it up.
 

Ed Williams

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Well, the Amazon sales ranking...

...for "Atlanta Nights" has jumped up about sixty thousand notches, so my theory about these "reviews" spurring sales looks to be holding up.

Nicole, you know I love ya to death, and this may be one where we have to agree to disagree, but I'm not referencing all PA authors as a whole at all, only those people participating with these phony reviews. Big difference, they may very likely not even be PA authors. The people doing these reviews are behaving irrationally, and what's worse, they're going to bring about exactly what they're fighting. "PAvidians" does not refer to all PA authors, it refers to that select minority of PA supporters that intentionally mislead and attempt to spread false information to others - the very information that leads them to sign, and later regret, seven year publishing contracts with these low lifes.

I'm climbing down off my soapbox now....
 

DaveKuzminski

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While I'm not against PA authors, there are some who appear to have invited serious criticism for their actions. Also, I don't see why it's wrong to criticize individuals who support PA just because they're authors. We're authors, too, yet they criticize and blame us for their troubles which we all know would still be there even if we didn't point those out.

I'd also like to mention my thanks to them because they're drawing attention to Atlanta Nights which is now up to 44k in its sales ranking. That book may very well become a true bestseller. Because of their comments, that could highlight PA even more since that will guarantee yet another front page story across the world. In fact, it will probably make most of the major network news programs. So, I thank them for all the warnings they will be spreading to other writers.

Thanks, Joyce! Thanks, HB! Thanks, Marti! Thanks, Frank! Gee, there are so many of you and you each deserve a personal thanks, but I just don't know all your names, so I'll just have to rely upon you all to tell the others thank you for me.
 

realitychuck

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Renee Bagley said:
So, are ya'll saying sales from "Atlanta Nights" are going to charity to the SFWA?

Thanks for the link to SWFA, I just looked it up.
I managed the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund for three years. Money donated goes into interest-free loans, which are given to writers who have medical emergencies and no other way to pay their bills. Though they are loans, there is generally no repayment schedule and people are expected to pay the money back when they have it.

The money is kept strictly separate from SFWA general funds. Money is raised in various ways -- direct donation or by fundraising efforts.

Recipients are kept confidential, but I can attest that there were several cases where they money helped people who had no insurance and who had serious medical bills, including some life-threatening illnesses.

All proceeds from "Atlanta Nights" goes to the fund. No one involved with the book is making a cent on it.
 

NicoleJLeBoeuf

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Ah, well, you folks probably know better than I. It just seems to me that there is quite a gulf between criticising someone for supporting PA, and simply ridiculing their intelligence. I mean, what good does it do to tell someone, "Hey, you, you're a stupid person!" It won't make them want to change. It'll make them want to go on doing whatever it was you don't like, just to spite you for calling them stupid. At least, that's how I'd react.

(I do agree, however, that anyone who brags about their IQ online--even if they use more plausible numbers--is asking for ridicule. ;))

Just so we're clear: I have no problem with criticizing PA authors or indeed anyone else who needs it. It's ridiculing people that I get uncomfortable about.
 
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